The Jaguars are in the playoff hunt, even if Titans win hardly showed that
Jacksonville Jaguars, playoff contenders?
Everything would seem to fly in the face of that statement. With Thursday’s 19-13 victory over the Tennessee Titans, it was the Jaguars’ first back-to-back wins in 29 games. They’re now 4-5, half a game out of first place in the AFC South, with the two teams ahead of them in the division playing tough games.
Is this real life? A team with a pool in its stadium is in contention?
The pressure had seemingly built around Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley, but with wins in three of his past four games this is a team on a slow rise. Quarterback Blake Bortles was hardly perfect Thursday, losing a fumble, leaving the field briefly with dehydration and throwing a bad pick thereafter. But Bortles led the Jaguars to 10 points in the final four minutes after big plays by his team’s defense and now leads the NFL in game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime — one in each victory.
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As ugly as many of them, including this one, have been. The Jaguars lost the turnover battle, mustered only 308 yards of offense, committed eight penalties that netted five Titans first downs and played some of their worst run defense of the season. Yet won. That’s the AFC South.
Thursday was the uniform battle of the condiments — spicy mustard vs. Miracle Whip — but this offering was pretty darned bland until the end. The teams traded punts and field goals on a rain-soaked field in the first half, as the game was knotted 6-6 after the first 30 minutes.
The Titans had a promising first drive stall, and they consistently put themselves in too many third-and-long situations — on a third-and-9, Marcus Mariota missed an open Dorial Green-Backham with a poor throw.
Bortles got going a bit on his second drive with a little rhythm but bogged down and settled for a short field goal to tie the game. The Titans took the Jaguars’ big-play weapons out of the game early as Bortles’ first 11 passes went away from the Allens — Robinson and Hurns — and then Bortles overthrew Robinson on his 12th pass.
So those tricky Jaguars tried to mix things up. They executed a pretty-looking fake … that is until the left wide receiver Bryan Walters’ hands. This is what they get for not having Bortles throw the ball. Walters missed a wide-open Robinson by at least five yards.
Bortles finally found Robinson, beating a Titans blitz for a 31-yard completion down to the Tennessee 12-yard line with under a minute left in the first half, but a Brian Orakpo sack on third down led to another field goal and another tie game, 6-all.
In the second half, the Jaguars took the opening drive 78 yards but again stalled in the red zone as Denard Robinson was stoned on back-to-back plays on second- and third-and-goal. Yep, you guessed it: Another field goal, with Jason Myers’ 20-yarder giving the Jaguars a 9-6 edge.
No Robinson? No Hurns? No T.J. Yeldon? No Julius Thomas? Seemed like an odd goal-line choice … both times. No wonder the Jaguars have one rushing touchdown all season.
The Titans finally broke the touchdown drought. After two pass-interference calls drawn by Titans receiver Harry Douglas moved the ball 48 yards, Mariota scrambled 23 yards around the left end for the first TD of the game — and his first rushing touchdown in the NFL — showing some real juice around the edge.
After a Jaguars punt, Mariota scrambled for a first down on third-and-4, and running back Antonio Andrews, one of the slower running backs in the NFL, ran for 23 yards, bouncing on a lame tackle attempt by Abry Jones. It was the second-longest run of the season allowed by the Jaguars, who featured the best run defense on a yards-per-carry basis coming into the game.
They looked to be in good shape and appeared to be going for it on fourth-and-2 on the Jacksonville 35, but after a timeout they switched course. Kicker Ryan Succop, who made his first two field-goal tries, missed this 53-yard attempt to keep the Titans up 13-9.
Bortles had left the field in between drives, suffering from dehydration and requiring an IV. He hit Robinson for a 28-yard pass in traffic but underthrew Thomas on the next pass, which was picked off by Titans linebacker Zach Brown at the Tennessee 12-yard line — Bortles’ sixth straight game with an interception.
But they had another shot. After a terrible punt by the Titans’ Brett Kern, Rashad Greene ran it back 63 yards to set up the Jaguars at the Tennessee 5-yard line. And for the first time all game, the Jaguars converted a red-zone touchdown, with Bortles hitting Thomas for his second touchdown since signing a big-money deal in the offseason, giving them a 16-13 lead with 3:34 left.
On the ensuing Titans drive, Mariota hit Phillip Supernaw for an 8-yard catch, but he fumbled it — knocked loose by the Jaguars’ Davon House, who also recovered the ball. The Jaguars tried to run clock, but the Titans used their timeouts wisely and stopped a key third-and-short run with Avery Williamson hitting Yeldon for no gain. On the previous play, Hurns appeared to have a clear first down but slid down short of the sticks in order to keep the clock running. It turned out to be a poor choice.
Myers’ field goal gave the Jaguars a 19-13 lead with 2:21 left, as Bradley opted not to go for it on fourth down and less than the length of the ball to go.
Mariota hit Dorial Green-Beckham (the first wide receiver reception of the second half) for a key 13-yard catch on the sideline, and then Delanie Walker for eight yards on third-and-7. But time was the Titans’ enemy, as they were out of timeouts. Andre Branch sacked Mariota to end the game.
This was only the Jaguars’ second game in Jacksonville since September 20, and it kicks off a string of four of five games at home. When it’s been since December 2013 since this franchise won consecutive games, perhaps there will be a bit of Jaguars fever brewing in north Florida.
Even if this hardly looks like a playoff team.
