JACKSONVILLE – Cecil Shorts III is waiting and seeing.
And while he did his waiting in pain Monday, the Jaguars' third-year wide receiver said he hasn't given up on the idea of playing Sunday.
As significantly, Jaguars Head Coach Gus Bradley hasn't, either.
Shorts, who did not return after sustaining a sprained sternoclavicular joint – a joint near the clavicle and rib area – on the third play of a loss in Denver Sunday, hasn't been ruled out of the team's game this weekend against San Diego, Bradley said Monday.
"He could play," Bradley said Monday, a day after the Jaguars' 35-19 loss to the Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo.
"He's sore now, so we'll know more in a couple of days," Bradley added. "The good news is the joint is stable."
Shorts, who has 31 receptions for 411 yards and a touchdown this season, left Denver with his right arm in a sling, and though he wasn't in a sling Monday he said he felt no better than the day before.
"I'm not a sling guy," Shorts said. "I'm not going to walk around looking handicapped when I'm not handicapped. (Jaguars running back) Maurice Jones-Drew always talks about being a pain freak, and I kind of like the pain. I'm not going to be walking around being slinged up."
Shorts, who added that a reason he didn't wear a sling on Monday was he couldn't put the sling on by himself, said his goal is to play against the Chargers at EverBank Field Sunday at 1 p.m.
"I'm going to do what I can, we'll see what happens," Shorts said. "My goal is to get out there and play this week. If I can't, I can't. It's just something that's kind of hard to deal with that reality, but we'll see what happens as the week goes on."
Also around the Jaguars:
*Wide receiver Justin Blackmon may be held out of practice Wednesday with a groin/hamstring issue, but Bradley said he expects Blackmon to play Sunday. Blackmon caught 14 passes for 190 yards on Sunday….
*Bradley said when showing players video on Monday from the loss to Denver there were more examples of competing and execution than in any of the previous five games. "There were really good signs of execution," he said. "It was cool to see. The issue is we missed some opportunities. That's where we need to improve."…
*Bradley said despite the loss, Sunday's game was "the first time I really saw us as one team play together. There was generally excitement for each other, and a lot of guys made a lot of plays. Lot of big plays were made in that game. We just missed too many."…
*Bradley said while quarterback Chad Henne had too many passes tipped and deflected Sunday, overall he liked Henne's poise and how he managed and led the team. "There were some really good things the team can build on," Bradley said….
*Bradley also addressed a first-quarter fake-punt attempt on fourth-and-4 from the Jaguars 26-yard line. Fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou took a direct snap and ran for one yard, setting up a 27-yard drive by the Broncos for the game's first touchdown. Bradley said instructions were for the fake to be called off if Denver kept any defensive personnel on the field. The Broncos kept two interior linemen on the field. "I need to do a better job covering that with our guys – we missed it," Bradley said, adding that the call was more of a fourth-and-2 or fourth-and-1 call. "My mistake is it was fourth-and-5," he said, adding. "It was more on me."…
*Bradley, as he had on Sunday, said the reason for the early fake punt was an effort to "steal some series" from the Broncos.…
*Bradley on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on defensive end Andre Branch in the first half Sunday: "Players are going to get emotional and those things can happen. I was more disappointed when ten other guys didn't pull him out of that situation. We've got to understand at times the second man gets caught. That's why it's so important to get them out of that situation….
*Of a later unsportsmanlike penalty on safety Josh Evans, Bradley said, "His intent was not to do it. He leaned over a pile and yelled for us to get going and it got called. You can't do that. You've got to get away from the pile. I can see how they perceived it that way but we'll school them up."
*Bradley said despite the Jaguars playing the Broncos closer than many anticipated he heard no talk of a moral victory, and didn't speak of it himself. He said he was more focused on mistakes early in the game. "I was frustrated in the beginning of the game in that that's not us," he said. "Why do we have to call a timeout? Why did we miss a handoff? Why do we do those things? That's exactly what we talked about all week, but I loved the fact that after that it got cleaned up."…
*Bradley said the Jaguars played more Cover-Two against the Broncos than they had in previous games, with the idea being to limit explosive passes. The Broncos finished with seven explosive passes. "We knew that we had to try to find a way to try to limit them as much as possible," he said.
*Cornerback Dwayne Gratz (ankle) and tight end Marcedes Lewis (calf) will be retested this week, with Bradley saying of Lewis, "It looks better and better for him."
*Defensive end Jeremy Mincey and wide receiver Stephen Burton remain in the concussion program and will be retested Wednesday, Bradley said.
