Jaguars' Pederson Offers No Explanation For Different Workloads For Etienne, Bigsby

Did the Jacksonville Jaguars tip their hand on their evaluation of the running back room in Sunday's win over the Titans?
With both Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne healthy at the same time for the first time in several weeks, the Jaguars had a chance to use a one-two punch vs. the Titans in the 10-6 win. Instead, though, the Jaguars leaned heavily on one running back ahead of the other.
Bigsby ended up finishing the game with 18 carries for 55 yards, including the game-winning touchdown with six minutes left. Meanwhile, Etienne recorded just four carries, tied for the fewth-fewest carries in a game in his career.
When asked about the unbalanced workload on Monday and whether it was something that just happened over the course of the game, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson didn't offer much in terms of explanation.
“Yeah, a little bit. Again, good front that we were going against. Two really good D-tackles in there. Kind of hard to run the ball a little bit," Pederson said on Monday.
"But Tank, obviously the touchdown run and had a couple, he and Etienne both had a couple of nice little bursts in there which really helped us out. I mean, it kept us on the field a couple of times, converting into some first downs. Again, both guys are healthy and getting them both involved is what we need to do.”
On the season as a whole, Bigsby has 120 carries compared to Etienne's 99, 602 yards compared to Etienne's 391, and five rushing touchdowns compared to Etienne's two.
"It's a blessing to be out there on the field. First, I want to thank God. But, it started off slow as an offense. As a player, you want to get going as a runner and get the offense going and just be a key factor for the offense," Bigsby said after the game.
"We started off a little slow – two yards, one yard – but we have to stay with it and have faith in that in the run game and I feel like we did that. We stayed with it, Coach stayed with it. When opportunities came for big plays and big runs, we executed on it."
The Jaguars' running game has been largely hit or miss throughout the season. Etienne hasn't eclipsed 70 rushing yards in a game this season while Bigsby has averaged just 32.2 yards in his last five games since a 100-yard day against the Patriots in Week 7.
"Yeah, I mean, you always want to do what you can to stay ahead of the sticks. I think that's a big part of it. Runs on second-and-10, second-and-nine, they're not always the most exciting," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said last week.
"You may have a productive run that's still setting you up for a third-and-long situation. So just being able to mix and match when we're trying to run the ball. Making sure we're creating ideal looks, whether it's just matchups or the numbers in the box or staying in those manageable situations is always key to being able to do that."
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