The Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars face off in an AFC South divisional battle on Sunday at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Titans and Jaguars met the first time this season in Week 14 in a game that saw the Titans hold the Jags scoreless for about three and a half quarters before they put 10 points on the board to win the game in the fourth quarter. This week will be different, though, as Mason Rudolph is the starting quarterback for the Titans.
Both the Jags and the Titans are playing for pride at this point as both team’s seasons will end with the regular season. There are a lot of things that need addressed in the offseason for both teams, but heading into this week, there are three causes for concern for the Titans.
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The run defense
The Titans’ ground defense has fallen to 23rd in the league. At the beginning of the season, the run defense was in the top 10. But last week, the Indianapolis Colts racked up 335 running yards, and the week before that the Cincinnati Bengals recorded 101. The Jaguars are more of a passing team, but if Tank Bigsby or Travis Etienne Jr. get going, the Titans will be hard pressed to stop them, especially with the loss of Kenneth Murray Jr. to injured reserve.
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Special teams
This special teams unit has been all over the place this year. They started strong, then forgot how to play, then had a couple of good weeks and then they forgot how to tackle again. But on top of the poor tackling and lack of blocking on returns, last week Brayden Narveson missed the only field goal he attempted. The Titans signed a new kicker to the practice squad in Matthew Wright, which doesn’t bode well for the return of Nick Folk.
Without Folk, this special teams unit doesn’t have much to offer in the way of effectiveness.
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4th down conversions
Of the 11 times Titans opponents have gone for it on 4th down, they have achieved their goal nine times. Meaning that the Titans allow their opponents to be successful on fourth-down tries over 80% of the time. The Jags go for it on fourth down often, trying it 25 times this season. They’ve been successful 14 times, or 56% of the time. Between the Titans’ inability to stop the run of late and their inability to stop opponents on fourth down in general, this could give the Jags the opportunity they need to come away with a win.