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| MIN at TB | NO at KC | NYJ at NE | OAK at MIA | PHI at CIN | SD at PIT | STL at SF | TEN at JAX |
Week 11 Game Recap: Tennessee Titans 24, Jacksonville Jaguars 14
What you need to know
| Tennessee Titans |
The Titans overcame an 11 point deficit -- their largest of the season -- and made several big plays in the passing game to take the lead by scoring two touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the third quarter. Once they took the lead, their defense shut the Jaguars offense down and Tennessee escaped Jacksonville with a victory to remain unbeaten. Although the big scoring plays came in the passing game, the Titans' running game was effective. Chris Johnson shouldered the load in the first half, as LenDale White left early with a hand injury. While he only had one run of over ten yards, Johnson ran with great determination against a hard hitting defense, and gained at least four yards on ten of his 17 rushing attempts. Johnson was also targeted eight times in the passing game, and would have posted better numbers, but dropped two passes after getting open. White returned in the third quarter and ran powerfully to help the Titans keep their lead. Nine of White's 12 second half rushes were for four or more yards, and he proved to be very effective at moving the chains and eating up the clock.
Kerry Collins made the big plays in the passing game that resulted in Tennessee's three touchdowns. While he targeted Johnson the most, he looked for Justin Gage when trying to make big plays. The two of them proved successful, setting the tone with the first play of the game on a 47 yard play. Gage caught all but one of the passes thrown his way, including two for the touchdowns that gave the Titans a 17-14 lead and subsequently extended their lead to 24-14. Collins looked comfortable while directing the offense, and displayed good touch on both intermediate and deep passes. He was mostly accurate, only missing his intended receivers three times, one of which was intercepted. Three of his incompletions were as a result of his receivers dropping passes.
The Titans attempted six plays on two possessions in the red zone, and came away with one touchdown and one field goal. They ran three times, with Johnson having two of the carries and White the other, and passed three times. Collins connected with Brandon Jones for a touchdown, and threw his other two red zone targets to Johnson, who caught one and dropped the other.
| Jacksonville Jaguars |
The Jaguars ran well in the first half, but could not sustain their rushing attack in the second half. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor had a combined seven rushes of four or more yards in the first half and just three such rushes in the second half. Jones-Drew added two short yardage touchdowns in the first half. The two running backs were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage four times in the second half, and not at all in the first half. Both ran hard and with power, attacking the Titans' defenders successfully in the first half, but were unable to do so in the second half in large part due to Tennessee's defense. Due to a combination of falling behind quickly in the third quarter and their offensive line's inability to open many holes, both running backs had limited opportunities in the second half.
David Garrard was under siege throughout the game by a very aggressive Titans' pass rush. He completed five of his first six passes for 43 yards, and eight of his remaining 24 passes for 87 yards. As a result of the relentless pressure he faced, Garrard was unable to step into most of his throws, which affected his accuracy greatly. He was sacked four times and would have been sacked more if not for his mobility and throwing the ball before he wanted to. His interception was as a result of a pass rusher affecting his pass, which he threw errantly. Garrard's top receiver this season, Matt Jones, did not play due to a high injury, and as a result he targeted Dennis Northcutt and Jerry Porter the most, with seven targets apiece. Neither player was able to distinguish himself, as they both had just two receptions.
The Jaguars ran six plays on two red zone possessions, both in the first half, and came away with two touchdowns. They ran four times, three by Jones-Drew, including two for short yardage touchdowns. Both of Garrard's red zone passes were errant due to the pass rush. One pass was uncatchable, and the other in Porter's direction, but too wide for him to get his hands on.
What you ought to know
| QB Kerry Collins, Pass: 13 - 23 - 230 - 3 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - -2 - 0 |
Collins was solid in this game. He made good decisions in terms of who to throw to, and was decisive when going for big plays. Collins displayed a strong arm on several intermediate and deep passes, along with good touch. The team seemed to rally around him, and when he threw the touchdown pass that extended their lead, the first player to greet him was an exuberant Vince Young.
| RB Chris Johnson, Rush: 17 - 64 - 0, Rec: 4 - 24 - 0 (8 targets) |
Johnson ran hard and while he did not have a chance to display his speed, did show very good running ability inside the tackles, using his elusiveness to gain additional yards. He took some shots in the game but bounced back up and continued playing each time he was hit hard. He was the most targeted player in the first half, but dropped two passes that could have resulted in significant gains.
| RB LenDale White, Rush: 14 - 52 - 0 (1 targets) |
White left early in the game with a hand injury but showed no ill effects when he returned in the third quarter. He ran hard and showed good power, refusing to be stopped at the point of impact, and gained yards after first contact on most of his rushes.
