Jacksonville JaguarsPro Bowl running back Maurice Jones-Drew will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a right meniscus injury suffered during the preseason, *The Florida Times-Union* reported Saturday, citing a team source.
Jones-Drew hadn't practiced in the past two weeks and was ruled out of Sunday's regular-season finale against the Houston Texans because of the lingering knee problem. He also didn't play in last Sunday's overtime loss to the Washington Redskins.
The surgery calls for a knee scope to repair cartilage nestled between bones in the knee, which started bothering Jones-Drew after his sixth consecutive 100-yard game Dec. 12.
Jones-Drew doesn't have ligament damage, the source said, and he could be available if the Jaguars make the playoffs. To do that, they need to beat the Texans and have the Tennessee upset the Indianapolis Colts, giving Jacksonville the AFC South title.
Jones-Drew's 1,324 rushing yards through 14 regular-season games this season was second only to Houston's Arian Foster at the time. Statistics aside, the Jaguars prize Jones-Drew's health above rushing titles, so they monitored their star as he played through pain from Week 1.
"They told him going into this year -- that knee may not hold up," Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter told The Times-Union. "It's really pretty remarkable that he put up the numbers that he did and ran the way he did for as long he did."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
