By 
What a difference a year makes for Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars. After leading the NFL in rushing yards a season ago, this season has been full of frustration for MJD. It started this offseason when he elected to hold out of training camp in hopes of securing a new contract. He never did get that contract, he hasn’t had the kind of production he is used to, the Jags have just one win on the season and now he has been dealing with an injury to his foot that has only allowed him to play six games this season. In a season where MJD is trying to show new owner Shad Khan that he is a worthwhile investment, Jones-Drew has had one of his worst seasons of his career and the Jaguars are staring at another offseason full of questions.
Maurice Jones-Drew joined Fox Sports Radio with Petros and Money to talk about whether he may be out for the year because of his foot injury, on the struggles of Jacksonville this season, what he makes of owner Shad Khan calling out the players, how excited he is to see UCLA playing so well heading into the game against USC and whether he disliked USC players while he was at UCLA.
Whether he may be out for the year because of his injury:
“No it’s definitely not going to be the year but with a foot injury you don’t want to mess around with it and come back at 70 or 80 percent. It’s just one of those things that’s going to take a little bit of time but it’s doing much better. Hopefully I will be back in a couple of weeks.”
On the struggles in Jacksonville this season:
“It’s just a tough year for us right now. I think there’s a lot of things that have been in place, a lot of key players have gotten injured throughout the year and we just have to battle through some things. Hopefully we can get it back straight and get it back on a winning trend.”
On owner Shad Khan calling out the players:
“It is what it is. He’s an emotional guy and he wants to win. We all undertsand that, just like we want to win as well but when you buy a team for $765 million you expect production. We haven’t produced to the level that he expected and he’s a little bit upset right now but we’ll get things going. It’s a patient game, you can’t just hop in and become a Super Bowl Champion. You have to work at it and continue to make sure we get the right pieces. We feel like we have, we just have to keep everybody healthy.”
How excited he is to see UCLA playing so well heading into the game against USC:
“I’m very excited, it’s going to be a really good game. I think to see UCLA playing at a high level is huge for us. The last couple of years, things haven’t been going well but these guys have stepped up. I met a bunch of them during the bye week and they’re on a good track. To see them handle Washington State the way they did, that’s when you can tell a team is on the rise, when you beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. Hopefully we can continue that on this week against SC.”
Whether he disliked USC players when he was at UCLA:
“It was just the colors that bothered me. I never really had a problem with any of them because my cousin went to USC and obviously had some friends, Eric Wright, before he transferred, my good friend. Reggie Bush and the battle we had, we built a relationship through that. I was friends with a bunch of guys on there. We had a great relationship. I just didn’t like the colors. It’s just something about that I don’t like. Not only that, you guys were cheating so that makes it worse.”
Comments