It wasn’t pretty but the Jaguars are leaving Nashville with just their third win of the season.
Mac Jones led two scoring drives in the final quarter and the defense did just enough to sneak out with a 10-6 win over the Titans on Sunday. Tank Bigsby had the go-ahead touchdown with 6 minutes, 51 seconds to play and the defense stopped Tennessee on downs with 1:15 left and again on its final drive.
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The win ended a five-game losing streak by Jacksonville (3-10) and kickstarted a manageable closing stretch. Winning out — the Jaguars face the Jets, Raiders, Colts and Titans — would allow Jacksonville and head coach Doug Pederson to salvage some measure of positivity in what has been a forgettable season.
Jones has a five-game audition in place of Trevor Lawrence, who went on injured reserve last week and will undergo surgery on his injured left shoulder after he clears the concussion protocol. Lawrence suffered his second concussion in last week’s 23-20 loss to the Texans. The Jaguars were eliminated from the playoff race after Denver’s win Monday night.
It took every bit of resolve for Jacksonville to hang on.
Two big plays by the defense clipped the Titans. Will Levis hit ex-Jaguars receiver Calvin Ridley on a third-down pass at the Jacksonville 9, but Ridley didn’t stop and change his direction after the catch, instead going out of bounds. Levis’ pass on fourth down in the end zone with a touch too high for Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Jacksonville took over on downs. Tennessee got it back after a three and out but the Jaguars held as Levis threw four incomplete passes and Jacksonville sneaked out of the Music City with a win.
Jones struggles early, sharp late
Jones flashed starter material when he came in on relief of the injured Lawrence last week against Houston. But that Jones wasn’t on display for three quarters against Tennessee. Much like in starts against Minnesota and Detroit, Jones had an inconsistent day.
He tried to find rookie Brian Thomas Jr. inside the Titans 40 in the opening half but Thomas didn’t jump to make a play and Chidobe Awuzie had an easy pick. That interception was more on Thomas than it was Jones because he didn’t make an attempt at the ball and could have, at worst, swatted it away instead of letting Awuzie have an easy play on the ball. The next pick was more on Jones.
Trying to drive the Jaguars for a late field goal, Jones had just hit Evan Engram for a 7-yard gain to put Jacksonville in Cam Little’s range. But ex-Jaguars player Arden Key came unblocked to get a hand on Jones, who tried to dump it off to Tank Bigsby and was intercepted by Otis Reese IV. That play erased Jacksonville’s deepest drive of a miserable first half.
Jacksonville figured to have its struggles passing the ball. The Titans have the NFL’s top-ranked pass defense (171.8). The Jaguars figured to have an easier time moving the ball on the ground but never got it going. The Titans gave up 267 rushing yards last week to Washington.
Jones finally marched Jacksonville into scoring position early in the fourth quarter, getting the Jaguars to the 5. He nearly got hit from behind on his third-down pass attempt with Reese coming unblocked from the blindside. Jacksonville had to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Little. Jones marched the Jaguars from their own 19 to the Tennessee 8 on the ensuing drive, with Bigsby going up the middle for the winning points. Jones finished 23 of 31 for 220 yards and two interceptions. Thomas had eight catches for 86 yards, all in the second half. He’s just 14 yards from tying Justin Blackmon for the most receiving yards by a rookie in Jacksonville history.
Defense gives team a shot
The Jaguars had an excellent stop near the end of the half, denying Tennessee on a fourth and goal from the 2. They chewed up 90 yards on a 15-play march that lasted more than eight minutes but ended with Andre Cisco breaking up a pass in the end zone to Nick Vannett. Tennessee had four downs from the Jaguars 4 and couldn’t get into the end zone, a play that loomed significant in the final result. Had Tennessee settled for a field goal there the Titans could have won the game with a field goal in the final quarter.
Josh Hines-Allen got his seventh sack of the season at the end of the half, blindsiding Levis and forcing a fumble. Levis injured his right shoulder on the hit but came back in the second half and didn’t miss a play. Rookie Jarrian Jones had a pass breakup and his first career sack four minutes into the final quarter, sacking Levis to force a punt that set up the go-ahead drive by Jones and Bigsby. Jones also had a pass breakup on the final drive of the game.