Gardner Minshew ‘begged’ Doug Marrone to play quarterback

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew will do anything to play more football — he’ll chug whiskey and take a hammer to his hand, he’ll hide injuries from the team, and he’ll even beg head coach Doug Marrone to put him in.

That’s according to ESPN’s Mike DiRocco who spoke with Minshew after practice on Monday.

“It’s so frustrating,” Minshew said. “I pretty much went and begged before the Cleveland game to be able to play. It sucks, you know, There’s no way around it. I want to be out there. I want to be helping our team, but if helping our team is me being the best No. 2 that I can be then that’s what I’ve got to do right now.”

But Doug Marrone doesn’t sound like he’s turning to the young quarterback any time soon, naming Mike Glennon the starter just minutes after a two-interception overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

“We talked today and just like I told him, I just want to see more at practice,” Marrone said. “I think he’s working on his volume and the amount of throws and all of that. He’s obviously cleared medically, but still you want to be able to see those things on the practice field. I just think right now in practice Mike [Glennon] is throwing better and giving us the best chance to win. I don’t think Gardner’s 100 percent as far as his workload and that’s always a concern to me. I’m trying to understand it and we’re both trying to work through it.”

Minshew started the first seven games of the season and looked serviceable at best after the first two weeks of the season when he absolutely lit up the box score. He’s 1-6 so far this season with pedestrian numbers — 7.1 adjusted yards per attempt, 4.9% touchdown percentage, and 1.9% interception percentage. He didn’t look good under pressure, he wasn’t great at staying in the pocket, and he wasn’t finding open receivers despite receivers being... well... open.

It looks to be that the only way Marrone puts Minshew back in is if Glennon is injured. And I don’t see that happening. This offensive line has done a decent job in pass protection, despite all the sacks that Jaguars quarterbacks have been at fault for. And the run game looks great, so that’s even less of a reason for opposing defenders to pin their ears back and go hard in the pass rush.

The Jaguars are 1-11 and in the middle of the longest losing streak in franchise history.