*EDITOR'S NOTE: Wide receiver Jacoby Jones is providing a weekly diary entry for HoustonTexans.com to provide fans insight into his thoughts during his rookie season in the NFL.
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There's one word I'd use to describe this week: mysterious. We're trying to figure out where we're going to play - San Diego, here, Arizona. I even heard some people say Dallas or Los Angeles, so I don't know what's going on. We've just got to wait to see.
I'm from New Orleans, so all this with the fires kind of reminds of Hurricane Katrina a little bit. I wouldn't say they're the same, because Katrina's a totally different level. But I know people are losing their homes – I do send them my blessings and my regards. But Katrina's like a much different story. It's hard to even compare that.
I know a lot of people in San Diego did have their families evacuate. That's what reminds me of Katrina, even though my family wasn't all down there when it happened. I had my mother – I actually had a game the day that it hit, so she was up there watching me play. She was able to get out before it came. But I had an uncle who was trapped down there who they had to pull him off the roof of his house.
I just found out today that we've got some guys from down in California like Will Demps and Chester Pitts, so I've got to ask them if everything's alright.
At the end of the day though, it's not a distraction for us come Sunday. It's football, man. We're ready to play anywhere. We could play on the carpet in our locker room if we wanted to. Like I say, you can play anywhere if the grass is green and the ball is brown – as long as it's not Boise State.
By the time the game rolls around, I don't think it's going to be that big of a distraction for the Chargers, either. As long as the team can keep their composure and work hard, they'll be alright, because they're a pretty good football team. LT especially, he's a great player.
As for my shoulder injury, I really felt like I was ready to play last week. I just took a bad fall on it early in the game and kind of tweaked it a little bit. That's what kind of aggravated it the whole game. It wasn't a setback, though. I didn't re-injure it; it was just kind of tender, that's all.
I still think I'm ready, though. I want to play. But then again, I don't want to hurt the team as well. I'm just going to push hard in practice and work through it and hopefully be ready to go again. I think what I have to do probably is the days in practice when we have pads, I'll have to go ahead and bang on it a little bit and see what it feels like.
I don't know how I'm going to be used this week. That's the coach's decision on that, so I couldn't really speak on that one. But what I'm going to try to do to show them I'm ready is make every catch in practice and don't even look like I'm favoring it.
Not having an injury like this before, it's been very frustrating, but then like I said I've got to have the mind-frame just to fight through it. If I can do that, then I should be ready to help the team on Sunday, whatever city they put us in.
Jacoby Jones diary archive:Entry 9 - 10/18
Entry 8 - 10/10
Entry 7 - 10/3
Entry 6 - 9/26
Entry 5 - 9/19
Entry 4 - 9/12
Entry 3 - 9/5
Entry 2 - 8/28
Entry 1 - 8/22
Got a question for Jacoby? Post a comment, or send an e-mail to editor Nick Scurfield at **nscurfield@houstontexans.com*.*
