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Jaguars visit Titans looking to build home-stretch momentum

Thu Nov 27 10:28am ET
Field Level Media

With six weeks left in the regular season, the Jacksonville Jaguars currently are positioned to make the playoffs in head coach Liam Coen's first season.

The Jaguars are one of three AFC teams with a 7-4 record that occupy the three wild-card spots entering Week 13. Jacksonville is in sixth entering this week, behind the Los Angeles Chargers but ahead of the Buffalo Bills on a conference win percentage tiebreaker.

Jacksonville's final six games are a mixed bag in terms of opposition. Three of the games are against teams with two or fewer wins, while the other three are versus teams with eight or more wins.

But it starts on what appears to be the easier side this weekend when the Jaguars take on the Tennessee Titans (1-10) Sunday in Nashville, the first of two matchups between these division opponents over the next six weeks.

Four of Jacksonville's final six games are against AFC South rivals, including a pair of games against Indianapolis (8-3), which currently leads the Jaguars by one game.

Coen isn't shying away from discussing the big picture right now with his team.

"It's a huge opportunity for us," he said. "... It comes down to taking advantage of these opportunities and making the most of them."

After a stretch of three losses in four games, Jacksonville has won its last two to restore some balance, including a 27-24 overtime victory over the Arizona Cardinals last week.

A big part of that surge has been an uptick in pass-rush success. Coen challenged his defense, which had eight sacks through the first seven games, to make a bigger impact. The Jaguars responded with 13 sacks in four games since their bye week, including a season-high six last week.

Tennessee carries a six-game overall losing streak and a 10-game home losing streak into this contest. After falling behind Seattle 23-3 last week, the Titans ended the game on a 21-7 run to cut the final deficit to 30-24.

Although the team was down two of its top three receivers against the Seahawks, Cam Ward turned in one of his better performances of the season. The rookie quarterback completed 28 of 42 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown with a team-high 37 rushing yards and his first career rushing TD.

Chimere Dike, a rookie bright spot for the Titans, scored a pair of second-half touchdowns against Seattle. He returned a punt 90 yards for his second punt-return TD of the season and caught his second touchdown pass of the season in the fourth quarter.

He leads the league in kick-return yards (1,206) and in yards per punt return (23.8).

The trend of losses hasn't changed for Tennessee, but the last few weeks have been much more competitive. After six of the Titans' first seven losses were by 10-plus points -- including four by 18-plus points -- their last three have all one-score losses.

"There's a burning desire week-in and week-out to win," said Titans interim coach Mike McCoy, who was previously Jacksonville's QBs coach from 2022-24. "... We've got to consistently do our jobs better and see what happens then when you play your best football for 60 minutes."

Jacksonville receiver Brian Thomas Jr., who has missed the last three games with an ankle injury, has been cleared to return after practicing fully Thursday and Friday. The Jaguars ruled out offensive linemen Patrick Mekari (concussion) and Chuma Edoga (calf) as well as defensive end Travon Walker (knee).

The Jaguars opened safety Eric Murray's 21-day practice window this week as he returns from a neck injury. He was limited each day in practice but was also ruled out for Sunday.

Tennessee has a litany of injuries, with center Lloyd Cushenberry (foot), defensive tackle Shy Tuttle (concussion), cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis (Achilles) and safety Kendell Brooks (concussion) all sidelined for Sunday. Rookie receiver Elic Ayomanor (hamstring), tight end Chig Okonkwo (foot), tackle Dan Moore (knee) and safety Xavier Woods (hamstring) are all questionable.

Jaguars visit Titans looking to build home-stretch momentum

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