Know the Foe: Five Questions With the Jaguars

Since the first time the Titans faced Jacksonville, the Jaguars have changed quarterbacks (twice), added a former Titan to their defense and failed to win a game.

It has been nearly three months since the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars had their first meeting of the season.

Since then, the Titans have endured a COVID-19 outbreak and played in a rare showdown of unbeaten teams. The Jaguars have not won a game.

We asked John Shipley of Jaguar Report (part of the SI.com NFL network) five questions to get us up to speed on the state of things with Jacksonville headed into Sunday’s matchup at TIAA Bank Field.

1) The Jaguars opened the season with a win over Indianapolis and nearly beat the Titans in Week 2. Now, they are 1-11. What went wrong?

It is a mix of a lot of things. For one, their offensive production and efficiency in those two games just wasn't ever going to be sustainable, specifically due to the play of Gardner Minshew II. Minshew never took the next step after those games, which proved especially harmful to the team during the first half of the season as the Jaguars were allowing 30 points per game at a record pace.

The offense became stagnant and the defense was the youngest in the NFL, a dangerous combination. Minshew eventually left the starting role due to a thumb injury, and the Jaguars have gotten just two serviceable starts in the five-game span since he has last started a game. Mike Glennon and Jake Luton have flashed at times but neither has played winning football consistently. The defense has improved in recent weeks, but not enough to the point where it can offset an offense with no answer at quarterback.

2) Mike Glennon will make his third start on Sunday. What does the offense look like with him at quarterback?

The offense looks a good bit different with Glennon in at quarterback as opposed to Minshew, which makes sense considering how different their skill sets are. Glennon is much more willing to stay in the pocket almost by default, thus the Jaguars have seen more deep passes and passes over the middle. The production of the tight ends has seen an uptick, while Glennon leads the NFL in attempts 20 yards downfield or longer over the last two weeks, according to ProFootballFocus.com.

With that said, Glennon has also made the offense a bit less dynamic. Minshew had excellent mobility and could turn any third down scramble into a conversion, while Glennon will have to instead take what is there. Glennon stays tough in the pocket almost to a fault, with him taking a safety in Minnesota last week as a result.

3) Kamalei Correa wanted out of Tennessee, so franchise officials traded him to Jacksonville. What kind of impact has he made?

He hasn't made much of an impact -- if any at all. He has started six games at strong side linebacker and has played 158 snaps in that time, but he has recorded just seven tackles and one pass deflection. The feeling was the Jaguars were hoping he would provide a boost to the pass rush, but he has been a non-factor in that regard, plus he has been a drop off from Leon Jacobs in the run game.

Correa didn't play in Week 13 due to a hamstring injury. As a result, second-year linebacker Joe Giles-Harris got the first start of his career. Giles-Harris went on to record four quarterback hits, proving to be a constant terror in the face of Kirk Cousins. He made more plays in one game than Correa had in the nearly two months he started for the Jaguars.

4) Four of the last five losses have been by four points or fewer. What is the overall frustration level at this point?

There is definitely a feeling of frustration among the coaches and the team. While so many on the outside have said the Jaguars' entire plan this year was to tank, the roster and coaching staff genuinely had high hopes for the season. The ideal scenario is young players from 2019 would take another step forward, the rookie class would make an immediate impact, and Gardner Minshew would improve. None of these things quite panned out, at least not quickly enough in the few cases it did.

The Jaguars know they have a bright future ahead. You can tell the players know they have been close and they are not as bad as their record shows. But this is a team that wanted to prove the tank narrative wrong all season long but has unfortunately just come up a bit short.

5) Score prediction?

Titans 30, Jaguars 10.

I think the Titans force Glennon to make too many mistakes for the Jaguars to have a chance to win. I could see James Robinson having another big day but two backup offensive linemen in the interior is a bad omen for the Jaguars' offense.

Plus, there is Ryan Tannehill. While Derrick Henry is largely a mythic figure in the AFC South and beyond, it is Tannehill who has completely destroyed Todd Wash's defense in the last two matchups between these teams. This should happen again, so this one shouldn't be expected to be yet another close loss.