Marcus Mariota and 2-8 Titans Fall To Jacksonville

He also ran for a 23-yard score that put the Titans ahead 13-9 late in the third.

The Jaguars couldn’t move the ball and Myers added his fourth field goal to complete the scoring.

The Tennessee Titans got a chance to show off their young team and franchise quarterback Marcus Mariota to a national audience on Thursday Night Football, but come up short with more fourth quarter mistakes.

For the second week in a row, the Jacksonville Jaguars outcome wasn’t decided until the last play of the game.

Jacksonville responded with an 11-play series that spanned 73 yards and ended with a 31-yard field goal by Jason Myers on the second play of the second quarter to tie it up. He completed 21-of-30 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown. Tight end Delanie Walker had eight catches for 109 yards. The Jags will win 4 of the next 6 games.

If the passing game can’t get going against Jacksonville, the offense may be in for a long day as they won’t find it any easier moving the ball against the Jaguars on the ground.

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Despite this setback, Jacksonville has proven that they can still win tough defensive minded games within their division as evident by the 19-13 slugfest against Tennessee on Thursday night. The return is even more impressive considering that Greene was playing for the first time in seven games, recovering from a torn ligament in his thumb. That leaves them a half-game behind AFC South-leading Indianapolis and Houston entering the weekend.

As for Tennessee, I believe they are essentially out of contention in the AFC South with a dismal 2-8 record.

-RUN DEFENSE: B-minus. Rookie Antonio Andrews had 78 yards on 15 carries, but 26 came on his longest run.

QB Marcus Mariota did what he could to lead the Titans on the final drive.

-SPECIAL TEAMS: A. They’ve struggled on special teams much of the year, but Rashad Greene’s 63-yard punt return set up the game-winning score. The Titans put together an 81-yard march, including two pass-interference penalties against the Jaguars for 48 yards, in five plays.

The Titans defense came up big forcing the Jags to settle for a field goal giving them one last chance down 19-13. “When the coaches call our number, we just try to make plays for our team”. 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.

Both teams were feeling each other out with game plans more conservative than Rush Limbaugh.

For his part, Mariota looks like he, even in his rookie year, is producing at a level that could have him finishing the season well above the numbers we see above. Ultimately, it was a punt return that proved the difference in the game. “That doesn’t mean Morgan is bad or that I think of Dick LeBeau any less as a playcaller, I just think that the idea of an edge rusher covering anyone athletic is based on an older mentality where you didn’t have 6’6” freaks running down the field with 4.5 speed. “I’m not going to change everything, I’m not going to give them any different message from my end, because there isn’t another message they are going to hear”. It happened twice again on Thursday with Robinson out-jumping the defensive play to make the catch.