by VITO STELLINO , Florida Times-Union

Jones-Drew, who also caught five passes for 45 yards, had so many carries that coach Jack Del Rio cautioned about giving him the ball that often.

"We don't want him to have to carry it 33 times every week. We'd like for him to carry about 25 times, 20-25 times," Del Rio said. "I think the special circumstance of this game and next week being a bye, I think we did what we had to do there."

Jones-Drew had only 11 yards in eight carries in the first half and 36 yards in 15 carries after three quarters. But the Jaguars didn't give up on the run and Jones-Drew broke loose in the final quarter.

Of his comments last week saying the team needs to run more after a 41-0 loss in Seattle, Jones-Drew said: "I was frustrated about losing. People have to understand. The league isn't about guys getting checks. The great teams care about winning,

"I went overboard with it, but the guys were backing me up. The O-line did a great job of fighting all the time."

Jones-Drew said he didn't feel any pressure to produce after making his comments.

"Pressure is made up in your mind," he said. "I said something to let people understand how I felt about losing. Guys felt the same way. It was crazy how guys were coming up to me and saying, 'We feel the same way. We're embarrassed about the losing, too.' That right there lightened what you want to call pressure because guys were saying the same thing about the embarrassment we had last week. To see guys come out doing the extra things like watching tape to be their best, it was great to see."

Jones-Drew also pointed out he didn't ask for the ball more.

"I just said we needed to run the ball; we needed to be balanced," he said. "I just want to have that balanced attack."

Jones-Drew said the Jags' ability to run made the Rams respect the play-action pass.

"Even though it wasn't pretty in the first half, it ended up helping us in the end," he said.

Jones-Drew had also said the Jaguars needed to stop the shuffling in the offensive line, but the coaching staff made one change. Rookie Eugene Monroe moved back to left tackle over Tra Thomas, who was listed as having a knee injury, though Thomas did play.

"It [Jones-Drew's comments] didn't affect us at all in a negative way," Britton said. "You can't let stuff like that tear apart the team or whatever. He's got a right to say that because we saw the film. We didn't do a good enough job last week."

Jones-Drew, who had only 18 carries for 48 yards the previous two games, now has nine 100-yard rushing games. The Jaguars are 7-2 in those games.

"He's a great player and they never gave up on it," Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis said of Jones-Drew. "He's slippery and strong."

vito.stellino@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4279

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