| WR Justin Gage, Rec: 4 - 147 - 2 (5 targets) |
Gage made the most of his opportunities, catching several deep passes and running well after the catch on each of his receptions. He was able to get open deep by running excellent routes and using his size to ward off the defenders and gain yards after securing the passes. The only ball thrown to him that he did not catch was thrown too high and intercepted.
| WR Brandon Jones, Rec: 2 - 23 - 1 (4 targets) |
Jones ran mostly intermediate routes, catching one of his targets for a touchdown. He did a good job of getting open on these routes, and dropped a pass that he could have caught easily.
| WR Lavelle Hawkins (1 targets) |
Hawkins dropped the only pass thrown to him.
| TE Bo Scaife, Rec: 2 - 28 - 0 (2 targets) |
Scaife had a limited role, but showed good running ability after one of his receptions to gain good yards in traffic.
| TE Alge Crumpler, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
Crumpler had a very limited role in the offense.
| PK Rob Bironas 1 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Bironas made all three of his point after attempts and his lone field goal, which was from 32 yards.
| TEN Rush Defense |
Tennessee's run defense gave up a combined 4.27 yards per carry average to Jacksonville's running backs and allowed two short yardage rushing touchdowns. They did not allow many big runs, and limited Taylor and Jones-Drew to just two carries of over seven yards in the second half. While they did not make many stops behind the line of scrimmage, they did not allow many long runs, but did have some difficulty stopping short-yardage running plays in the first half.
| TEN Pass Defense |
The Titans played the pass aggressively and did so both with pressure just from their front four defensive linemen as well as with blitzes. They knocked Garrard down most of the time he attempted a pass, and disrupted his timing with his receivers constantly. The secondary also did a good job of staying with Jacksonville's receivers, which helped contribute to a dominant effort by their pass defense.
| QB David Garrard, Pass: 13 - 30 - 135 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - 16 - 0 |
Garrard never got into a rhythm. Due to the constant pressure he faced from the Titans' pass rush, he was unable to step into most of his throws, and as a result misfired a lot. He and his receivers were unable to make any adjustments, in large part to not having time to set his feet and look for an open receiver. Several times during the game, Garrard threw passes that had no chance of being caught by one of his receivers due to pressure up the middle that prevented him from stepping into his throws.
| RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Rush: 17 - 66 - 2, Rec: 3 - 27 - 0 (3 targets) |
Jones-Drew played well, running with his combination of power and elusiveness, and using those attributes to score two rushing touchdowns. He did not have many opportunities to showcase his speed as Tennessee's defenders got to him before he could get into the open field, but he was still able to put together a very good game both running and receiving.
| RB Fred Taylor, Rush: 12 - 58 - 0, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
Taylor had a very good first half, running with excellent power and using his speed and mobility to gain positive yards out of plays where he could have been stopped for a loss or no gain. However he had just one run of over three yards in the second half.
| RB Greg Jones, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jones was used mostly for his blocking.
| WR Mike Walker, Rec: 2 - 15 - 0 (5 targets) |
Walker was pressed into duty due to Matt Jones and Reggie Williams not playing, and was used mostly on short routes. His impact was minimal.
| WR Dennis Northcutt, Rec: 2 - 28 - 0 (7 targets) |
Northcutt was unable to produce much despite being targeted the most. He was unable to get open quickly enough and several of the passes thrown his way were errant as a result of not having enough time to get open.
| WR Jerry Porter, Rec: 2 - 24 - 0 (7 targets) |
Porter was targeted five times in the first half but apart from a good catch made while being tightly covered, did not do much to distinguish himself. He was targeted once in the end zone, but the pass was too wide for him to catch it.
| WR Matt Jones |
Matt Jones was put on the inactive list for this game with a thigh injury.
| TE Marcedes Lewis, Rec: 1 - 19 - 0 (2 targets) |
Lewis could have had a slightly bigger impact as he caught a pass that would have picked up a first down but his left foot was out of bounds as he caught the ball.
| TE Richard Angulo, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (1 targets) |
Angulo's participation in the game was limited, but did run well in traffic after securing his lone target.
| PK Josh Scobee 0 - 0 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 2 points |
Scobee made both of his point after attempts, and did not have any field goal attempts.
| JAX Rush Defense |
Jacksonville's run defense played hard and aggressively, but did not come up with any game changing plays. Although they did not allow any big gains on the ground, they were inconsistent. They stopped Tennessee's running backs at or behind the line of scrimmage a combined seven times, yet allowed a combined 21 rushes of four or more yards, including six of seven or more yards.
| JAX Pass Defense |
The Jaguars gave up several big plays in the passing game, and could not generate pressure on the relatively immobile Collins. They had given up 17 points in the third quarter all season, and allowed 14 points in the third quarter of this game, both in the air. The inability to generate a pass rush was compounded by the secondary allowing receivers to get open for big plays several times during the game.
