In his farewell game with Titans, Henry provided downer of kissing Jaguars' season goodbye

Taking a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Jaguars’ 28-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium.

Up: Classy exit

While it was terrible how the Jaguars’ defense failed miserably in containing Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry (19 carries, 153 yards, 1 TD), what the Yulee High product did after the game reflected how he stays connected with Nashville.

Henry, who got the loudest pregame ovation of any Titan and blew kisses to the crowd, will likely play elsewhere next season with Tennessee rebuilding and the 30-year-old back being a free agent.

Henry was given a microphone on the field to talk to the fans afterward and expressed his appreciation, saying: “I just want to say thank you for the greatest eight years of my life. … I love y’all.”

Down: Turnover-itis disease

After playing a clean, efficient game last week in a 26-0 victory over the Carolina Panthers, the Jaguars morphed back into the turnover-prone offense that sabotaged them 10 times total in losses to the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After gaining their last lead at 10-7, quarterback Trevor Lawrence was intercepted on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter to flip the momentum back to Tennessee. There’s a strong correlation between how well Lawrence took care of the ball this season and the outcome.

In his eight wins, Lawrence had 11 touchdown passes, four interceptions and two lost fumbles. In his eight losses, the third-year QB had 10 TD passes, 10 interceptions and five lost fumbles.

Up: Grand milestones

It's not much consolation, but both running back Travis Etienne and receiver Calvin Ridley reached important milestones by exceeding 1,000 yards. Etienne (16 carries, 57 yards) made it past that mark for the second consecutive year on a 4-yard run at the end of the third quarter.

He became the first Jaguars running since Maurice Jones-Drew from 2009-11 to reach the milestone in consecutive seasons. Ridley (6 catches, 106 yards) needed 90 yards receiving to reach the milestone.

He got there late in the second quarter, buoyed by a 59-yard TD catch earlier when he got free behind the secondary.

Down: Goal line blues

In what turned out to be a game-deciding sequence, the Jaguars got a double dose of misfortune when both teams had possession at the Tennessee 1-yard line.

On fourth-and-goal, Lawrence tried to extend his right arm over the top of the line to break the end zone plane, but center Luke Fortner got pushed back. It resulted in the Jaguars’ quarterback being less than a foot short of a touchdown that would have cut the Titans’ lead to 28-26, with a two-point PAT to follow.

On the next snap for Tennessee, Jaguars nose tackle Davon Hamilton got too eager and jumped offsides to push the ball out just beyond the 5-yard line. The extra breathing room led to the Titans getting three first downs and erasing nearly five minutes off the clock.  

Up: Allen payday coming

With one sack of Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, outside linebacker Josh Allen finished with 17.5 sacks for the season. That put him tied for second in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals’ Trey Hendricksen, just behind the 19.0 sacks for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ T.J. Watt, who had a pair of sacks on Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens.

With Allen scheduled to be a free agent, the Jaguars will likely put the franchise tag on him to lock him up and try to work out a long-term contract extension later in 2024. That was the same path they took last year with tight end Evan Engram, applying the franchise tag on March 6 (nine days before the deadline) and signing him to a three-year contract extension in mid-July before training camp opened.

Down: No three-peat

Jaguars linebacker Foye Oluokun, the NFL’s leading tackler the past two seasons, was limited to seven tackles against Tennessee to fall short of a three-peat.

Oluokun finished fourth in total tackles with 173 as Seattle Seahawks linebacker won the title with a 15-tackle showing against the Arizona Cardinals to finish at 183 tackles.

He was followed by the Indianapolis Colts’ Zaire Franklin at 179 and the Denver Broncos’ Alex Singleton at 177.

Up: 1-2 sack punch

Though he finished behind Watt for the NFL sack title, Allen and fellow edge rusher Travon Walker combined to finish with a league-best 27.5 sacks as each put Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill on the ground.

Walker’s sack gave him 10.0 for the season, a massive increase from his rookie total of 3.5. The Detroit Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson, taken one pick after Walker with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 draft, had a pair of sacks Sunday against the Chicago Bears to finish with 11.5 sacks.

Down: Titan-ic letdown

Losing to bitter rival Tennessee is always a difficult thing for the Jaguars to stomach, but this defeat was especially painful due to losing the AFC South title and a playoff berth. The Jaguars allowed the 27th-ranked NFL offense to have nine explosive plays (16+ yard pass plays or 12+ yard runs) and avoid going winless in the AFC South division for the first time.

It was the third time since 2014 that Tennessee won only one division game and it came against the Jaguars.

Up: Improved draft position

By losing to Tennessee, the Jaguars did get some benefit by moving up into the No. 17 slot for the NFL draft.

Depending on where a playoff team finishes, those teams going to the postseason will draft from 19-32. Picking out of the 17th position will be new territory for the Jaguars, who have never picked anywhere from the No. 14-18 positions.

The only time the Jaguars drafted reasonably close to 17th in the first round was in the 1995 expansion season when they moved up to grab running back James Stewart at No. 19.

Down: Frontrunners only

In all seven games this season when the Jaguars trailed at halftime, they ended up losing. They also dropped the only other contest (Cincinnati) in which the teams were tied at the half.

Not being able to come from behind has become a big issue for the Jaguars. Lawrence engineered only two game-winning drives in the fourth quarter all season, the last one being a 44-yard TD pass to Christian Kirk for a 34-27 win over the New Orleans Saints with 3:08 remaining.

The slow-starting Jaguars scored only 61 points in the first quarter, compared to 106 in the second, 104 in the third and 106 in the fourth.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Turnovers, red-zone ineffeciency, penalties part of Jaguars' big downer day