Titans aim to finish better vs. Jaguars
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars enjoyed a nearly perfect season opener.
Rookie running back Leonard Fournette carried the ball with authority behind a surprisingly stout offensive line. Quarterback Blake Bortles played sack- and turnover-free football for just the second time in 45 career starts. The defense allowed just 203 yards, forced four turnovers and had 10 sacks.
It was the team’s ideal identity, the smash-mouth style new coach Doug Marrone and top executive Tom Coughlin spent the past eight months trying to build.
It also looked a lot like what the Tennessee Titans (0-1) have constructed under second-year coach Mike Mularkey. When the AFC South rivals meet this afternoon in Jacksonville, the Jaguars (1-0) will try to prove last week the start of a season-long trend rather than a fluke.
“It means a lot,” Fournette said. “At the end of the day, physical play is what our head coach wants from us. I believe we have the team, we have the players to do it each and every week. It’s a mindset to come out there and play physical.”
It’s exactly what the Jaguars did in a dominating 29-7 victory at Houston.
Even though the Titans ran for 95 yards — 40 yards shy of what they averaged in 2016 — and gave up 26 points, they had no complaints about how physical they played in a 10-point home loss to Oakland. They were more concerned with finishing drives after going 1-for-3 in the red zone and missing a field goal.
“I thought we moved the ball well, did a good job of converting third downs, winning the point of attack,” quarterback Marcus Mariota said. “We just didn’t finish, and that’s obviously been something that we’ve addressed and we’ll get better at it.”
If not, the Titans could be 0-2 for the first time since 2012. A loss would leave them in an early hole in the division race.
“That’s how you win the division: You’ve got to beat the teams in it,” Mularkey said. “I think it’s six years that we’ve split with these guys. … At some point, that’s going to stop. Somebody’s going to have to win both of them to win the division.”