Titans 28, Jaguars 20: Jacksonville Knocked Out of Playoffs in Nashville Nightmare
The Jacksonville Jaguars are officially out of the playoff picture.
Needing a win in Nashville to propel themselves to into the playoffs, the Jaguars were outplayed, outcoached, and simply outdone by the Tennessee Titans in a devastating 28-20 loss.
Missed tackles, two turnovers, and 175 rushing yards allowed told the story for a Jaguars team that saw its season end on back-to-back-to-back incompletions from Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence opened the game by completing three of his first four passes for 31 yards and two first downs, including a seven-yard completion to Evan Engram on 3rd-and-5 and a 15-yard completion to Calvin Ridley.
The 11-play, 49-yard drive was capped off by a 44-yard goal from Brandon McManus, giving the Jaguars an early 3-0 lead.
The Titans started off hot on their responding drive, with Derrick Henry earning 12 tough yards on his first carry while DeAndre Hopkins picked up a one-handed catch on the next play. A few plays later, the Titans got into scoring territory with a 21-yard catch-and-run by Chig Okwonkwo on a tight end screen.
Then, a screen doomed the Jaguars again as Tyjae Spears forced missed tackles on Tre Hendon, Travon Walker and Andre Cisco on a 28-yard touchdown, putting the Jaguars in a 7-3 hole.
After an Elijah Cooks holding penalty made it 1st-and-20, the Jaguars got a new set of downs on the next drive with two completions to Engram and then a 16-yard catch by Zay Jones on 3rd-and-7 ... before the catch was overturned after a challenge by Mike Vrabel. Jones had the ball in his hands when his first knee hit the ground, but it was jarred loose and overturned.
After Henry ripped off a 16-yard rush at the start of the next drive, the Jaguars finally forced a stop thanks to an Andre Dillard false start and a forced incompletion on third down.
Then, the Jaguars' offense finally found its big play as Lawrence uncorked a deep shot to Ridley for a 59-yard touchdown, giving the Jaguars a 10-7 lead.
Jacksonville's defense continued to get gashed, however. Spears picked up a 20+ yard run and the Titans converted two third downs before Henry scored on an 18-yard carry to give the Titans a 14-10 lead.
Then disaster struck again a few plays later. On a third-down attempt to Engram where the tight end would have had the first down, the veteran double-clutched the catch and had the ball pop out of his hands and into the hands of the Titans' defense for an interception.
After another handful of third-down conversions, Spears punched it in from three yards for his second touchdown of the game, putting the Jaguars in a 21-10 hole.
After the Jaguars got into Tennessee territory on the next drive, Lawrence threw his second interception of the half. This time, it was on him as his attempt toward Jones went directly to the cornerback.
The Jaguars managed to hold off the Titans on the ensuing drive, with Travon Walker recording his 10th sack of the season to force a punt. And after the Titans fumbled the snap, rookie tight end Brenton Strange brought the punter down to give the Jaguars the ball at the Titans' 31, setting up a 30-yard McManus field goal to make it 21-13 at halftime.
Then, things went from bad to worse.
On the second play of the half, Henry ripped off a 69-yard run to the Jaguars' four-yard line, making it look effortless. Two plays later, Tannehill found Hopkins in the end-zone to make it 28-13.
Jacksonville managed to get the ball past the 50-yard line on the next drive, but a 4th-and-6 throw to Zay Jones resulted in a turnover on downs after he was tackled three to four yards short of the first-down marker.
After the Jaguars forced a punt, Jacksonville got a 13-yard return from Parker Washington to set up a 10-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Lawrence to Engram.
After the Titans managed one 3rd-and-long conversion on a completion to Kyle Phillips, the Jaguars' defense finally made a stand with Andre Cisco recording his fourth interception of the year and returning it 28 yards to the Titans' 28.
The Jaguars then saw a 3rd-and-5 pass fall incomplete, but a defensive holding on Murphy-Bunting led to a renewed set of downs. Tank Bigsby then converted a big 3rd-and-2 in the red-zone, giving the Jaguars 1st-and-goal from the seven.
After the Jaguars got 3rd-and-goal from the one-yard line, the Jaguars saw a Lawrence pass fall incomplete. On 4th-and-1, a Lawrence quarterback sneak was ruled short and the Jaguars turned the ball over, getting zero points in the red-zone yet again.
The Titans managed to get some breathing room after DaVon Hamilton jumped offsides on first down and Chris Moore picked up 17 yards. Jacksonville then faced 3rd-and-5 for their biggest defensive play of the day, but Phillips came up big again with his second third-down conversion catch.
The Jaguars finally got off the field with a Josh Allen sack on third-down, giving the Jaguars' offense a chance to tie the game with around two minutes left.
The Jaguars had a chance, too, with Lawrence uncorking another deep shot to a wide-open Ridley. But once again, the Jaguars beat themselves as Ridley let the pass go off his fingertips. Two incompletions later, and the Jaguars turned it over on downs and saw their season officially slip away.
