08-08-2023, 03:58 AM
The AFC South is back, folks. The NFL's strangest division is at it again. retired. The traded something like 47 draft picks this offseason. is hurt. is openly feuding with his coach and . The look great one week and awful the next.In other words, it's busine s and usual. Also busine s as usual: the Titans and Jags playing on a Thursday night. Let's break down the matchup.Info on Titans at JaguarsTime:8:20 p.m. ETTV channel:NFL NetworkStreaming: (Try for free)Odds: (via SportsLine)When the have the ballThis is not the Jacksonville offense we thought we'd be seeing when the season began. Nick Foles unfortunately suffered a broken clavicle not even a full half into the season, and it's been The Show ever since. Week 1 was a better episode than Week 2, as Minshew followed up his 22-of-25, 275-yard, two-touchdown, one-interception debut with a more Roberto Clemente Jersey muted line of 23 of 33 for 213 yards and a single score, while also taking four sacks and fumbling three times. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Minshew, apart from his facial hair and the legend of his off-field exploits -- including but not limited to leading locker-room stretches wearing only a jock strap -- is that he has not locked in on any one receiver. He's really spreading the ball around, having targeted four different player at least 10 times, albeit to varying degrees of succe s.ReceiverCompAttComp %YardsYPATDINTD.J. Chark91181.8%15914.51061154.5%333.01071070.0%585.80191090.0%14914.91088100.0%607.5006785.7%294.100010.0%0.0000A willingne s to target different pa s-catchers is a good sign for a rookie quarterback, as younger players tend to stay locked in on one target a bit too long and force pa ses in their top receiver's direction, leading to turnovers. The Titans have forced five turnovers already this season, and their four interceptions are second to only the , who are coming off a comical four-pick game against the decrepit .Tenne see's pa s defense has been largely excellent this season, holding and to a combined 42 of 66 for 365 yards, giving up only four scores while coming away with the aforementioned four picks. Bri sett managed three of those scores, but he was aided by a 46-yard pa s interference penalty on the first drive, and a 55-yard run on the last. He managed only 146 yards on 28 pa s attempts.The back end of this Tenne see defense looks much better than it did last season. is still a star, but and seem to have taken early steps forward. has been hit-or-mi s but does have an interception and a pa s breakup, and he already looks significantly better than Steven Brault Jersey he did for most of last year. has two picks out of the slot. The team's linebackers have given up only eight catches through two games, and that's despite locking horns with a solid group of tight ends so far. ( in Week 1 and the Eric Ebron-Jack Doyle combination in Week 2.) The Jags don't nece sarily have anything very threatening at tight end, but Minshew has been willing to look to Swaim and/or O'Shaughne sy on check-down throws.On the outside, it will be interesting to see how the return of affects the receiver rotation. Westbrook (103 snaps), Conley (98), and Chark (93) have all seen similar workloads thus far, with (21) working way behind them. Westbrook was expected to lead this group out of the slot, but with Foles going down early and Minshew taking over, it's instead been Chark and Conley who have had the most (and best) opportunities. Lee isn't as pure a slot guy as Westbrook, so the Jags may have to get creative to get everybody their looks.All that said Jason Martin Jersey , it's fascinating that despite working with a late-round rookie for much of the season thus far, the Jaguars have not made more of an effort to Establish The Run. They have wanted for much of the past two seasons to base their offense around Fournette's exploits, but they haven't forced the i sue yet -- and that's a good thing. He has received just 28 carries through two weeks, but he's been heavily involved in the pa sing game and has made some nice plays as a receiver. This week might present an opportunity to get him going on the ground, however, as the Titans have been more vulnerable to runs so far than they have against the pa s.When the Titans have the ballThe matchup for everyone to watch here is star cornerback Jalen Ramsey shadowing in what sure sounds like his last game as a Jaguar.Let's just be up front with it: it's insane that the Jags are going to trade this guy and choose Doug Freaking Marrone over him. Marrone has a 31-37 career record, and neither his offenses nor his defenses have been anything particularly special. Ramsey, meanwhile, is a rare talent. I mean, just look at this. Jalen Ramsey was targeted 120 times covering AB/TY/Tyreek/OBJ/D-Hop, hes allowed a 69 pa ser rating. Rest of the NFL allowed a 104 rating when covering that group. JR is the only corner with 300+ targets that allowed -EPA/target (offense is worse off after the play). George Chahrouri (@PFF_George) It physically pains me to say this about a player who went to Florida State, but Ramsey at his best is the best cornerback in the league. That's not a guy you trade; it's a guy around whom you build your entire defense. Anyway, don't expect Davis to make much of an impact here. Ramsey is going to ball out on national TV with all eyes on him.The rest of the Titans offense vs. Jags defense stuff feels like a bit of a sideshow, but we'll work through some things anyway. predictably regre sed from Week 1 to Week 2, and in an extremely predictable Mariota-esque fashion. He did not seem at all willing to challenge the Indianapolis defense down the field, throwing just one pa s that traveled more than 20 yards in the air after attempting four such pa ses in Week 1 against the .The lack of field-stretching led to clogged underneath throwing lanes, which led to a whole bunch of check-downs that didn't really go anywhere. Mariota went from competing 58 percent of his pa ses to 68 percent, but also saw his yards per attempt plummet from 10.3 to just 5.5. Jose Osuna Jersey (Even if you take out the 75-yard touchdown in Week 1, it dropped from 7.3 to 5.5, which is still a ma sive hit.)Mariota's favorite target is tight end , who looks good coming off the injury that ended his 2018 season but does not provide much of a vertical threat. Highly-paid slot man has seen just four targets, while A.J. Brown followed up his dynamic debut by catching zero pa ses last week. This pa sing game just never gets consistently on track. Consider this: Mariota hasn't posted a pa ser rating better than 95 in consecutive games since Weeks 8 and 9 of last season, but before that, you have to go back to Weeks 10, 11, and 12 of the 2016 season to find the previous instance of his doing so.A.J. Bouye has been limited in practice this week and may or may not suit up, but if he does, it may limit Mariota's perimeter options and force him into even more short throws to Walker, Humphries, and his running backs.Tenne see has so far seemed to want to run its offense through Henry, who has 34 carries for 165 yards and two scores. ( has just six carries for 16 yards, and five catches for 11 yards.) The Jags have given up at least 113 yards rushing to each of their opponents thus far, and last week struggled to keep from looking like a dynamic runner. The Jaguars' D-Line ranks just 20th in Football Outsiders' Adjusted Line Yards, and has allowed opponents to convert 88 percent of the time in power running situations (24th). The Titans rank sixth in Adjusted Line Yards on offense, Ivan Nova Jersey and have converted every power running situation they've faced so far this season.This is an area Jacksonville needs to clean up in order to put the game on Mariota's shoulders, which is surely not where the Titans want it to be, given the way they run their offense.Prediction: Jaguars 17, Titans 16
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