Doug Marrone Doesn’t Announce Glennon-Minshew Decision on Monday
It isn't common for NFL teams to now know who their starting quarterback is for the following week, but this has been the case with the Jacksonville Jaguars as of late. And for the second Monday in a row, head coach Doug Marrone hasn't come to a decision on who his starter will be next Sunday -- at least not a public one.
Will Marrone travel to Minnesota in Week 13 with Mike Glennon as his starter for the second week in a row or will he allow Gardner Minshew II to finally return to the field? Just like last week, that decision won't come out for a few more days.
“There’s been so much going on I haven’t been able to [make that decision]. We’re virtual right now being out of the building which is challenging even though we’ve done a lot of things outside the building prior to, but I have not been able to talk to the players," Marrone said in a media conference Monday when asked what he would do at quarterback.
"I apologize for this. I really haven’t had the time. I’m going to talk to the players first before I talk about it publicly. I know that we all have a good relationship, but I hope you guys can understand that, but that’s what I’m going to do. As soon as I deal with that obviously, we’ll get it to you guys.”
Marrone did similar with the quarterback position last week. One day after Jake Luton threw four interceptions against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Marrone declined to make an immediate decision on who would start at quarterback. Two days later, Marrone announced Glennon would start against the Cleveland Browns in place of Luton, with Minshew still sidelined with a thumb injury.
But Marrone's decision is likely much easier this week than it was last week. Last week, Marrone had to pull a rookie quarterback after a debacle of a start that was perhaps the worst game a quarterback has played in the league this season.
The decision to bench Luton also came following a 27-3 loss. Glennon, meanwhile, looked respectable in a tight 27-25 loss to the 8-3 Cleveland Browns. Glennon completed 25-of-35 passes (57.1%) for 235 yards (6.7 yards per attempt) and two touchdowns.
Glennon missed high a few times, but he mostly played a mistake-free game and didn't turn the ball over once, ending the game with a 96.7 rating.
“I mean it’d be ridiculous to say that it didn’t have any bearing on it but I’m not ready or prepared right now to really answer any of those questions on who’s going to be the quarterback. I thought Mike did a nice job though," Marrone said in his postgame press conference on Sunday.
"I could talk about him today. I thought he made a lot of good throws. I thought he protected the football well. I think that he wishes he probably had a couple [throws] back, a couple sailed a little bit. But I thought [he did well] getting in us in and out of plays and making some big throws to guys that he might not have been working with."
Minshew, meanwhile, was inactive on Sunday. Luton served as the team's backup as Minshew spent his fourth consecutive game on the sidelines, a result of a thumb injury that he hid from the Jaguars for several weeks.
“We talked about it during the week so Gardner [Minshew II] and I had a conversation and we were just working through what would be the best situation for him," Marrone said on Monday. "At the end of the day, we talked and it was on my plate. We just felt that with another day of working with the strength and conditioning coaches, rather than being out there on Sunday was a good situation for him, so that’s how we came to that decision.”
Expect for Marrone to name a starting quarterback on Wednesday, just like he did last week. And since Glennon didn't do anything to lose the job on Sunday, it would probably be wise to expect for the answer to be the same this week as it was last week.
