Jaguars report card: Jacksonville called to principal's office after awful showing vs. Titans

Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette grades the Jaguars’ performance in a 28-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans based on execution, effort and game circumstances.

Offense: D

Trevor Lawrence returned at quarterback, but it wasn’t a great start as he threw two first-half interceptions, one that went out of the hands of Evan Engram and another an errant sideline throw for Zay Jones, going straight into the hands of Sean Murphy-Bunting.

Coming back from a sprained shoulder, Lawrence had about four or five throws that he normally makes with little trouble go off target. His 59-yard touchdown bomb to Calvin Ridley (6 catches, 106 yards) gave the Jaguars their last lead at 10-7 early in the second quarter, but Lawrence followed with interceptions on back-to-back drives.

That put the Jaguars in a 21-10 hole, which is the kiss of death for this team that was 0-7 when trailing at halftime in 2023.

As was the case during a four-game losing streak when explosive plays for him were non-existent, Travis Etienne (16 carries, 57 yards) found no running lanes.

Too much was riding on Lawrence (29 of 43, 280 yards, 2 TDs, 81.5 rating) to overcome the Jaguars’ shoddy run defense.

The game’s biggest play involved Lawrence calling his own number on fourth down from the Titans’ 1, but his outstretched arm failed to break the end zone plane.

In the final two minutes, Lawrence had one chance to tie the game and force overtime, but turned the ball over on downs with three straight incompletions. None were more agonizing than seeing another bomb to an open Ridley go off his hands on the first play after the two-minute warning.

Two more incompletions on passes that had no chance ended the Jaguars’ season.

Defense: F

A terrible start for Mike Caldwell’s unit turned out to be a sign of bad things to come. Tennessee got its running game untracked early, rushing for 95 yards in the first half.

Yulee High product Derrick Henry, playing possibly his last game in a Titans uniform, rumbled for 70 yards on nine carries as Tennessee jumped out to a 21-10 advantage. He finished with 153 yards on 19 carries, including a 69-yard jaunt to start the second half that led to a touchdown and a 28-13 lead.

That run was a killer reminiscent of the 99-yarder he had against the Jaguars in 2018, except he didn’t have to break tackles.

Tennessee’s maligned offensive line opened up a huge hole and Henry was off to the races before Andre Cisco got him out of bounds at the 4.

Despite the defense stacking eight or nine guys in the box at times, the Titans wound up with 175 yards rushing and averaged 6.7 yards per rush.

Cisco had the day’s only highlight when he stepped in front of WR Deandre Hopkins for a 29-yard interception return.

Veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17 of 26, 168 yards, 2 TDs) was able to do enough damage off play-action and short passes to keep the Jaguars off balance.

Giving up 28 points to the 27th-ranked offense, tying the most points Tennessee scored all season, was a microcosm of a defense that lost its way the final six weeks except in last week’s shutout of the Carolina Panthers.

Special teams: B-minus

Kick returner Tank Bigsby was plenty aggressive as he took two balls from three yards deep out of the end zone. One went for 31 yards, but the offense didn’t take advantage and went 3-and-out.

A big break that allowed the Jaguars to get three free points before halftime was when Titans punter Ty Zentner dropped a routine snap and tight end Brenton Strange tackled him at the Tennessee 38.

That set up a Brandon McManus 30-yard field at the halftime gun to cut the lead to 21-13.

Parker Washington provided a nifty 14-yard punt return that led to a 14-yard TD pass to Evan Engram.

Kicker Brandon McManus made both of his field goal attempts from 44 and 30 yards to end the season with six straight made FGs. None of his five kickoffs were returned.

Logan Cooke punted only once for 43 yards and a fair catch, so the Titans had zero return yards.

Coaching: F

There are few adjectives strong enough to describe how poorly the Jaguars played with an AFC South division title and playoff berth riding on the outcome.

For whatever reason, Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson didn’t push the right buttons with his team when the stakes were highest.

Turnovers and a few costly penalties — especially Davon Hamilton jumping offsides when Tennessee was pinned inside its own 1-yard line — made the difference between a Jaguars celebration and a long offseason of regret.

As in too many games this season, a shaky start doomed the Jaguars. They gave too much hope to a 6-11 Titans team that got bludgeoned 26-3 last week by the Houston Texans.

Pederson will have a lot of tough evaluating of what he and his coaching staff could have done to avoid going from an 8-3 start to a 1-5 finish.

The Jaguars had a second consecutive division championship in their grasp and inexplicably let it slip away.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars grades: Jacksonville fails final test, left out of playoffs