The Tennessee Titans are back to playing football this weekend, as they take on the Nick Foles led Jacksonville Jaguars.
This game is big for the Titans in more ways than one.
If you win, you can continue your playoff push and maybe even get in the conversation about a potential AFC South division title.
Lose, and you can just start looking ahead to the 2020 NFL Draft.
Pretty simple in nature, lets get down to business.
1. Titans Offense Looks to Continue Strong Play After Bye Week
To say Ryan Tannehill has played well during the 4 games he’s started would be a severe understatement. He hasn’t been perfect, but he’s provided decisiveness and aggressiveness to an offense that lacked both big time while undeer the guidance of Marcus Mariota.
Tannehill has thrown for 1,012 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions in the 4 games he’s started so far. He’s given the Titans the chance to stay aggressive in their passing attack, driving the ball down the field and giving his playmakers chances to steal the show.
All of this wouldn’t even come close to possible without the consistent play of Derrick Henry. Henry continues to be a bell cow for this team, carrying the ball 185 times for a pretty good 835 yards while averaging 4.4 YPC.
Henry has dominated the Jags throughout his career as well, amassing over 550 yards rushing and a whopping 7 touchdowns.
To add more, the Jaguars are giving up 134.6 yards per game on the ground, so you have to expect Henry to be involved early and often during the day/night on offense.
2. Get & Keep WRs Involved Through The Entire Game
The Titans have obviously found success running the football this year.
But their passing game, particularly with the WRs, has been the concrete, exact definition of inconsistent. The trio of Corey Davis, AJ Brown, and Adam Humphries have combined for only 21 catches in the last 3 weeks.
Getting the ball to those 3 have to be an absolute must and it needs to be a point of emphasis much more earlier in the game than what we’ve been accustomed to seeing.
You can run the ball all you want, but there will come a time when you have to stretch the field vertically through the air if you want to make it far in the playoffs.
3. Nick Foles Is Back & Looks Pretty Healthy to Me
Nick Foles was able to return last week from his severe shoulder injury he suffered in week 1 of the 2019 season. Foles ended up with 296 yards and 2 touchdowns against a Colts defense that has made some serious strides this season.
He’ll surely air the ball out, but I wouldn’t expect the surprising 47 attempts this week against a good Titans defense.
The Titans will need to get their pass rush going in order to keep Foles on his toes every single snap. If they can’t then Foles has the ability to completely take control of a game through the air.
Something the Titans can’t afford to do right now.
4. Leonard Fournette Will Get His Opportunities to Wear Down The Titans’ Defense
Leonard Fournette has played some pretty good football this season.
To go along with his 854 yards rushing, Fournette has gotten some of his usual traction through the air, catching 47 passes for 329 yards.
However, last week, Fournette only got 8 carries.
That’s just not going to happen again, considering the Jags don’t like to go away from their identity at any time during a game.
The Jaguars love to play the physical, smashmouth brand of football, so look for Fournette to get his carries early to get the Titans’ defense a little off balance.
5. Protect the QB Like Your Life Depends On It.
During their week 3 contest, the Titans did a very poor job in terms of pass protection. The Jagaurs sacked Marcus Mariota NINE times, and ended up putting an already shaky Titans offense to bed early.
The offensive line has been better in terms of pass protection in recent weeks, but the improved play can also resort back to Tannehill’s ability to get the ball out of his hands quickly to avoid the rush.
To combat this, the Titans will obviously ram the football down the Jaguars’ throats until they can’t anymore.
But when it comes time for the Titans to let it rip through the air, the offensive line will have to do their part and then some against this ferocious Jaguars pass rush.
If they can’t, then this game might not wind up in the win column for the Titans.
Flip the page for my prediction of the game.
