Jaguars take big fall in one week

Sep 19, 2017 - 3:47 AM The Jacksonville Jaguars took a look at the scenery from the top of the mountain and apparently didn't like what they saw. In one week's time, they went from king of the mountain to the bottom of the valley, all in a span of 30 minutes of playing uninspiring, mistake-filled football.

There was a euphoric high after Jacksonville opened the regular season with a dominating 22-point win at Houston, the defending AFC South champions and picked by most to repeat this year.

But any thoughts of the Jaguars being in position to replace the Texans as ruler of this weak division, disappeared Sunday when they reverted to their old ways with inept offense and a defense that wore out to a Tennessee offense that took advantage of ideal field conditions the last 30 minutes of the game.

Do not be misled by Jacksonville finishing the game with 223 gross passing yards, eight more than the Titans. Not when 134 of those yards by the Jaguars came in a fourth quarter when Tennessee toyed with them, giving them space to complete short passes that ate a lot of time off the clock.

By that time, the visitors had built a more-than-comfortable 30-3 lead and were only concerned about how soon they could get back to the locker room, shower and return to Nashville in a three-way tie for first place, knowing that they were likely the best team in the AFC South this year.

For the first 30 minutes of the game, Jacksonville put up a fight and appeared ready to challenge the Titans for divisional supremacy.

The teams traded first-quarter field goals and it wasn't until Tennessee's Ryan Succop connected on a 41-yarder on the last play of the first half did the Titans take the lead and the momentum for the rest of the game.

Jacksonville had first possession of the ball in the second half, but it lasted only three plays. That's when Blake Bortles' pass was thrown behind intended receiver Marqise Lee, resulting in a Titans interception.

Tennessee turned it into a field goal 10 plays later.

The next Jaguars possession was three-and-out and the Titans used a long punt return to set up a 34-yard march in two plays, 17 yards on each, for the game's first touchdown.

When the Jaguars gained only one first down on their next possession and were forced to punt again, Tennessee hit on a 42-yard pass play on the first play and were in the end zone two plays and seven yards later.

Bortles had two 16-yard completions in the Jaguars' next drive to account for two of the team's three first downs in the quarter, but his last three passes in the quarter resulted in minus-2 yards and two incompletions, as the Jaguars were forced to punt for the third time in the 15-minute span.

Tennessee used that drive that stretched into the fourth quarter for yet another touchdown and an insurmountable 30-3 lead. The only good thing about the majority of the 61,709 fans on hand leaving early was that the boos for the Jaguars offense weren't as loud.

"Today was ugly, especially against another divisional opponent, especially against the Titans," Jaguars nose tackle Abry Jones said.

The ugliness was heightened because of the high hopes that the Jaguars had raised with their season-opening win in Houston. That's when they halted a six-year skid of losing its regular-season opener.

It gave hope to some that a 2-0 start, the first of its kind in 11 years, was a possibility.

Even with tough games against Baltimore and Pittsburgh ahead in the next three weeks, there was reason for optimism if the team started 2-0 because the schedule was still relatively soft with the likes of the Jets, Rams, Colts and the Bengals all coming up in the first half of the schedule.

Some optimists were even talking about a 6-2 start if the Jaguars could somehow get by Tennessee.

But after the dismal showing against the Titans, there are few who would give the Jaguars much chance at being better than 4-4 at the halfway point of the schedule.

It's not that injuries can be used as an excuse.

The Jaguars are missing one key weapon, albeit a big one with the season-ending ACL injury to wide receiver Allen Robinson. His loss was magnified Sunday when Bortles looked and looked for an open receiver but found few.

Several times when he did find someone running free, the ball was dropped by the intended target or Bortles was pressured into making a bad throw or he made a bad throw without any pressure.

Bortles saw his record fall to 12-35 as a starter since he took over starting duties the third game into his rookie season in 2014. Much of the fans' wrath and displeasure over the Jaguars' losing ways is directed at Bortles.

The Jaguars quarterback explained things as best he could after the loss.

"We will have to find what we can do and what we can take advantage of and how we can get the ball downfield in order to create those big plays that we need to win," he said.

The Jaguars did make their first quarterback move since drafting Brandon Allen two years ago (and then releasing him just before the start of this season).

The team signed Ryan Nassib, who has appeared in five NFL games and has completed 9 of 10 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown. He was drafted by the New York Giants in 2013 and was released by the Giants during the offseason.

Nassib later signed with the New Orleans Saints this summer but was released in the cuts to 53 earlier this month.