Quotebook: Jaguars Finally Win at Nissan Stadium

NASHVILLE – To put into perspective what happened Sunday, consider this: In 2014 and 2015, when the Tennessee Titans finished tied for the NFL’s worst record in consecutive seasons and won five games total, they did not lose at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

They Titans had won eight straight at Nissan Stadium against that particular AFC South foe, and most of the recent encounters were not close.

That streak is over, though, courtesy of a 36-22 defeat in a game the Titans led early. Turnovers had a lot to do with the outcome, which spoiled Tennessee’s bid to sweep its intra-division games. At the start of the day, the Titans were one of five teams that were undefeated in their respective divisions. Now there are three.

Here is a roundup of what Jaguars players and coach Doug Pederson had to say about the reversal of fortune and how they did it.

On Jacksonville’s first victory at Nissan Stadium since 2013 …

• Tight end Evan Engram: “We had a nice little history lesson this week on the history between these two teams. Man, where we are in our season and what we kind of have to do this last stretch of games, this one was big. We kind of got a glimpse of that (Saturday) night and some motivation. And we came out and we were ready.”

• Coach Doug Pederson: “As far as the victory, obviously on the road against a great football team here in Nashville, where we obviously haven't done well means a lot. Means a lot to myself, the organization, to the Khans to be able to do that.”

• Outside linebacker Josh Allen: “I've never done it. I've never done it in my career here. I know we’re building something special, we talked about this. We know that this was one of the things that we had to do to get to where we need to be.”

• Quarterback Trevor Lawrence: “It was one of those … days where we made those plays. Good, great teams do that. I think that is where we are heading and I just excited.”

On Jaguars tight end Evan Engram (11 receptions, 162 yards, two touchdowns) …

• Wide receiver Zay Jones: “Evan Engram? Lights out.”

• Pederson: “He's always part of the gameplan. You just never know who's going to have the hot hand at times and he knew he had it there and played tough and made some outstanding catches, made some outstanding plays, and played well (Sunday).”

• Engram: “I mean, the way I prepare, the way I work, and the way we work, anybody could have a day. We've seen the talent that we have in that room have days like that. And (Sunday) was just, God allowed it to be 17’s day and it was a lot of fun.”

On limiting Derrick Henry to two rushing yards in the second half (he had 119 in the first half) …

• Pederson: “I've been on the other side where we're behind and then next thing you know, you got to put the ball in the air and it kind of takes a guy like Derrick Henry out, not out of the game, but, you know, minimizes his opportunities.”

On the difference in turnovers, which were plus-4 in favor of Jacksonville …

• Jones: “The turnovers we got (Sunday)? Incredible.”

• Outside linebacker Travon Walker: “We definitely stepped up to the challenge. We knew we had to come in and play great ball, wanted to give our offense good field position. So that was one of the main things that we were all harping on all week.”

• Allen: “When you get one, you just wait on the next one because you know they’re going to come. They come in bunches. If we got one sack, you get two sacks, they come in bunches. You get one turnover, you get another one pretty quick, and they come in bunches. Every time they made a mistake, we were there to capitalize on it.”

• Pederson: “Any time you create turnovers early and it just sets tone. Offense was able to capitalize off of that and put points on the board. It's huge and that's something we talk about every week, try to create takeaways and defense did a nice job of that (Sunday).”