Jacksonville Jaguars show tenacity in dominant win over Titans
By Luke Sims
The Jacksonville Jaguars already look like a better team, trouncing the Tennessee Titans in a big win post-Gus Bradley.
Call it a Christmas miracle if you will. The Jacksonville Jaguars trounced the Tennessee Titans 38-17 in Week 16 raising their record to 3-12 on the 2016 season. It was a miraculous game filled with plenty of big moments for a team that was vanilla and led by a mediocre head coach just a week before.
Credit to interim head coach Doug Marrone who made the Jaguars actually look like they played to their talent level for the firs time all season. This included big plays on defense (including a Jalen Ramsey pick-six) and offensive innovations like a Marqise Lee touchdown pass to Blake Bortles.
Aside from those big plays, the key difference was in execution. Bortles looked like an impressive young signal caller, completing 68.4 percent of his passes for 325 yards and one touchdown while keeping the ball safe. It is his first game with over 300 passing yards that has resulted in a win.
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The Jags also took chances with the big-play receivers that mattered in 2015 but have been nearly silent in 2016. Allen Robinson had 147 yards receiving on nine receptions. The Jags had two pass plays for over 35 yards as well.
All in all, things looked very different for the Jaguars. It wasn’t a perfect win by any means and there is no indication that Marrone has secured the coaching job, but it definitely felt different. There was something new in the air and the Jaguars tapped into it as they dominated a division rival for the first time in a long time.
This win was also the first home win in over a year.
Thing are changing for the Jaguars. Hopefully this game and Week 17 will help the team build some momentum in the post-Gus Bradley era.