Jaguars: Getting the offense going on Sunday at Tennessee

Can the Jaguars find their offensive balance on Sunday when they face the Tennessee Titans?

Not only does the Jaguars defense have to be concerned about stopping the run, but the offense must find a way to score points. After two losses where the team was able to muster just 16 points, there must be a cure for what ails this team.

When offensive coordinator John DeFilippo met with the media on Thursday afternoon, he acknowledged the offense has a tough task ahead while facing the Titans defense on the road. The Jaguars scored 20 points in their first game with their rival this season. Scoring that many may be too much to ask right now.

Unless, the passing game can find its rhytm and the running game is used more effectively this weekend it could be a long afternoon in Nashville.

The Jaguars ran the ball nine times in the 33-13 loss last week at Indianapolis, a sign that maybe the team was too reliant on the passing game. In Nick Foles’ first game back he threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns but looked ineffective and shaky at times. Many of his passes were underthrown and the ill-advised ones yielded poor results.

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DeFilippo was asked he thought about abandoming the run game once the Colts got the lead and were able to play better upfront.

"“I think anytime you lose a football game you go back and self-evaluate yourself and you wish you could have done some things differently than you did. That was the case with me this week, for sure. As a player or as a coach, it’s easy to not self-evaluate yourself after wins,” DeFilippo said.“And you’re probably a little bit overcritical of yourself after losses, that’s just the way we’re wired. But there are some things that I wish I would have done different there, especially early in the second half. You go back and learn from, and you discuss it, and you move forward, and that’s all you can do.”"

The Jaguars had a total of 308 in total offense last week in Indianapolis while managing on 58 on the ground. Those numbers are slightly better than the 298 yards they had in Week 3, which was a win and the first victory of the season.

Now, at 4-6 and fighting for playoff relevancy, the ball is now in Foles’ hands with the hope he can shrug off the poor play last week.

"“Before we got into the two-minute situation before the end of the half, we only had something like 21 plays. When you look back at the game, we have to do a better job of staying on the field. That’s on me, that’s on the execution, that’s on everybody,” DeFilippo added.“We win and lose as a team. So when you go back and look at it, we need to do a better job of staying on the field and converting third downs because when you do that, you have more plays and you can run the ball more and you can throw the ball more and you can have more offense. I think it boils down to being better at situational football. Again, that’s on all of us. So, hopefully, we will do better this Sunday.”"

The Jaguars are only averging 18.9 points a game, which is 26th in the NFL. The running game is 13th in the league with 119.5 yards per contest. The passing game is 12th overall with 250.7 yards per game.