“I think he made another step today”, Bradley said of Ivory.
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Ivory missed the first two games after being hospitalized on the morning of the season opener.
Ivory was hospitalized the morning of the opener against Green Bay – a 27-23 loss on September 11 – and returned to the team on September 15.
The Jaguars ran the ball just 11 times in last Sunday’s 38-14 loss to San Diego because they fell behind 35-0, but they are committed to getting the ground game going against the Ravens even though they may be without center Brandon Linder (knee) and left tackle Kelvin Beachum (concussion).
Linder, the team’s starting center, sprained his knee during practice Wednesday and didn’t practice Thursday. He said he is no longer having any pain.
Coach Gus Bradley ruled Beachum out Friday.
Jaguars offensive coordinator Greg Olson was pleased with what he saw out of Ivory in Wednesday’s session.
“I think the first preseason game when we played against the Jets, he played quite a bit and you know bigger body-type guys, he really did a nice job”.
“He looked good yesterday”, Olson said. He brings juice and obviously we need that. Like I said before, the issue is more his conditioning and how he feels and what can we get from him. “I know during the week he felt like he was 70-75 percent so that’s got to go up there for us to play him”. Ivory was taken to a Jacksonville hospital early in the morning of the September 11 season opener.
Jaguars second-year back T.J. Yeldon leads their offense with 67 rushing yards and a touchdown, but is averaging a mere 2.4 yards per carry.
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With the running game so ineffective in his absence, Ivory might be able to secure a larger percentage of work if he can make a difference Sunday’ against the Ravens. Yeldon and Denard Robinson have combined to rush for 81 yards on 32 carries, which is 2.5 yards per carry.
