Foles hurt as Jags fall to Chiefs

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles can only watch his team Sunday after breaking his clavicle in the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs. (AP photo)

By Mark Blumenthal

A new year. A new optimism. A new hope.

And then Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones hit quarterback Nick Foles and sent him to the turf … hard, no less.

When Foles got up, he realized he had thrown his first touchdown pass as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He also realized he suffered the same crippling injury from five years ago that kept him sidelined again – a broken left clavicle.

While Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs were having their way with the Jaguars at T.I.A.A. Bank Stadium Sunday, 40-26, the Jaguars came to the sudden thought they were going to be without the Super Bowl LII Most Valuable Player for quite a while.

“I knew right when I hit the ground something was wrong. I felt it,” said Foles, who suffered the same injury as the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback in a game against the Houston Texans in 2014. “The whole play, they did a nice job covering that route and all I remember is seeing D.J. (Chark Jr.). We’ve never thrown that route ... that’s the first time I’ve thrown that route to him. It’s usually the underneath route, but they did a nice job with their coverage. They mix it up and my gut told me just to release it. That’s why I play with feel and instincts.

"All I saw was two red jerseys in my face and I remember hitting the ground on the left side and feeling a crack. Then getting up and going to the sidelines to get checked. I just saw the play right before I walked in here and it's unfortunate, but at the same time, I'm trusting the good Lord."

On Monday, Foles had surgery on his clavicle and was put on the injured reserve. By being put on the IR, Foles can come back as early as Week 11 of the season if he is healthy enough to do so.

And thus the cloud that has dogged the Jaguars most of the last decade with the exception of the 2017 season reared its ugly head again. Foles was brought in to reunite with the man who helped with that elusive Super Bowl in February 2018 against the New England Patriots, 41-33, offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, who was the offensive coordinator the year the Eagles won it all. Foles played sparingly in the preseason so Jaguars coach Doug Marrone could see what the team had in sixth-round draft choice Gardner Minshew III.

Now Minshew, the 23-year-old from Brandon, Mississippi, who threw for 4,776 yards and 38 touchdowns for coach Mike Leach at Washington State last year, will be the starting quarterback until Foles returns. Meanwhile, the Jaguars made a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, bringing in third-string quarterback and former University of Tennessee signal caller Josh Dobbs for a fifth-round selection in next year's NFL Draft.

"I've had plenty of time to prepare," Minshew said. "We have a great quarterback room, great quarterback coach (Scott Milanovich), and great offensive coordinator (DeFilippo) that do an outstanding job making sure everyone in that room is prepared. I'm extremely grateful for that and every snap in practice. I'm back behind the play doing it myself, getting the footwork in and doing everything I can to make sure whenever I do get my chance, I'll be ready."

And Minshew, who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting a year ago, looked ready to go on Sunday once Foles was taken off after the 35-yard scoring strike to Chark, making it 10-7. Minshew was accurate on his first 13 passes, the most by any rookie quarterback to start a career in the last 40 years, according to Elias Sports Bureau. For the game, Minshew was 22-of-25 passing for 275 yards and two touchdowns, one to Dede Westbrook for 15 yards, the other to Chris Conley for 21 yards. Most of it, though, came as the Jaguars had to fight from behind the entire afternoon.

That was because Mahomes, last season's Most Valuable Player, looked comfortable in the pocket all afternoon as his offensive line did the job in protecting him, never allowing Mahomes to be sacked. Mahomes was impressive in his 2019 debut, going 25-of-33 passing for 378 yards and three touchdowns, all of which went to Sammy Watkins, including scores of 68 and 49 yards, the latter coming while he was wide open.

The Chiefs, a true contender for the Super Bowl who lost to the New England Patriots in last year's AFC Championship, rolled up 491 yards of offense against the Jaguars. Worse for the Jaguars, the team committed 10 penalties for 71 yards and one of their team leaders, mild-mannered middle linebacker Myles Jack, was ejected from the game for throwing a punch at Chiefs receiver Demarcus Robinson in the second quarter as skirmishes broke out at that point. Only Jack was ejected, while a number of offsetting personal-foul penalties were called on the play.

“It’s always easy when you’re on the outside, even for me on the sideline,” Marrone said. “You don’t really know what’s going on out there. First game, lots of emotion, a lot of stuff going on. You don’t know what’s been said, what’s been done, what shots have been (taken) in piles. And I’m not saying that there was any. I think at the end of the day you want to have better composure, and I believe that Myles especially would be the first one to tell you that.”

Minshew and the Jaguars will have to move on and face off the next two games with two AFC South rivals – the Houston Texans this Sunday on the road, and then the Tennessee Titans, a team that seemingly has the Jaguars' number over the years, at T.I.A.A. Bank on a nationally televised Thursday night game on Sept. 19.

“I’m extremely grateful to be where I’m at. I’m not happy with the circumstances that it happened obviously,” Minshew said. “It breaks my heart to see what happened to Nick because he’s been one of the best people I’ve ever played with and had the pleasure to be around. To see him go down like that was awful, but I know he’s going to be there with me and we’re going to have this team where we need to go.