Jaguars 20, Titans 16: Josh Allen Touchdown Gifts Jacksonville AFC South Title, Playoffs
The game, and the season, looked lost.
That was before Rayshawn Jenkins had anything to say about it.
Jenkins forced a strip-sack on Josh Dobbs with 2:51 remaining, which was recovered by Josh Allen and returned for a 37-yard touchdown to give the Jaguars a 20-16 lead.
After the offense stalled out for most of the second-half, the Jaguars punched back to save their season, winning the AFC South and punching their ticket to the playoffs in impressive fashion.
It is the second AFC South title the Jaguars have won and their first since 2017.
The Titans attempted to fight back after the fumble, getting the ball to the 50 with two-minutes left, but a Josh Allen strip-sack of Dobbs put the Jaguars on the map.
The Jaguars forced a three-and-out on the first drive of the game, a drive that started off on a high note as Josh Allen dropped Derrick Henry for a tackle for loss on the first play of the game.
The first offensive possession of the game was one to forget, though, particularly for Zay Jones, who dropped a first-down and then slipped on the grass a yard away from a 3rd-down conversion, forcing a Jaguars punt.
Tennessee rolled the dice several times on the following drive, picking up two fourth downs on Josh Dobbs passes. The Jaguars stuffed Henry at the line several times, once by Josh Allen and twice by Corey Peters, but Dobbs started off 5-of-7 passing due to the safe, high-percentage passes the Titans continued to fire out with.
But thanks to Travon Walker drawing a hold on a third-down conversion, the Jaguars limited the Titans to just a field goal on a drive that took up 9:53 -- most of the first-quarter. By the end of the first, the Titans had ran 19 plays to the Jaguars' five.
Trevor Lawrence then began to come alive the next drive, first picking up a key third-down by smartly checking the ball down to Travis Etienne, then by completing a 16-yard pass to Christian Kirk on 3rd-and-13.
But after seeing the Titans try their own trick play, the Jaguars seemingly became incensed to attempt their own. Unlike the Titans, the results were worse than a simple non-conversion.
After faking a handoff to Etienne, Lawrence attempted to pitch the ball to Jamal Agnew. The high pitch to one of the team's shortest players was never in Agnew's possession, instead resulting in a fumble on first-down and a deflating moment for the offense.
The Titans made sure to ensure the fumble stung, too. Thanks to 19- and 14-yard gains by Henry, the Titans easily marched down the field before Dobbs found Chig Okonkwo for a 21-yard touchdown with Foyesade Oluokun trailing in coverage.
Jacksonville turned a dead crowd into an electric environment on the very next play, with Agnew redeeming himself with a kickoff return to the 50-yard line. After several big conversions from Lawrence, including a pair of catches by Engram, Lawrence finished the job with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kirk to finish off a six-play drive.
The Titans continued to pick up key third-downs and drain the clock before a Oluokun sack forced them to settle for a 39-yard field goal from Randy Bullock, giving them a 13-7 lead entering halftime as their game-plan of playing keep-away worked to perfection.
The Jaguars had one drive in the first half with more than seven plays ran, while the Titans ran at least seven plays in three of their four drives, including 17- and 11-play drives. Dobbs found success, too, completing 12-of-15 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Jacksonville came out punching to open the second-half, with Lawrence hitting Kirk and Marvin Jones with big gains to put the Jaguars into Titans' territory. But with Zay Jones open in the back of the end-zone on third-down, Lawrence overthrew him as he attempted to fade away from pressure, resulting in the Jaguars leaving with just a field goal.
The Jaguars' defense continued to fail to force the Titans into negative plays, though, with the Titans marching down the field to answer with their own field goal after a defensive pass interference on a trick play by the Jaguars and a 3rd-and-10 completion by Dobbs.
Lawrence hit Kirk for a big 33-yard play to get the Jaguars near midfield on the next drive, but a second-down drop by Marvin Jones and then a near-sack on third-down that forced an incompletion meant the Jaguars would have to punt the ball back down 16-10.
The Titans seemingly were set to put the Jaguars away with a field-changing run by Henry that saw him get into the red-zone, but the Jaguars' defense was saved by a holding call drawn by Travon Walker.
Two plays later, the Jaguars' defense made their first big play of the game. With the Titans dropping back to pass out of an empty formation, the Jaguars' best defensive back did what he has done all season, with Tyson Campbell picking off Dobbs to set the Jaguars up in the red-zone.
Jacksonville was forced to settle for just three points, though, failing to turn the turnover into a touchdown like the Titans did earlier in the game. The Jaguars had their chances, too, with Lawrence missing Kirk for a potential touchdown on 3rd-and-3.
The defense did their part on the second drive in a row, though, led by the efforts of Walker. After a second-down tackle for loss on Henry, Walker pressued Dobbs on third-down and forced him to climb the pocket into a Roy Robertson-Harris sack, forcing a punt.
Two incompletions from Lawrence and a failed running play led to another Jaguars' punt, however; their third of the game and second of the half. But the defense continued to hold strong vs. Henry, with Corey Peters recording his second tackle for loss on the next drive.
Peters was one of several standout performers on defense, joining Walker, Allen, Jenkins, and many more to deliver the Jaguars a prime-time win to send them to the playoffs.
Stats of the Game (1/7/23 vs. the Titans) Via: @theryanmichael
Trevor Lawrence finished the game 20 of 32 (62.5%) for 212 passing yards (6.6 YPA), 1 touchdown pass, 0 interceptions, 1 sack and a 92.2 passer rating.
With 212 passing yards, Lawrence (4,113) eclipsed 4,000 for the 2022 season.
With 209 total yards, Lawrence finished the 2022 season with 4,404 total yards.
With 1 touchdown pass, Lawrence reached 30 (passing + rushing) for the 2022 season.
With 20 completions, Lawrence (387) set a new Jaguars single-season franchise record (previous: Bortles, 368 in 2016).
With 8 solo tackles, Foyesade Oluokun (128) set a new Jaguars single-season franchise record (previous: Posluszny, 122 in 2013).
The Jaguars defense held Derrick Henry to 3.6 YPC.
Tyson Campbell recorded an interception off Joshua Dobbs.
Josh Allen returned a fumble 37-yards for a touchdown.
With 6 receptions, Christian Kirk finishes the season with 84, the 8th highest single-season mark in Jaguars franchise history.
With 1 touchdown reception, Christian Kirk finishes the season with 8, the 5th highest single-season mark in Jaguars franchise history (tied with Jimmy Smith in 1998, 2000 and 2001 and D.J. Chark in 2019).
