Jaguars interim coach Mel Tucker can count on Maurice Jones-Drew going all out down the stretch. (AP)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- At times, Maurice Jones-Drew doubted this could happen.
Not often, and not for long. The Jacksonville Jaguars' two-time Pro Bowl running back is about confidence and determination, so uncertainty is rarely a factor.
But before he spent the past three months making a run at his first NFL rushing title, Jones-Drew faced a long rehabilitation from offseason microfracture knee surgery. It was, he said, the most difficult time of his career.
And things absolutely weren't certain.
"I expected to be back where I am, but throughout the process, there were times where I doubted it," said Jones-Drew, who overcame the injury to again be one of the NFL's most reliable runners.
"There was one time where I was like, 'I don't know if I can play anymore.'"
To hear Jones-Drew and teammates tell it, he has done more than make it back.
The Jaguars' second-round selection in the 2006 draft made the Pro Bowl in 2009 and 2010, but his production during this tumultuous season has been remarkable.
After sitting out the final two games of last season with the knee injury, Jones-Drew played sparingly in the preseason while continuing to rehabilitate. But he has started every game this season, and has rushed for at least 84 yards in 10 of 11 games.
Through 12 games, he has rushed for 1,137 yards and five touchdowns and is three yards ahead of the Eagles' LeSean McCoy for the NFL's rushing lead. Only the Bears' Matt Forte (1,487) and the Ravens' Ray Rice (1,473) have more yards from scrimmage this season than Jones-Drew (1,434).
"Knowing him, we knew when he missed the last two games [in 2010] how bad he must have felt," said veteran Jaguars center Brad Meester. "For him to not be out there showed how hurt he was. What he has done this year, to make it back, you know how hard he had to work and what he put in."
Jones-Drew's first real offseason moment of self-doubt came less than two months after surgery. He was still in a straight-leg cast, and because it was March, Jones-Drew said his body clock indicated he should have been ratcheting up his lifting, gaining strength.
Instead, he remained in the early stages of rehab. The very early stages. "There was like this 80-year old lady -- she had just gotten a hip replacement and she was rehabbing with me," Jones-Drew said.
Jones-Drew added with a laugh: "She was kicking my ass."
In June, with the lockout lingering, Jones-Drew said he still had trouble walking up stairs. He waited until around that time before beginning to run. When he did, he said he essentially had to teach himself how to do it all over again.
"Once I started running, I was like, 'This doesn't feel right,'" he said. "It was a tough process and it challenged me."
On the field this season, things have been just as tough. The Jaguars leaned heavily on Jones-Drew each of the past two seasons, and after rushing for 1,391 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2009 -- his first full season as a starter -- he followed that with a remarkable 2010 season.
He continued to take the field fighting through the pain of the knee injury that would eventually require surgery, and at one point, rushed for more than 100 yards in six consecutive games. He finished the season with 1,324 yards despite missing the final two games.
If the Jaguars were run-dependent before, they are more so this season. Jacksonville released its starting quarterback, David Garrard, just before the season and has struggled behind Luke McCown and rookie Blaine Gabbert. Add in an underachieving receiving corps and it's easy to see why defenses have been able to focus more on Jones-Drew than in the past.
"When teams put eight or nine at the line, we can only account for so many," Meester said. "Most runs, he's making a guy miss, or breaking a tackle."
"It's just different circumstances," Jones-Drew said. "When you bring in a rookie quarterback, that's the role you're going to play."
The Jaguars, at 3-9, are already eliminated from the playoff race, but Jones-Drew remains in the running for the NFL rushing title.
He said he would trade one for the other, if he could.
"I'd rather be 9-3," he said, noting that Texans running back Arian Foster told him in the offseason that winning the rushing title last season meant little because Houston finished 6-10. "They didn't win. He got it. That was awesome. It was another thing on the resume. But it wasn't the same as winning.
"It would always be good to have the title and those kinds of accolades, but you'd rather have, 'He led his team to this,' or, 'He took his team from this to that.'"
Title or no title, Jones-Drew said he accomplishes one of his major goals for this season each time he steps onto the field. It's about effort, not accolades.
That motivation helps explain an incident late in a 16-14 victory over Tennessee in the regular-season opener. Jones-Drew played far less than usual in the fourth quarter of that game, with then-head coach Jack Del Rio wanting to ensure his starting back was rested and not overworked.
Jones-Drew and Del Rio each acknowledged afterward that while Jones-Drew wasn't storming around the field throwing his helmet, he didn't appreciate being shelved before the game was over.
"People say, 'I wanted the ball,'" Jones-Drew said. "I just wanted to play. I didn't want guys that I played with thinking I was hurt. That was my whole thing. I wanted to come back and prove to these guys that I could still play and I was back to 100 percent.
"A lot of the people had the surgery I had. A lot of people came back and a lot of people didn't. I wanted to be one of the ones to come back."
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