According to Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union, the ankle injury Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Mike Sims-Walker suffered against the Houston Texans is a high ankle sprain. A high ankle sprain is typically a multi-week injury and given the fact that Sims-Walker didn't practice all last week would lead me to believe Sims-Walker will likely be out against the New York Giants this week.
Given what transpired on the offense on Sunday, this will be an injury to watch this week.
The Jaguars offense was anemic to say the least with the absence of Mike Sims-Walker. Hero from the Houston Texans game, wide receiver Mike Thomas was bracketed all game long. He scored a touchdown and gained some yards on a couple short passes. He ended the game with 5 catches for 35 yards and a touchdown. With Sims-Walker out of the line up, it removed a legitimate wide receiver threat from the field. This let the Browns lax coverage on a side and bracket Thomas and tight end Marcedes Lewis.Even though the Jaguars took a couple shots down the field, it severely limited the Jaguars ability to go down the field. The Browns forced the Jaguars into taking short stuff or a homer-run shot, limited the normal 15 yard intermediate area the Jaguars can typically take advantage of.
"I was getting a lot of bracket on the inside. They would stack the safety on the inside. Also they would put a nickel guy underneath me a lot on third down so they were trying to take me away I guess in some kind of fashion, but we were able to get the win so that's all that matters," Mike Thomas told Charlie Bernstein of FSN Florida after the game.
Prior to the screen pass to Maurice Jones-Drew, David Garrard was only 19/33 for 179 yards. That left him with a measly 5.4 yards per attempt (YPA). That's a full 3-yards below Garrard's YPA of 8.8 prior to the game. Quit a bit of Garrard's yardage in the game were on quick short passes that relied on the receiver to get a good chunk of the yardage after the catch, which hasn't been typical of the Jaguars passing offense this season.
If Sims-Walker is out again on Sunday, which I am going to assume he is, the Jaguars offense can expect to see much of the same.