Jaguars vs. Titans: 5 Questions with Titan Sized

Week 3 of the NFL season has the Jacksonville Jaguars hosting a prime time game against the Tennessee Titans.

Can the Jacksonville Jaguars get their first win of the season at the hands of their AFC South nemesis, the Tennessee Titans? It’s a question that has been asked and then almost forgotten since the news of Jalen Ramsey’s trade request.

There is still a football game to be played tonight as both Jacksonville and Tennessee lace up the cleats and walk out onto TIAA Bank Field. For those of you looking for an edge for your home team, according to the Jaguars game release, The Jaguars have won their last three Thursday night games at home, including two wins against the Titans (2014 and 2015). Since 2014, the Jaguars have played the Titans four times on Thursday Night Football.

Times are tough in Jacksonville right now. It’s not just the situation with Ramsey. It’s the 0-2 start after the team signed Nick Foles this offseason. It’s a running game that still looks a bit slow. It’s an offensive line that does not look as cohesive as it should.

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The staff here at Black and Teal had the opportunity to talk to Michael Moraits of Titan Sized, FanSided’s site for everything you want to know about the Tennessee Titans. We asked him five questions about tonight’s matchup. Here’s what he had to say.

In light of the Jalen Ramsey trade talk and the fact he is from Tennessee, do you see the Titans making a run to try and acquire him? Would the team give up a first-round pick and compensation? I don’t think the Titans would give up a first-round pick for Ramsey. When you look at this team, the secondary is a strength and as good as Ramsey is, the Titans have bigger fish to fry on this roster.

Now, if GM Jon Robinson could include Adoree’ Jackson in that deal, then it might make more sense to pull the trigger. Still, the Titans would then have to sign Ramsey to an extension and that’s a lot of money invested in a secondary when you consider the contracts of Kevin Byard, Kenny Vaccaro, and Malcolm Butler.

If the report about the Jags wanting two first-rounders is true, then no way it happens.

Do you think there will be another performance by Derrick Henry? Last season, he owned the Jaguars on Thursday night? There’s is always a possibility for a great performance from Derrick Henry.

The man is simply electric with the ball in his hands, and he’s an abnormal combination of a bruising back and a player with surprising speed who can make house calls from anywhere on the field.

The Jags should game plan heavily to stop him because if he really gets going, the Titans will be tough to beat if Marcus Mariota can work off the play action.

Which player has surprised you the most this season so far and why? On the positive side: definitely A.J. Brown. He was quiet in Week 2, but his Week 1 performance was incredible to watch and he looks like he could be a No. 1 receiver in this league.

On a fourth-down play with the game on the line, the Titans went to Brown, and that kind of trust in a rookie receiver was surprising.

On the negative side: Adam Humphries. The fact that he has just three catches for four yards so far is shocking to me. I thought he’d be much more involved in the offense.

After all, he’s a perfect fit for a passing attack like Tennessee’s that throws a lot of short passes, and it’s surprising to me that with the struggles the Titans have had on third downs that he isn’t seeing more looks.

Why do you think the Titans have had such dominance over the Jaguars in recent years? The Titans have been a good defensive team the last two years and if you look at the Jags’ point totals in that span, this team just has trouble scoring against their division rival.

What I can’t figure out is how a normally good team like Jacksonville has allowed Derrick Henry to run all over it and allowed the Titans to score over 30 points twice in the last four meetings.

The Titans win on Thursday night if? The Titans give Henry 20 or more carries and allow Mariota to work off the play action. I truly believe the Titans can have the best defense in the NFL if they can clean up the mistakes, and I don’t have much faith that the Jags can score enough points to win this game.

Then again, I thought that last week against the Colts and I was wrong, but two years of games tell me that might be the case for the Jags on Thursday night.