Titans 31, Jaguars 10: What We Learned

Malcolm Butler and Ryan Tannehill had meaningful performances; a missed kick helped shift momentum.

There was no tough lesson of what can happen on “any given Sunday.”

The Tennessee Titans’ 31-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars at TIAA Bank Field on Sunday was largely what you’d expect from a matchup between one team in pursuit of a division title and another that had just one win through the first three-quarters of the season.

Tennessee’s star power was evident in the performances of running back Derrick Henry (215 rushing yards, two TDs), wide receiver A.J. Brown (seven receptions, 112 yards, one TD) and others. At 9-4, the Titans maintain control of the AFC South and are assured of a winning record for the fifth consecutive season.

That’s not to say the afternoon was not enlightening. Here is some of what we learned about the Titans from this performance:

• Ryan Tannehill never has been better: The Titans quarterback set a career-high four touchdown passes in a season with his second of the day, a 5-yard throw to tight end Geoff Swaim on the opening drive of the second half.

That gave Tannehill 28 for the season. His previous best was 27 back in 2014, his third season with Miami. That year he attempted 590 passes (also a career-high) and threw 12 interceptions. Tannehill has thrown just 403 passes this season and of those just five have ended up in the hands of the opposition.

His touchdown percentage (6.9) and interception percentage (1.2) are both on pace for the best – or close to the best – of his career.

“I just try to go out and play the best football I can each and every week,” Tannehill said. “The guys around me are playing really good. [I] have a lot of fun being able to go throw the football with these guys and watch them work, so I’m going to continue just trying to do that.”

• Tight ends equal touchdowns: Speaking of Swaim’s touchdown reception, he became the fourth at that position to get to the end zone for the Titans this season. Jonnu Smith has seven touchdown receptions (plus one on a running play). MyCole Pruitt has two (plus one on a fumble recovery). Swaim and Anthony Firkser have one each.

That position has now accounted for 11 of Tennessee 28 receiving touchdowns (39.3 percent) and 13 of their 49 total touchdowns (26.5 percent).

Before this season, Swaim played 43 games for Dallas (37) and Jacksonville (six) and had just one touchdown reception. That was Sept. 30, 2018 with the Cowboys against Detroit. In eight games for the Titans, he has nine receptions for 83 yards – and the touchdown.

“I have a lot of confidence in Swaim,” Tannehill said. “… He has a great feel for things on getting himself open, nuances within the route to get himself open. I have a ton of confidence in Geoff and obviously it showed off (Sunday).”

• Misses matter: Tennessee caught a bit of a break when Jaguars kicker Aldrick Rosas slipped on a 53-yard field goal attempt to cap the opening possession of the contest. As a result, the kick was low and within the reach of nose tackle DaQuan Jones, who blocked it.

“The field was slippery, it was soft,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “We probably got some push and he slipped and kick it low and we got a hand on it. Anytime you can force them to kick field goals and they miss them, or we block them, those are good things for us.”

It was the fourth time this season that an opponent has missed a kick against the Titans. There have been two PATs (Jacksonville in Week 2 and Houston) and two missed field goals (Minnesota and this one).

Tennessee has won all four of those games. Three times, it answered the miss with points of its own on the ensuing possession. In this case, the offense went 57 yards in three plays, capped by A.J. Brown’s 37-yard touchdown reception on a flea-flicker following the block.

Minnesota’s missed field goal led to a Titans’ touchdown. Jacksonville’s missed PAT in the season’s first meeting led to a touchdown. Houston’s missed PAT preceded a field goal attempt that kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed to the right.

• Malcolm Butler at his best is pretty darn good: Butler has been the Titans’ best pass defender all season, which is not to say there weren’t times that he could have been better.

The seventh-year veteran said he came into this contest with the feeling that he owed Jacksonville’s DJ Chark something. In four career games against Tennessee, Chark had caught 81.3 percent of the passes that were thrown his way, his best catch percentage against any opponent.

Butler matched up with Chark on almost every snap Sunday. Jacksonville’s quarterbacks (Gardner Minshew replaced Mike Glennon in the second half) threw his way nine times. Two resulted in completions for 16 yards. One, on the Jaguars’ second play of the second half, resulted in an interception, Butler’s third of the season (he is tied for the team lead). An earlier one almost ended up the same way.

“I like the challenge,” Butler said. “I like to take on the best of the best, but whatever coach tells me to do, that’s what I’m going to do. I owe Chark from the past. Great player. Great young player.

“… I locked in a lot this week, wrote down a lot of notes, kept reminding myself what I need to go out here and do, what the team needs to do and be a leader and lead by action.”

• The offense has found its groove: Since their Thursday night loss to the Indianapolis Colts a month ago, the Titans have scored 30 points or more, topped 400 yards of total offense and averaged better than six yards per play in four straight games.

They did not win all four, but it is a streak unlike any other that unit has had this season -- or any season. It is a franchise record.

In this case, Tennessee had more than 200 yards rushing (249), more than 200 yards passing (205) and scored all 31 of their points before the end of the third quarter. The offense averaged 7.0 yards per play, the highest during the current streak and the third best of the season.

“We’re just trying to put it together,” Brown said. “… It’s a tough league week to week. You have to show up every week. [We’re] definitely going to try to use this as momentum going into the next week.”