Tank Bigsby delivers another career game for the Jacksonville Jaguars

On September 29, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby set a career high with 90 rushing yards on seven carries in a 24–20 loss to the Houston Texans on September 29.

The next week, the former Auburn star did it again, rushing for 101 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries in a 37-34 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Last week, Bigsby had 24 yards on seven carries, although running back Travis Etienne was limited to three carries due to a hamstring injury in a 35-16 loss to the Chicago Bears.

On Sunday, Bigsby returned to the winning ways of his career, even though the Jaguars started D’Ernest Johnson at running back and Etienne sat out against the New England Patriots. Bigsby ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries in Jacksonville’s 32-16 win at London.

“You don’t have too many options in this National Football League,” Bigsby said. “So when you get one, you have to take full advantage of it and do your best.”

“I felt like the more we ran the ball the Patriots would get tired. We just have to keep going and keep going and keep going and I just took advantage of those opportunities because on film you could see the fourth quarter coming, the third quarter coming, these guys are going to start making arm tackles and they’re going to start loitering around “So we just did what we had to do when these operations came.”

Bigsby scored on a 1-yard run to cap a six-play, 82-yard drive as the Jaguars took a 14-10 lead with 3:32 left in the first half.

Bigsby scored the final touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run with 1:41 left.

“He’s done a really good job for us,” Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson said. “Coming into the season behind (Etienne), he has earned the right to be out there, a chance. He did a good job today. He ran hard, ran hard, as they say, ran behind his pads.”

But that doesn’t mean Bigsby’s performance of three career days in four games has pushed him past Etienne in the pecking order in the Jaguars’ backfield.

“I believe that injury does not replace position,” Pederson said. “I think you have to have fair competition. It’s a blessing for us to have two really good running backs right now, and when Etienne comes back, he’s just as explosive, just as good, just as powerful, and it’s still his job.

“But Tank did some really good things. Of course we will continue to find ways to put the ball in his hands because he is a slightly different runner than Etienne.”

Etienne, a 2021 first-round draft pick and a 1,000-yard rusher in his first two seasons, has 230 yards and two touchdowns on 56 carries and 16 receptions for 91 yards this season.

A third-round draft pick in 2022, Bigsby has 415 yards and four touchdowns on 67 carries and one reception for 28 yards in 2024.

“I just do whatever I have to do to help this team win — whatever my job is, whatever my role is, whatever I have to do — to the best of my ability,” Bigsby said. “Obviously take advantage of the opportunities, but just come out and help this team win. That’s what I’m trying to do.”