JACKSONVILLE – The Jaguars went through their 16th practice of 2017 Training Camp Tuesday.
The Jaguars practiced about two hours against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the practice fields adjacent to EverBank Field in temperatures of 87 degrees. It was their second consecutive day working against the Buccaneers.
The teams will play a preseason game at EverBank Field Thursday.
Head Coach Doug Marrone spoke to the media Tuesday, as did quarterback Blake Bortles. We also caught up with Jaguars veteran middle linebacker Paul Posluszny. We'll have more on Bortles later on jaguars.com, and more from Posluszny discussing his move back to the middle later in this story.
Notes and observations from Day 16 of Jaguars 2017 Training Camp practice:
*Posluszny spoke to the media Monday for the first time since he began working again at middle linebacker in base situations Sunday. This has been a major topic this week because the Jaguars moved second-year linebacker Myles Jack to the middle early in the offseason and moved Posluszny – the team's starting middle linebacker since 2011 – to the strong-side position Jack played as a rookie last season. Marrone said Monday the idea behind this week's moves is to find the best linebacker combination for the base scheme, and that Jack and weak-side linebacker Telvin Smith will remain on the field in nickel situations. "Everything is stull fluid," Posluszny said. "They're going to put us in the best position to win, and we're still trying to figure that out. We'll line up and play wherever they ask us to line up and play." Posluszny said playing the strong side had been a challenge, and that he had played the spot well at times and struggled other times. "To go back has been good, because that's what I'm familiar with," Posluszny said. "I still have a long way to go and play at a high level [on the strong side]. I struggled in some areas, but there's no doubt I could play it come Week 1." Of Jack, Posluszny said, "I thought Myles played at a high level, especially in the [preseason opener last Thursday] against New England. It goes to show how versatile he is that they feel comfortable playing him at either spot." …
*A topic when Marrone spoke to the media after practice: the chippy nature of Tuesday's work. Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and Buccaneers offensive tackle Donovan Smith had words and shoves early, and Jaguars wide receiver Allen Robinson skirmished with Buccaneers safety Chris Conte later. Jaguars wide receiver Arrelious Benn and Buccaneers linebacker Adarious Blanton exchanged jabs late in the red-zone drill in which Robinson and Conte clashed. Marrone on Tuesday reiterated his stance from earlier in camp, calling the actions "Disappointing." "Obviously, we don't want this in the league," Marrone said. "You can't do that in the game; you're going to hurt your team. Those are the things we talk to our players about. I don't want to say, 'Yeah, you expect that,' because I think that's wrong.'' …
*The Jaguars wrapped up back-to-back weeks of joint practices Tuesday, having held two padded joint practices with New England in Foxboro, Massachusetts, last week. "I think you get better work in these situations," Marrone said. "I thought we got some good work against each other." Marrone has said throughout the last two weeks that the idea was to get quality work against schemes, looks and situations they wouldn't get from practicing against teammates. "I think all that stuff is going to help us as we move forward trying to get to where we want to be," he said, adding that the Jaguars now have "to get ready and start tightening some things down and start getting ready to get our focus more toward what the roster is going to be like and what we want to do."
*Marrone said there remain more undecided positions than he is accustomed to at this point in training camp, and that the final two weeks will be key for those decisions. "There is still a lot on the line for a lot of these players," Marrone said, "so I think to kind of get away from this and see how we go back and perform against each other … I think we can put people in situations where we want to see exactly how they perform." …
