WATFORD, England – Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen confirmed during his pre-practice press conference on Oct. 14 that left tackle Anton Harrison will undergo right knee surgery next week and will be replaced by Walker Little this week against the Houston Texans.
Harrison was injured in the third quarter of the Jaguars’ 19-17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles and was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 13, meaning he will miss a minimum of the next four games (Houston, Indianapolis, Baltimore and Tennessee).
Asked how concerned he was that Harrison may be lost for the season, Coen said: “We’ll just figure it out when we get back. He’ll have a little procedure and we’ll see what it looks like in there.”
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Harrison will remain with the Jaguars in England; the team will fly home to Jacksonville immediately after playing the Texans on Oct. 18. Coen said “swelling,” is the reason why Harrison wasn’t flown home for an earlier surgery.
Little brings 39 starter of experience to the Jaguars’ offensive line and allows Coen to keep Cole Van Lanen at right tackle.
“I have a lot of confidence in Walker and Cole to go in there (and play) and they have played (Houston) so many times and have had success against them and know what they’re in for in terms of the battle.”
Little played 21 snaps against Cleveland in Week 1 when Van Lanen, in his first game back from offseason ACL surgery, started but had his work managed. Little played the final 31 offensive snaps against the Eagles. He had a false start penalty at the 1-yard line and the Times-Union’s game charting booked him with one allowed pass protection pressure.
“He did a nice job,” Coen said. “He did some really good things in the run game.”
The Texans’ 18 sacks are second-most in the NFL through five weeks and defensive end Will Anderson leads the league with 7 1/2 sacks, including three in the Week 5 win at Tennessee. The Texans are 1-4.
It won’t fall all on Little and Van Lanen to stop the Texans’ pass rush.
“It takes all 11,” Coen said. “It’s not just those tackles. It’s having a plan in the chip (block) game. It’s having timing and accuracy and getting the ball out and having a plan.”
Also key will be avoiding penalties. The Jaguars have 13 enforced penalties in each of their last two games. They had three delay of game flags against the Eagles, which promoted Coen to meet with the offense.
“That was probably one of the louder atmospheres I’ve been in in a while,” Coen said. “Especially in those critical moments, it’s, ‘Hey, guys, I can help you out with my play call,’ and maybe shorten it up and trim the verbiage or call something a little bit more simplified down there. I showed the players and coaches a ton of clips of the TV copy and we broke the huddle eight seconds. That’s not giving (the players) a chance. That’s not giving the players the best chance to go succeed. That’s directly on me.”
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Walker Little will start at left tackle for Jaguars against Houston
