Doug Pederson gets Jaguars rivalry with Titans, 3 Week 14 takeaways

The Jaguars defense rebounded vs. the Titans after a subpar outing

Throughout most of the 2022 season, the Jags have failed to play complementary football. The offense will do its job only to be let down by the defense and vice versa. But both units, along with special teams, were in unison against the Titans which is why Jacksonville was able to build an early lead and never look back.

In Week 14, the Jags’ defense managed to force four takeaways and all of them led to points on offense (two touchdowns and two field goals). Doug Pederson credited their ability to get after quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

“Put pressure on the quarterback and balls tend to either miss their targets a little bit”, Pederson said. “And the guys were in the right spots and made some critical takeaways in this football game. But hats off to the defense”.

Mike Caldwell deserves praise for getting the defense ready for the Titans. Just last week, his unit gave up 40 points to the Lions and seemed to have regressed after a strong start to the 2022 season. Nevertheless, they had four sacks against the Titans in addition to the aforementioned takeaways.

The Jags had trouble stopping running back Derrick Henry at first. In the first quarter alone, Henry gained 96 yards. He finished the first half with 119 yards but only managed to muster a measly two in the second half. Building a comfortable lead forced Tennesse to abandon the run. But that shouldn’t take credit away from the defense, which was able to neutralize their biggest offensive weapon.