Jaguars Spend Thursday Morning Discussing 'Actionable Change' Before Practice

Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone released a statement explaining the team's decision to shift Thursday morning meetings to a different topic of conversation.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are among professional sports teams across all leagues who have taken time for reflection and conversation following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot seven times in the back in Kenosha, Wis. and days of protests in the area which included two protestors being killed by an Illinois teenager.

The Jaguars will take to the practice field at 11 p.m., according to head coach Doug Marrone. The coach had a scheduled media availability earlier Thursday morning that was postponed, and the team was originally scheduled to practice at 9:45 a.m.

In a statement released through the club’s PR Department, Marrone said:

“This morning, our players and coaches met for over two hours, and we continued the discussion around creating actionable change in our communities.

We will be on the field at 11 a.m. for practice.”

Marrone will now speak with local media following the conclusion of Thursday’s practice.

On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA elected to boycott and forfeit their playoff game against the Orlando Magic, using the time instead to speak with the Wisconsin Attorney General about the situation back home. 

The Milwaukee Bucks have boycotted Game 5 of their First Round series vs. the Orlando Magic this afternoon. 

The team provided the following statement: pic.twitter.com/ul5rMlitlS

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) August 26, 2020

As other teams in the Orlando bubble heard of the decision, there was a domino effect of each team scheduled to play that day also deciding not to play. As such, the NBA instead postponed all Game 5 tip-off’s for the slate of first round playoff games on Wednesday.

The Milwaukee Brewers of the MLB followed suit as did the Seattle Mariners, along with WNBA and MLS teams. As sports came to a halt on Wednesday afternoon and into the night, questions arose as to how the remainder of each respective season would look.

The Green Bay Packers — Wisconsin’s professional football team — will not be practicing at all Thursday morning as they react to the Blake shooting. The Detroit Lions were the first NFL team to cancel practice because of the shooting. They instead stepped out to the front of the facility on Tuesday morning and addressed gathered media about the shooting and racial injustice.

The Lions canceled practice Tuesday to demonstrate for racial equality in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. A look at yesterday’s events and why it was important to the team to take a stand: pic.twitter.com/HJ77Ci3yTo

— Tori Petry (@sportstori) August 26, 2020

The Jags were one of many NFL teams who used time Thursday morning for a team wide discussion on the issues of social injustice. Back in June, the Jacksonville Jaguars were the first professional sports team in the country to stage a demonstrative march, following the deaths of Ahmad Aubrey and George Floyd. Doug Marrone, players, coaches and around 200 team employees marched from facilities at TIAA Bank Field to the steps of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Marrone said at the time, “This is only the beginning. We have a long fight, and that fight may last after the season, beyond years, to our next generations. But we as competitors know we have to take the competitiveness we have as players, the competitiveness that I have seen in these great young men that we have, both black and white, and we need to take that competitiveness and put it into one. And of all of the things we need to do, that is the damn battle we need to win. The battle against racism."