Jaguars 34, Titans 14: Calvin Ridley and Trevor Lawrence Get Jacksonville Back On Track
During the Doug Pederson era, one of the defining characteristics of the Jacksonville Jaguars has been their ability to respond.
With a dominant 34-14 victory over the Tennessee Titans at EverBank Field on Sunday, the Jaguars showed that their ability to rebound is a pillar of their culture. Just one week after the worst loss of the Pederson era, the Jaguars answered with one of their most complete showings.
The Jaguars forced an early three-and-out after stuffing Derrick Henry on the first two downs, with Tre Herndon forcing Will Levis to step up into a Foye Oluokun sack on third down.
After an early 14-yard completion to Calvin Ridley on third-down, the Jaguars were forced to punt after Trevor Lawrence missed on a 3rd-and-5 to Christian Kirk.
The Jaguars got back to their takeaway formula on the following drive, with Levis failing to handle a snap after a 38-yard run by Chris Moore. The loose ball was recovered by Oluokun and set up the Jaguars' first scoring drive of the day.
After Ridley drew pass interference, Lawrence connected with Kirk for 20 yards to set up a three-yard touchdown to Ridley, his first touchdown catch since Week 4.
The Jaguars then proceeded to get in their own way time and time again on the following drive. After the Jaguars missed a potential sack on Levis, they then dropped a would-be interception on 4th-and-6. On the ensuing punt, struggling rookie running back Tank Bigsby jumped offsides, resulting in 4th-and-1.
The Titans predictably put the ball in Derrick Henry's hands, with the All-Pro converting. The Titans then escaped another near-pick before a blown-up screen on third-down was negated due to a late timeout. On the next play, the Titans came back with the same screen. This time, they converted.
The Jaguars luckily refound their magic to prevent points, with Josh Allen and Andre Cisco combining for a sack to give Allen 37 career sacks, just 0.5 sacks behind Yannick Ngakoue for second-most in franchise history.
Jacksonville then drove into the red-zone thanks to Zay Jones drawing a pass interference, though the 11-play drive ended in a 30-yard Brandon McManus field goal instead of a touchdown after Jeffery Simmons dominated Anton Harrison on 3rd-and-1, resulting in a negative run.
After the Jaguars forced another punt around the two-minute warning, the Jaguars were able to string together another scoring drive thanks a to a 34-yard connection between Lawrence and Ridley, setting up a 25-yard field goal from McManus to extend the lead to 13-0.
Jacksonville then came out firing in the second-half, picking up a number of first downs as they diligently marched to midfield. They then picked up their biggest gain of the day on 4th-and-4, with a scrambling Lawrence finding D'Ernest Johnson for a 34-yard gain.
Two plays later, Lawrence called his own number from nine yards out, scoring his first rushing touchdown of the season to help the Jaguars take a 20-0 lead.
Lawrence then continued to pour it on with fireworks on the following drive, connecting with Kirk for 18 yards and Ridley for 26 yards before connecting with Ridley for a 20-yard touchdown. The touchdown made Sunday Ridley's first multi-touchdown game as a Jaguar and gave Jacksonville a 27-0 lead.
The Titans finally drew blood on the final play of the third quarter. After K'Lavon Chaisson was penalized for roughing the passer on a 3rd-down completion, Levis completed a 43-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins to make it 27-7.
Jacksonville's special teams unit then got in on the blowout, with long-snapper Ross Matiscik forcing and recovering a fumble at the Titans' 36-yard line.
The Jaguars now sit at 7-3. They will travel to Houston next week for a key AFC South battle vs. the Houston Texans.
Stats of the Game (11/19/23 vs. Titans) Via: @theryanmichael
Trevor Lawrence finished the game competing 24 of 32 passes (75.0%) for 262 yards (8.2 YPA), 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 1 sack and a 119.5 passer rating. Lawrence produced 4 total touchdowns (2 passing, 2 rushing).
Lawrence eclipsed 10,000 career passing yards—ending the game with 10,136.
Calvin Ridley caught 7 passes off of 9 targets for 103 yards (14.7 yards/catch) and 2 touchdowns. Today marked Ridley’s fourth career game with 100+ receiving yards and multiple touchdown receptions.
Foyesade Oluokun and Ross Matiscik both recovered fumbles.
Devon Lloyd led the Jaguars with 11 total tackles (5 solo).
The Jaguars 34 points scored was the second highest mark of the 2023 season
