5 Predictions for Jaguars Vs. Titans: Glennon Continues to Test Defenses Deep

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be playing their fifth AFC South game of the season this Sunday when they host the Tennessee Titans at TIAA Bank Field. The Jaguars (1-11) previously lost to the Titans (8-4) 33-30 in Week 2, the first loss in what has turned into an 11-game losing streak.

What are the chances of Jacksonville snapping the longest single-season losing streak in franchise history against a Titans team that is looking to make a playoff push? It is a tough task, but the Jaguars have shown in recent weeks that they have the ability to hang with playoff-caliber teams.

With this in mind, here are our five biggest predictions for how Sunday's Jaguars game will ultimately play out.

Mike Glennon continues to chuck it deep, throws six more passes of 20+ yards

When Mike Glennon was named the team's starting quarterback in the lead-up to a Week 12 clash against Cleveland, Glennon strongly indicated that he would be more than willing to sling the ball to the deep portions of the field. As he put it, what do he and the 1-11 Jaguars really have to lose as opposed to the potential reward? Glennon has kept his word, too, attempting 16 passes of 20 yards or more in the last two weeks. According to Pro Football Focus, this is the most deep attempts in the NFL over that span.

The results have been somewhat mixed as Glennon has completed 6 of those 16 passes for 175 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. We expect for this to continue against the Titans considering Tennessee has the third-worst pass defense DVOA in the league this year, per FootballOutsiders.com. With the Titans struggling week in and week out to defend any level of passing, and with DJ Chark at full health, we think Glennon once again airs it out this weekend and throws six passes of 20 or more yards.

Ryan Tannehill carves up Todd Wash's defense -- again -- and throws for 3 TDs and 300 yards

Every year when the Jaguars and Titans meet, the big story heading into the game is Derrick Henry against the Jaguars' defense. Considering the highlight reel runs Henry has had against Jacksonville on national television over the last several years, this more than makes sense. But during the last two games between these teams, it has been a different Titans offensive player who has dominated the Jaguars and defensive coordinator Todd Wash's scheme.

In the last two Titans-Jaguars games, Tannehill has completed 76% of his passes for 498 yards (11.85 yards per attempt), for six touchdowns and zero interceptions. His lowest passer rating in those games was 145.7, a rating the Jaguars don't want to see any quarterback have. Considering CJ Henderson is still on IR and Sidney Jones is questionable, there is no reason to think Tannehill doesn't repeat his past performances against the Jaguars this Sunday.

Collin Johnson continues his hot streak, catches five passes for 95 yards and a touchdown

No Jaguars offensive player has made quite the same explosive impact in the last two weeks that rookie wide receiver Collin Johnson has made. After a slow start to the season in which his coaches thought he was simply overthinking, Johnson has put up terrific numbers since Glennon got named the starting quarterback. In the past two weeks, Johnson leads the team with eight receptions for 162 yards (20.25 yards per catch), and one touchdown with a two-point conversion.

We think Johnson has yet another big performance in Week 14. The Titans have struggled at cornerback due to a number of injuries and they won't be walking into Sunday's game with a secondary that is at full strength. Johnson has developed great chemistry with Glennon and it remains to be seen if the Titans have any defensive backs who can cover him for four quarters, something the Browns and Vikings weren't able to do.

"Me working with him a bunch, I have a ton of trust in him. Like you said, he’s a tall guy that plays even taller. I don’t know what his wingspan [is] or whatever it might be, but he covers a lot of ground between his height and when he’s in the air with his long arms. He definitely plays to his strengths and is something that hopefully we’ll continue to feature," Glennon said about Johnson this week.

Derrick Henry held to under 4.0 yards per carry

We would expect for the Titans to feed Henry the ball enough on Sunday for him to pick up decent volume stats, but we don't see Henry exceeding 4.0 yards per carry against the Jaguars on Sunday. There are a few reasons for this, with the primary two being the state of Jacksonville's rush defense and Henry's history against the Jaguars.

Jacksonville got hammered against the run by Cleveland in Week 12 but otherwise they have done a fine job of limiting opposing running games. The defensive line and linebacker group is playing at its best level of the season currently in terms of run defense, with Joe Schobert specifically set to be a potentially big impact player against Henry and the Titans' rushing attack.

Secondly, Henry has only eclipsed 4.0 yards per carry against the Jaguars in 3 of 9 career games against them. He has had three massive games that included a four-touchdown performance on Thursday Night Football, but his overall track record against the Jaguars is much more hit or miss than people think. For instance, the Jaguars limited Henry to 3.36 yards per carry in their last matchup and 2.59 yards per carry in their first game against each other in 2019. We think Henry scores and puts up decent overall numbers, but we doubt he has an efficient day.

Jaguars lose by 20+ points

For all of the close games the Jaguars have played over the last five weeks, we don't think this will be one of them. The Titans are fresh off a whooping at the hands of Cleveland and they know that every game is huge in terms of their standing in the AFC South. These teams are very, very different from when they went down to the wire in Week 2, also.

Ultimately we think the Titans win 38-10 due to a giant game from Tannehill and a pair of rushing scores from an overall limited Henry. The Jaguars will start tough but won't be able to last four quarters.