The Jaguars defeated the Titans in a primetime showdown
By Kathy Clark
The Jacksonville Jaguars did something they could not do in 2018. They beat the Tennessee Titans.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were a team to be reckoned with on Thursday night football. Not only did they defeat the Tennessee Titans, 20-7, but they redeemed themselves from losing both games in 2018 to their AFC South rivals.
The Jaguars played one of their best games in two years despite the soap opera atmosphere surrounding the game. The defense played absolutely lights out and the offense looked like a real NFL offense and as always. The kicking game was great.
"As John Oehser of Jaguars.com wrote, “Any idea that the Jaguars couldn’t emotionally, physically or realistically overcome the weirdness that is the Jalen Ramsey Saga? False, Instead they turned in one of their most memorable performances in recent memory.”"
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My Jaguars dream has come true for this week. The team is the topic of positive conversation by the national and local media. Not only that, but we actually have interesting star-level players. Let’s look at our defensive and offensive stars of the game.
Defense – Calais Campbell once again had a game we will remember for some time for a man who obviously improves with age. He had seven tackles, three sacks, and four tackles for a loss. This team captain and leader really stepped it up.
Ronnie Harrison had 10 tackles and a 1/2 sack. Jalen Ramsey had nine tackles and with his cohort, A.J. Bouye, the two kept the Titans receivers in check the entire game. The rookies were solid as. Quincy Williams had eight tackles and defensive end Josh Allen had four tackles and two sacks.
This defense looked like the same unit of 2017, where players were different looks kept the Titans out of the endzone for the majority of the game. The entire defensive team was a part of this victory and frequent substitutions kept the players fresh.
How about that Taven Bryan? He silenced his critics with three tackles and a sack. Leon Jacobs had three tackles, a fumble recovery, and was a part of two sacks. There were 17 Jaguars players who had at least one tackle in this game.
Offense – Gardner Minshew continued to play like a seasoned veteran. He was 20 of 30 for 202 yards and two touchdowns with a quarterback rating of 108.2. In addition, he ran the ball four times for 18 yards.
DJ Chark has become Minshew’s go-to receiver and is living up to his second-round draft status from a year ago. He had four receptions for 76 yards with an eye-popping average of 19 yards per catch.
We always forget the kicking game but Josh Lambo was 2 for 2 kicking field goals with a long of 48. Logan Cooke had 6 punts for a average of 42 yards a punt.
The much maligned coaching staff deserves some praise as well. The offense showed us some new plays and the defense was aggressive and played more like our playoff squad.
The only part of the Jaguars game that needs some tweaking is the running game. Opponents continue to concentrate on stopping the run. As our passing game with Minshew continues to improve Jacksonville’s opponents realize this team is no longer one dimensional.
With better blocking upfront, it is likely the running game will improve.