Self-Inflicted Mistakes Lead to Jaguars Falling 33-30 to Titans
The Jacksonville Jaguars fought until the last snap to attempt to steal a win on the road on Sunday, but numerous self-inflicted mistakes ultimately sunk the team in a 33-30 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Despite another woefully slow start, the Jaguars (1-0) had a chance to win the game with less than a minute left. Two Gardner Minshew II turnovers, including a tipped pass that was intercepted by Harold Landry on the game's final play, were the only blemishes on an otherwise fantastic day for the offense.
But beyond the Minshew interceptions, the Jaguars were hurt the most by numerous occurrences in which they shot themselves in the foot on special teams, which became the difference in a win and a loss.
Kicker Josh Lambo is typically Jacksonville's most consistent and dependable player, but he had some unusual struggles on Sunday that cost Jacksonville dearly. The first instance came at the end of the first half when Lambo attempted a squib kick with 00:12 left. The kick missed its intended area, however, as it went straight to a front line blocker of the Titans' return team.
"We have it in every week where we just power kick it through. We knew we were going to power kick it, which way we were going to go and the distance between those two players, and you just have to get it in between them," head coach Doug Marrone said after the game.
"[Josh Lambo] is a guy that works his butt off. We have confidence in him. And it is just one of those things that it just wasn't executed right."
The Titans got the ball at Jacksonville's 49-yard line and would end up kicking a 51-yard field goal to go up 24-10 right before the half. Essentially, Lambo's poor kick gifted the Titans three points that they never should have been able to get. In a game in which the Jaguars lost by three, that can't be ignored.
That was far from Jacksonville's only special teams error, however. Lambo also missed an extra point at the start of the fourth quarter, making the score 30-23 Titans after a Jaguars touchdown. Add in a few muffed returns by Chris Claybrooks and a poor 23-yard punt from Logan Cooke to set up the Titans at their 40-yard line, and special teams hurt the Jaguars in a big way.
Aside from special teams, the Jaguars struggled mightily when it came to stopping Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who carved up Todd Wash's defense for the second time in as many games against the Jaguars.
Tannehill threw a 61-yard pass to Jonnu Smith on the first play from scrimmage before throwing a touchdown to Smith two plays later. He routinely led the Titans up and down the field, throwing two touchdowns to Smith, one to Corey Davis and one to Adam Humprhiese with 2:09 left in the third quarter.
Ultimately, Tannehill finished the game 18-of-24 passing (75% completion rate) for 239 yards and four touchdowns. Tannehill especially hurt the Jaguars on third down, with the Titans going 7-for-11 on third down after starting the game 6-for-7.
Jacksonville's own quarterback did his part to try to will the Jaguars' back into victory, with Minshew nearly leading a game-winning drive for the second week in a row. Minshew threw an interception on the first drive of the game (his first-career interception on the road), but it was due to wide receiver Collin Johnson tipping a ball that was intended for tight end James O'Shaughnessy, though Minshew backed up his receiver and said he didn't blame him for trying to make a play.
"It was just super unlucky, man," Minshew said. "Felt good with the ball, felt good with the decision.
Aside from the two turnovers and a 20-yard loss on a sack in the first half in which he should have just thrown the ball away earlier, Minshew had a sharp day in his first start in Nashville. He completed 30-of-45 passes (66.6% completion rate) for 339 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. Minshew threw touchdown passes to Keelan Cole, Tyler Eifert and Chris Thompson.
The Thompson touchdown was particularly impressive, with Minshew delivering a perfect 14-yard strike on a wheel route despite the Titans bringing a lot of pressure.
Jacksonville also moved the ball well on the ground, with rookie running back James Robinson recording his first NFL touchdown and 100-yard rushing game, with the undrafted rookie rushing 16 times for 102 yards (6.4 yards per carry), with a lot of those yards coming in the second half. Rookie receiver Laviska Shenault also chipped in with the ground attack, rushing five times for 37 yards.
But despite the turnovers, inability to stop Tannehill and special teams blunders, the Jaguars likely could have still won this game if it weren't for a number of questionable calls from the referees.
The referees had numerous calls go against Jacksonville that looked less than convincing, but the worst was a defensive pass interference call on linebacker Myles Jack on a third down pass breakup on the Titans' game-winning drive. Marrone said the referees told him that Jack held the receiver during the route, and the play would set up Stephen Gostkowski 49-yard field goal with close to 1:30 left.
Then finally, the referees missed what looked to be a neutral zone infraction on Jadeveon Clowney on the Landry interception.
The Jaguars can point to a number of different areas of today's loss that prevented them from becoming 2-0. The special teams, offense, defense, and even referees, all played a part.
Ultimately though, the nature of the NFL doesn't care about how you win or lose games, it just cares that you win them.
