How the Jaguars lost to the Titans: Turnovers, poor run defense vs. Derrick Henry sink Jacksonville's playoff chances

Jacob Camenker

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How the Jaguars lost to the Titans: Turnovers, poor run defense vs. Derrick Henry sink Jacksonville's playoff chances image

Many presumed it was a foregone conclusion that the Jaguars would win the AFC South after their 24-21 win over the Texans in Week 12.

Jacksonville had a record of 8-3 after its victory over Houston while the Texans and Colts were each two games back at 6-5. The Jaguars also had tiebreaker advantages over both teams, so it was presumed that each squad would have trouble closing the gap on the Jaguars.

However, Doug Pederson's squad couldn't close the deal to win the division. The Jaguars went just 1-5 in their final six games with their final defeat — a 28-20 loss to the Titans — handing the AFC South to the Texans.

The Jaguars didn't just squander the division title, however. They fell out of the playoff race entirely thanks to their Week 18 defeat, as they had failed to win 10 games during the season. That guaranteed that they would finish behind the Bills and Steelers — both teams that had won 10 games — in the AFC wild-card standings.

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Here's a look at how the Jaguars blew their chance to win back-to-back AFC South titles.

How the Jaguars lost to the Titans

The Jaguars' loss to the Titans saw them endure issues that have plagued them all season. Trevor Lawrence did his best to gut through a shoulder injury to lead his team to victory, but ultimately, a couple of turnovers turnovers and the team's shaky defense let them down.

Jaguars run defense loses battle to Derrick Henry, Tyjae Spears

Jacksonville's run defense was arguably the biggest problem during its loss to Tennessee. The Jaguars couldn't contain Derrick Henry at all, as they allowed the veteran running back to rip off a whopping 153 yards and a touchdown on just 18 carries.

Henry has often given the Jaguars trouble, and per usual, Jacksonville struggled to tackle Henry and let him get into space and break through numerous tackles.

Henry's biggest run of the day, a 69-yarder, also showed how much of a problem the Jaguars' defensive linemen had trying to clog up running lanes. No Jaguar touched Henry as he blasted up the middle for the huge gain.

It wasn't just Henry that gave the Jaguars trouble, however. His backfield counterpart Tyjae Spears totaled 24 yards and a touchdown on three carries and finished second on the team with 41 receiving yards and a receiving score.

Spears is a different player than Henry, but the Jaguars' issues in containing him were still the same. They simply couldn't tackle him, as Spears used his elusiveness to avoid Jacksonville's defenders when he had the ball in his hands.

Certainly, tackling will be an area for the Jaguars to improve during the 2024 NFL offseason. Their inability to do so properly played a major role in their end-of-season demise.

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Jaguars lose turnover battle thanks to Trevor Lawrence's interceptions

As is often the case in close games, the turnover battle ended up being consequential for the losing team. The Jaguars had just two turnovers, but they helped the Titans to establish a solid halftime lead that they would not relinquish.

Both turnovers were Trevor Lawrence interceptions, but the first wasn't his fault. He threw a strike to Evan Engram, but the tight end bobbled it while trying to get the first down. That sent the ball spinning into the hands of Terrell Edmunds, who secured it while diving to the ground.

The Titans went on to score after that interception, extending their lead to 21-10 and putting pressure on the Jaguars to score before halftime. That was part of what led to Lawrence's second interception, a bad overthrow that gave the Titans the ball back with a minute left to play in the first half.

Tennessee wasn't able to score after that overthrow. In fact, a botched punt by the Titans allowed the Jaguars to score three points before halftime and cut the lead to 21-13.

Still, those seven Titans points off turnovers proved consequential in the Jaguars' eight-point loss. This was a predictable phenomenon, however, as Sunday's defeat dropped Jacksonville to 0-11 all-time in games during which Lawrence throws multiple interceptions.

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Trevor Lawrence's goal-line extension comes up short

Even despite these major issues, the Jaguars had a chance to make a late push to tie the game. They had the ball on the 1-yard line and were facing a fourth-and-goal when the team decided to sneak Trevor Lawrence up the middle.

Lawrence got a full extension on the play, but the Titans were able to hold firm and push him back just before he broke the plane.

Had Lawrence made it in, the Jaguars would have had a chance to attempt a game-tying two-point conversion. And if they hadn't succeeded, they still could have positioned themselves to mount a game-winning field-goal drive with a stop of Ryan Tannehill and Co.

But after being stopped, Lawrence had to try to mount a game-tying touchdown drive with just over two minutes left in regulation. Ultimately, Lawrence couldn't get the job done and overthrew his receiver on a fourth-and-2 play to end the season.

Now, the Jaguars will have all offseason to think about Lawrence's lunge and just how close they were to pulling off a comeback against the Titans.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.