Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans: Week 17 preview
By Billy Long
The Jacksonville Jaguars close out the regular season with a very familiar foe on the road.
The book is quickly closing on the 2017 regular season in the NFL as the final week’s games are being fought on Sunday. For the Jacksonville Jaguars, week 17 doesn’t signal the end of the team’s season for the first time since 2007. The Jaguars have clinched the AFC South, and will host a wild card game at home next weekend.
Even with Jacksonville being locked into the three seed in the playoffs regardless of the outcome of any game on Sunday, Doug Marrone has emphasized that the team will play to win this week against the Tennessee Titans.
More from Jacksonville Jaguars News
- 5 potential cap casualties the Jacksonville Jaguars should be in on in 2023
- The Jacksonville Jaguars got so lucky with the 2021 NFL Draft
- Jacksonville Jaguars opt for continuity at RB, re-sign JaMycal Hasty
- Jaguars Mock Draft: Huge trade for a WR, add more help on offense
- 3 landing spots for Jacksonville Jaguars WR Marvin Jones in 2023 NFL free agency
The first matchup of the division foes was one of the few truly awful games for the Jaguars this season. Jacksonville fell apart in the second half, and the Titans ran away with a 37-16 road win.
The Jaguars have the opportunity to spoil Tennessee’s playoff hopes for the second straight season. Last year, Jacksonville thwarted the Titans’ division title aspirations in week 16 with a 38-17 upset, in the first game with Doug Marrone stepping in after the firing of Gus Bradley. Sunday, barring the Titans getting major assistance from two other games, Jacksonville can once again knock their rival from a playoff berth.
Coming off the ugly loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Jaguars are looking for a bounce back win before the start of the postseason. The starters are playing, as Jacksonville is displaying the aggressiveness they have shown all season.
A preview of the regular season finale:
The Jaguars will win if…
…the defense plays focused and disciplined.
Last week against the San Francisco 49ers, the Jaguars defense had an afternoon to forget. Jacksonville gave up 37 offensive points, as Jimmy Garoppolo threw two touchdowns and completed 70 percent of his passes. It was the worst performance of the season by the league’s number one ranked defense. Along with the dreadful play between the whistles, the Jaguars defense uncharacteristically lost their composure far too many times, committing multiple backbreaking unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Against the Titans, the defense needs to restore the toughness and intensity that has fueled this playoff season, while also regaining the discipline to play smart and avoid dumb mistakes. It was a bad week last week, it happens. The Jaguars haven’t magically lost the multitude of talent that has stymied offenses all year. Refocus, show up hungry, and Jacksonville will control this game.
Tennessee got the best of the Jaguars defense in the first matchup. But that was all the way back in week two, and without the valuable addition of Marcell Dareus to stuff the exact phase of the game the Titans used to win: the rushing game. In battle two, the unit will have something to prove in a redemption week. A Jacksonville defense that is dialed-in will be hard to defeat on Sunday.
The Jaguars will lose if…
…the running game is nonexistent again.
The Jaguars rushing attack has been lacking in one critical component as of late: consistency.
Last week in the loss against the 49ers, the team failed to reach 100 yards on the ground, and Leonard Fournette finished with just 48 yards. Jacksonville has to get back to their roots of a bullying rush attack to be successful, not only on Sunday but moving on to January.
Like the game in San Fran, if the Jaguars are forced to be one-dimensional against the Titans, the game has the opportunity to be another black eye for Jacksonville. If Tennessee can pin their ears back and unleash on Blake Bortles, we’ve seen numerous times that leading to mistakes, even though Bortles was the catalyst behind the team’s furious comeback effort last Sunday.
Jacksonville has to get the run game back on the rails. If not, Tennessee could walk away with the regular season sweep, and have a chance at 3-for-3 next weekend.
Prediction
The game against San Francisco was brutal, and the team knows it. With the Jaguars going all in on getting the victory, players will get a shot at both redemption and revenge against the Titans. Jacksonville is fully aware of the importance of putting their woeful last performance behind them, and even more importantly, gaining back momentum before the postseason begins. The team has already won the division, but losing both games against Tennessee would be a bitter footnote.
This game will be an all out war, and closer than the first meeting. The Titans are fighting for a playoff spot, and will be geared up for this one. The Jaguars were humbled last week, particularly on defense. The team is itching to reassert themselves as a contender in the AFC. Also, the doubters have returned en masse, and Jacksonville loves the role of underdog.
The Jaguars enter the playoffs on a high note, while also spoiling the Titans’ fun for the second consecutive season, by closing out the regular season with a road win.