Any loss in the NFL is a tough pill to swallow, but the Jacksonville Jaguars' Week 2 31-27 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals seemed especially difficult.
The central theme of the loss? A slumping Brian Thomas Jr., who dropped a fourth-down pass that could have put the game away. On the day, Thomas caught only four of his 12 targets for 49 yards, with multiple questionable reps spread throughout the day,
Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said following the game that he would have to review the tape to get to the bottom of Thomas' poor game, which was one of the worst days of Thomas' career from a production standpoint.
Coen addressed the media on Monday and gave an update on Thomas' status and what he thinks may have played into his performance.
"Yeah, we're gonna have a conversation here shortly. You know, I think ultimately, I know he's kind of got a, you know, he's got a couple things going on. Had a wrist injury going into the game and, you know, did that have a play a part in some of this stuff?" Coen said.
"I've got to go, you know, go talk to him. But, you know, I think he's aware of it, and needs to have a better week this week. I think he understands what's at stake. He understands what's going on and we got to go get to the root of it."
Thomas did not show up on any injury reports in Week 1 or Week 2, and Coen made sure to stress it is not a major injury. After all, the Jaguars knew about the wrist issue and still fed him 12 targets in the Bengals loss. How the Jaguars manage the injury and how the star receiver rebounds in Week 3 vs. the Houston Texans will be a critical piece of whether the Jaguars start 1-2 or 2-1.
"I don't know when he did it, but it was something that's just been that, you know, just been kind of a little nag, you know. I don't think it's anything that huge," Coen said. "It's just, it's a thing that he's kind of been working through, you know. So, you know, everybody goes through some things, and we're ultimately, it's our job to get to the bottom of it and try to get them to feel good and play at the highest level he can."
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