The Tennessee Titans travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars to kick off Week 3 of the NFL season.
In this AFC South matchup, both teams have a lot riding on a victory. Both the Titans and Jaguars suffered losses in Week 2 to divisional opponents, the Colts and Texans, respectively.
After an impressive Week 1 win by the Titans against the Cleveland Browns and a less-joyful Week 2 loss to the Colts, Tennessee comes in with a record of 1-1. They will look to bounce back against their rivals.
The Jaguars come into this game with a record of 0-2 after getting beat up on by the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 and taking a nail-biting loss to the Texans during the Sunday of Week 2. The Jaguars lost their franchise quarterback, Nick Foles, to a fractured clavicle against the Chiefs. Rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew has a very short week to prepare for Tennessee’s defense.
The last time these AFC South rivals met was on a Thursday night in December of last season. In that matchup, the Jaguars’ defense could not stop Titans running back Derrick Henry. Henry finished the game with 17 carries for 238 yards and four touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was a 99-yard run, complete with stiff arms on linebackers and defensive backs along the way. Tennessee won that game handily, 30-9. I see this game being another dominating performance for Henry. The Jaguars’ defense is dealing with injuries to key players, which will work in Henry’s favor.
I would like to see a lights out performance by Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota. After Sunday’s loss, he may have a few less links on the rumored short leash he’s playing on. The Titans’ faithful seem to have a “love, hate, what have you done for us lately?” mentality for their quarterback, although Sunday’s loss to the Colts had enough blame to go around.
The Titans’ defensive unit will look to confuse Minshew. They will try to force him to make mistakes. If they can successfully accomplish that, this game could get out of hand real quick for the Jaguars.
While most of the matchups between these two teams are hard fought and low scoring, this one will have a similar feel to the last matchup.
Final Score: Titans 27, Jaguars 10
