The Jacksonville Jaguars Fall to Their Arch Rivals the Tennessee Titans
By Kathy Clark
The Jacksonville Jaguars failed to defeat the Tennessee Titans once again. In contrast to the game against the New England Patriots one week ago the offense of the Jaguars could do nothing against the smothering defense of the Titans.
To be kind the game might be called an epic defensive battle. Likewise, it could be called an inept offensive performance by both teams. The Jacksonville Jaguars played two substitutes on the offensive line.
The Titans were forced to play their injured quarterback. Even so, a game with no touchdowns is unheard of in the modern NFL. Let’s try to find some highlights.
First half highlights
The Jacksonville Jaguars had great field position but only managed to score three points in the first half. The good news was that the Tennessee Titans only scored three points as well.
The Jaguars attempted a fake punt but it was obvious that the Titans were ready for this ploy.
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The result gave the Titans great field position and the Jaguars never got momentum again. Blaine Gabbert left the game and entered the concussion protocol after a targeting penalty by Malik Jackson. As a result, an injured Marcus Mariota entered the game.
The Titans defense had a solid plan to slow down Blake Bortles. A linebacker shadowed him and kept him from rolling out to the right and from running. Bortles is at his best at short throwing short passes from the right side of the field. This tactic limited him.
Several drops didn’t help. The Jaguars managed a very minimal 110 total yards in the first half.
Second half highlights
The Jaguars defense continued to stop the Titans but the Titans in turn stopped the Jaguars. Calais Campbell had two sacks. The Tennessee defense upped the pressure on Bortles. For this reason, Bortles had some bad throws.
In fact, he had three sidearm passes batted down in one series. He had no help from the running game and no special catches by the wide receivers.
By the fourth quarter, Mariota found some momentum and began completing passes. This opened up the running game and improved their yardage on first down. As a result, Tennessee kicked the winning field goal.
It was obvious by late in the final quarter that the Jaguars defense was worn down by playing way too long in the heat.
Key Points
The Jaguars offense never really got started. The game plan was very disappointing in that it didn’t appear to be predicated on defeating the Titans and was very vanilla. Nathaniel Hackett, the team’s offensive coordinator, was a hero last week. This week…not so much.
The kicking game was the best. Josh Lambo made both field goals and Logan Cooke’s punting averaged more than 45 yards per attempt. The Jaguars committed eight penalties for 75 yards.
Bortles averaged only 4.6 yards per pass.
Its time to say farewell to this very disappointing game. On to the New York Jets and their rookie quarterback Sam Darnold.