Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Jaguars' ground game had some success

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Lost in the quarterback change on Sunday and the ensuing excitement about Blake Bortles' performance is that the Jacksonville Jaguars' running game was actually productive against Indianapolis.

It wasn't great and there's still a lot of room for improvement, but the Jaguars did have success on the ground. They rushed for 105 yards, which was more than their total through the first two games (89 yards). That total includes 30 yards rushing by Bortles, but even if that's removed the Jaguars running backs still gained 75 yards.

Toby Gerhart, Denard Robinson and Jordan Todman combined to average 4.2 yards per carry. Adding in Bortles' two carries increases that average to 5.3 per carry.

Granted, some of that is due to the fact the Colts were playing pass most of the game and certainly in the second half with a 30-0 lead. However, the Jaguars have been so poor at running the ball in losses to Philadelphia and Washington that what happened against the Colts is certainly progress.

"That was exciting to finally move the ball a little bit in the run game," Gerhart said. "I'm excited with the progress and we're going to go back and look at it [Monday] and try to keep getting better. Definitely a good step today."

 

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