Sports

Blaine Gabbert Injured In Jaguars' Loss Against Rams

The Parkway West graduate left Sunday's game with a hamstring injury as the NFL team fell to 0-5 on the season.

Sam Bradford bested Blaine Gabbert Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome as the St. Louis Rams defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in a matchup of beleaguered former Big 12 quarterbacks.

Gabbert made his first appearance as a QB at the Edward Jones Dome since his junior year at Mizzou Sunday. The Ballwin native was 9 of 19 for 181 yards and a touchdown, but also threw 2 interceptions in the 34-20 loss before a left hamstring injury forced him out of the game with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

The game marked Gabbert's first two consecutive starts of the season after missing parts of the schedule and the latter part of the preseason with a variety of injuries to an ankle, hand and thumb.

Gabbert had one of the team's offensive weapons back in the form of wide receiver Justin Blackmon, the former Oklahoma State wideout who missed the first four weeks of the season due to a league suspension. The two connected on a 67-yard pass play to give Jacksonville a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. 

But the two Big 12 alums had trouble hooking up thereafter. A deep throw targeting Blackmon late in the first quarter was picked off by Rams safety Matt Giordano and returned 82 yards for a touchdown.

An Gabbert interception by James Laurinaitis in the endzone after a Jacksonville drive was kept alive by a Rams penalty on a Jaguars field goal was deflating for the visiting team early in the third quarter. Two drives later, Gabbert's hamstring made it impossible for him to continue.

Head Coach Gus Bradley said afterward that he was not preparing to pull his quarterback because of his performance and that depending on the nature of the injury, Gabbert would remain as the team's starter next week against Denver.

After the game, Bradley was preaching the importance of decision-making. "The tale of this game was the turnovers. we had two interceptions a fumble and they were critical to the game," he said, in addition to a pair of Gabbert fumbles on sacks that were recovered by the Jaguars.

"Things haven't gone the way we wanted to the first couple weeks of the season for this team and for some of the individuals on it but its just something we have to fight through," Gabbert said when asked about the injuries which have plagued him and his team. "Injuries are a part of the game, that's a reality we face on a daily basis. Guys go down. It's an opportunity for younger guys to step up." He wouldn't address the status of his hamstring injury, other than to say he'd be checking with the team's medical staff Monday.

"It's another game on the schedule, no bigger than any other one," Gabbert said when asked if he placed any added weight on this game, in his St. Louis home. "It's an opportunity to come here and play a good football team and we just didn't get the job done today."

When the interviews were done and Patch noticed he was wearing what looked like Parkway West powder blue, Gabbert cracked a grin after another otherwise frustrating afternoon on the gridiron.


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