Jaguars vs. Titans: Thoughts and Notes at Halftime

How far off are the Jaguars from climbing back into Sunday's game in Nashville?

The Jacksonville Jaguars will enter halftime down 10-0 after a tough two quarters against the Tennessee Titans, but they are still fighting to stay in the game.

Where did things go wrong for the Jaguars and where did they go right? From the big plays to the positives to the maddening negatives, we break it all down below.

Plays of the half

The unnecessary roughness penalty on Andrew Wingard on the first drive of the game isn't the sole reason the Jaguars allowed a scoring drive, but it certainly didn't help matters. Ryan Tannehill had already picked up 17 yards on a third-down scramble when Wingard made an unwise play and lowered against an already sliding Tannehill. The Jaguars can't afford to shot themselves in the foot but gifting the Titans 15 free yards after they already gained 17 does just that. 

The 3rd-and-10 sack by Harold Landry on the second third-down of the game was a tough one for the Jaguars. Lawrence completed a good pass to Laviska Shenault to complete the first third-and-long of the game but the Jaguars' offensive line simply fell apart against the Titans' blitz on third-down, resulting in the second sack and third negative play of the drive. 

The Jaguars are still in this game in large part due to some luck, however. The Titans scored on two of their first three drives and it would have been all three of them had they not missed a 47-yard field goal, they would be up 13-0 on the Jaguars at this point instead of a doable 10-0.

Where are the Jaguars winning?

I don't really know. The Jaguars have been better on third-down than in some past weeks but even then, they have still allowed a third-down sack and had a 3rd-and-8 Carlos Hyde carry go nowhere. The Jaguars' offense was mostly lost, but they did have some solid plays made by both Lawrence and his receivers on a 3rd-and-10 completion to Shenault and a 3rd-and-2 conversion to Tavon Austin.

The Jaguars have also at least got some pressure on Ryan Tannehill, though it clearly hasn't impacted him much. The Jaguars have two sacks and five quarterback hits to this point, which are decent numbers considering how quickly the Titans get the ball out of Tannehill's hands. 

Where are the Jaguars losing?

The Jaguars are getting gashed through the air even with the pressure they have gotten. At 3:55 left in the second quarter, they were being ourgained 163-33 with 96 of those yards coming through the air as Tannehill picked them apart on short throws to the boundary and in the intermediate area of the field. Tannehill was 11-of-14 on the Titans' first three drives and never looked like he was in danger of putting the ball in harms way. 

The Jaguars also got beat up on the ground, enough to the point that it is hard to remember Derrick Henry wasn't in the game. The Titans' first 3 drives saw them rush for 69 yards on 17 carries (4.1 yards per carry) with D'Onta Forman finding holes against the defense play in and play out. 

Perhaps the biggest difference between the Jaguars and the Titans at this point, though, is the fact that the Jaguars have already racked up five penalties for 40 yards. Compared to the fact that the Titans haven't been penalized once, the free yards the Jaguars are giving the Titans have clearly played a role.