It’s been a week of distractions for the Jacksonville Jaguars heading into their week five matchup with the Tennessee Titans. Head coach Urban Meyer skipped the team’s plane home from the loss to Cincinnati last week and was caught in a viral video with somebody who is not his wife. With that known take a look how the Jaguars go in this Titans at Jaguars betting preview.
Despite all this outside interference, the 0-4 Jaguars are still just +4 home underdogs on Sunday against 2-2 Tennessee. Does Jacksonville rally against a Titans team that just lost to the Jets, or is this the beginning of the end for Meyer?
Titans Embarrassed Last Week
Maybe it was a tougher matchup than it looked last week when the Titans were up against the then 0-3 Jets on the road? New York was indeed able to pull off the 27-24 OT win behind 297 yards and 2 TD from #2 pick Zach Wilson. Now the Titans are up against another young signal-caller in #1 pick Trevor Lawrence.
Tennessee has to wonder how much more they could have done to get the win at MetLife Stadium – at least on offense. Ryan Tannehill was 2 yards shy of a 300-yard day, and Derrick Henry rumbled for 157 yards on the ground. Henry now has 452 yards rushing over the past three weeks.
Do the Titans have anything to worry about coming to Jacksonville as a -5.5 favorite in their second straight road game? The Jets have a very underrated defense behind first-year head coach Robert Saleh (13th in total yards), but the Jaguars have the 3rd worst unit in the league in total yards given up and in passing yards allowed.
What is the Jaguars’ Mindset?
By many accounts, Meyer has already lost the Jaguars locker room, and team president Shad Khan isn’t the most thrilled either, saying the coach “must regain our trust and respect.” Sometimes these ‘us against them’ moments rally a team, and what 0-4 Jacksonville is doing so far isn’t working.
On the field, this team wasn’t that bad last week, and they have the extra rest and preparation as the 24-21 loss to the Bengals was last Thursday night. The Jags’ had a 14-0 lead over Cincinnati at halftime and got their running game going with 139 yards on the ground.
Trevor Lawrence also had a 7-yard TD run and, most importantly, didn’t throw an interception for the first time this season. The Jaguars still lost, though, as they did the week prior 31-19 to Arizona despite being up 19-10 in the 3rd quarter.
The Jaguars’ defense held Joe Mixon to just 67 yards rushing last Thursday, and Arizona ran for just 91 yards as a team on 31 attempts the week prior. Jacksonville is now 13th in the league giving up 106.3 ypg on the ground – key stats with Derrick Henry coming to town on Sunday.
Titans at Jaguars Pick
Tennessee has to be a bit angry after being shocked by the Jets last week – how do you go into Seattle and get a win but then fall a couple of weeks later at MetLife Stadium? The Titans also have a blowout loss at home to Arizona and a win over the Colts in Nashville on their 2021 resume.
This season, the Titans are an enigma, but we really don’t know what to expect from Jacksonville this week. This is a team that was showing some promise before a week of distractions, but ultimately they’ll probably come out flat here.