Jaguars Up-Down drill: Lawrence, chunk plays deliver a lot of upside against Tennessee Titans
Taking a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Jaguars’ 34-14 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
Up: Passing milestone
When Trevor Lawrence completed a 14-yard pass to tight end Luke Farrell on the third play of the second half, he became the fourth Jaguars quarterback (Mark Brunell, Blake Bortles, David Garrard) to eclipse 10,000 passing yards.
At 24 years, 1 month, 13 days old, he also became the third youngest QB in NFL history to reach that milestone. The youngest were Drew Bledsoe (23 years, 9 months, 26 days) with the New England Patriots and Jameis Winson (23 years, 9 months, 30 days) with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Down: Chaisson injustice
The Jaguars are the least penalized team in the NFL (48 for 392 yards) and one flag thrown on pass-rusher K'Lavon Chaisson for roughing Titans quarterback Will Levis was about as ticky-tack as it gets.
Chaisson tackled Levis and fell on him, but it didn't appear that he applied his full body weight or did anything extracurricular.
That third-down penalty kept Tennessee's drive going and on the next play, Levis hit DeAndre Hopkins on a 43-yard touchdown pass for the Titans' first TD on the last play of the third quarter.
Gene Frenette: Jaguars look better when Trevor Lawrence, passing game can get vertical
Up: Ridley impact
Not only did Calvin Ridley have his second-best output this season as a receiver (7 catches, 103 yards, 2 TDs), but he also had an 18-yard run off a reverse and drew a 9-yard pass interference penalty on third down on the Jaguars’ first touchdown drive.
Ridley has drawn seven of the team’s 12 enforced pass interference calls this season against opposing defenses for a total of 129 yards. Those flags have led to five scoring drives (3 TDs, 2 FGs).
Up: Driving market price
Josh Allen got closer to two sack milestones when he got credit for a half-sack of Levis with safety Andre Cisco. It pushed Allen’s season total to 9.5 sacks, just shy of his personal record 10.5 sacks as a rookie in 2019.
Allen now needs one more sack to move ahead of Yannick Ngakoue (37.5 sacks) for second place on the Jaguars’ all-time list.
With every sack, Allen also increases his value as a free agent when his contract expires after the season.
Up: Rest for Campbell
With Tyson Campbell aggravating a hamstring injury last week against the San Francisco 49ers, the Jaguars used caution and deactivated him for the Titans game.
It worked out as Montaric Brown replaced him as the starter and held up pretty well in coverage except for the 49-yard bomb he allowed to Chris Moore on Tennessee’s last TD drive late in the fourth quarter.
Not playing Campbell could allow him to return for Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans that will be for first place in the AFC South.
Up: King Henry dethroned
After running for 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns in his last eight games against the Jaguars, former Yulee High star Derrick Henry found little running room Sunday as he had a measly 38 yards on 14 carries.
His best run was a 16-yarder on Tennessee’s last scoring drive with 5:50 remaining and the game out of hand. Henry needs two yards to reach 9,000 for his career.
Down: Third-down woes
While the Jaguars had 389 total yards, their third-highest output of the season, they continue to have issues converting on third down.
The Jaguars were just 4 of 12 on third down (not including two penalties that moved the chains), which is right in line with their season percentage of 35.1 percent (46 of 131).
There was one small consolation when a Lawrence 14-yard pass to Ridley converted a third-and-10 on their first possession. It was only the third time in 41 third-down situations this season that the Jaguars converted when needing 8 or more yards.
Jaguars report card: Three A's and a B for complete effort in win against Tennessee Titans
Up: Takeaway celebration
After last week’s minus-4 turnover differential, the Jaguars reversed course and had a plus-two margin against Tennessee.
The most impressive turnover the Jaguars forced was on the punt coverage team when long snapper Ross Matiscik used his right hand to rip the ball away from Titans’ return man Eric Garror, then recovered the fumble at the Titans’ 36.
It set up the Jaguars’ final touchdown on a Lawrence 5-yard run. Matiscik got so carried away in celebrating his feat that he tried to throw the ball against an end-zone wall, only to graze a cameraman in his leg and later offering him an apology.
Up: Chunk plays
After having a season-low two plays of 20-plus yards last week against San Francisco, the Jaguars had their second-best in that category this season with five plays of 20 yards or longer.
All of them came on Lawrence passes, three to Ridley for 34, 26 and 20 yards.
The Jaguars’ offense showed a more explosive element this game than any other except Buffalo when they had a season-high 474 yards.
Up: Trevor mobility
Not only did Lawrence have one of his better passing days this season (24 of 32, 262 yards, 2 TDs, 119.5 rating), but he showed that the knee injury he suffered five weeks ago continues to heal rapidly.
Lawrence had two rushing touchdowns, extending his left hand to break the plane on a 5-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter and extending his right hand to break the plane on a 9-yard scoring run to open the second half.
Up: Building O-line depth
As head coach Doug Pederson hinted at earlier in the week, the Jaguars wanted to get newly-acquired guard Ezra Cleveland (trade with Minnesota Vikings) some game action.
The Jaguars did just that in the second quarter when Cleveland replaced left guard Walker Little for one series. It remains to be seen whether that will be the plan for Sunday’s game at Houston or later this season.
Cleveland will be a free agent after the season, but the Jaguars have expressed interest in signing him, possibly to replace right guard Brandon Scherff, who could be a salary-cap casualty.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars' offense, Trevor dual threat highlight upside in beating Titans
