Mission Accomplished: Jaguars Lead AFC South Following Win Over Titans

The Jacksonville Jaguars walked into Nissan Stadium with many questions on how they would perform as favorites against the Tennessee Titans. They walked out on Sunday at 8-4 with a dominant victory that never seemed close after Jacksonville’s first quarter touchdown. In a chippy rivalry road matchup that featured multiple fights and skirmishes, Jacksonville exited Nashville with a convincing 25-3 victory and a lead on the AFC South standings, following the Indianapolis Colts’ loss to the Houston Texans. Here’s everything you need to know from Jacksonville’s Week 13 blowout win over the Titans.

Live blog:

Catch up on all the big plays and best moments from tonight’s game in our live blog!

Pregame Notes:

The list of Jaguars inactives on Sunday was notable as DE Travon Walker (knee), OL Chuma Edoga (hamstring), RG Patrick Mekari (concussion), LB Yasir Abdullah (finger), TE Hunter Long (knee), andDT Arik Armstead (hand) were all ruled out due to injuries. RB Cody Schrader was also a healthy scratch along with WR Dyami Brown. This was Brown’s first healthy scratch of 2025, following the recent emergence of Parker Washington, Jakobi Meyers, and the return of Brian Thomas Jr to Sunday’s lineup. Brown ran just one route on four offensive snaps in week 12 versus the Arizona Cardinals.

Notably, S Eric Murray (neck) remained out against the Titans, as his 21-day IR practice window was just opened this week. DT Arik Armstead was a surprise inactive from Sunday’s matchup after popping up on this week’s injury report on Thursday with a hand injury. After entering the weekend with no injury designation he was subsequently downgraded to Questionable on Saturday by the team. Both trenches for Jacksonville gained an early sportlight, as the combination of missing their starting DT Armstead and DE Walker along with Mekari and his backup, Edoga at RG seemed to be a potential early opportunity to exploit for Tennessee. WR Brian Thomas Jr, CB Jourdan Lewis, and RT Anton Harrison all returned from week 12 absences due to injury, however.

For Tennessee, starting CB Jalyn Armour-Davis and C Lloyd Cushenberry were both inactive, along with WR Mason Kinsey, S Jerrick Reed, S Kendell Brooks, G Drew Moss, and DT Shy Tuttle. S Xavier Woods made his return from his October hamstring injury, playing for the first time in a month.

The following Jacksonville players left Sunday’s game due to injury:

• LS Ross Matiscik (back) – DaVon Hamilton was the backup long snapper in his absence. Matiscik returned after the half.

• WR Parker Washington (hip)

• LT Walker Little (concussion)

1st Quarter

The Jacksonville offense was able to overcome a first down, Robert Hansey ineligible man downfield penalty via a Brian Thomas Jr opening drive 11-yard catch and run. However, the Jaguars offense stalled on the following set of downs following a second down Tennessee sack that resulted in a third-and-19 for Jacksonville. Tennessee forced the opening drive punt following a 13-yard Lawrence rush. The Titans offense followed the early punt marching 70-yards down the field via the run game as they gashed the Jacksonville front for 39-yards rushing (7.8 yards per carry). However, the defense held in the redzone to force a field goal. (Jaguars 0, Titans 3)

The Jacksonville offense immediately answered with a 7-play, 84-yard, 4:02 drive, riding Lawrence and the passing game down the field. Lawrence connected with WR Parker Washington and Jakobi Meyers on back to back similar routes to move the ball into the 10-yard line.

Meyers subsequently closed out the drive as Lawrence found him on third down for the three yard touchdown catch. After the early deficit, Lawrence was 3/4 for 79-yards and a touchdown on this drive to take back the lead. (Jaguars 7, Titans 3)

The following kickoff was both knocked loose and recovered by RB LeQuint Allen, to give Jacksonville a short field, beginning the drive at Tennessee’s 35. Liam Coen won his third challenge of four on the year, after throwing the red flag to get the initial call on the field overturned.

2nd Quarter

With all day to throw, Lawrence extended the lead, connecting with TE Brenton Strange in the back of the endzone.

Jacksonville also made the two-point conversion, using Lawrence’s legs on a designed run, following a penalty on the initial extra point attempt on Tennessee. (Jaguars 15, Titans 3)

The Jaguars defense forced a near-turnover, as Titans QB Cam Ward was strip sacked by Antonio Johnson on second down. However, the Tennessee offense recovered the fumble. Josh Hines-Allen wrapped up the drive, again sacking Ward on third down after Cam was unable to locate an open received down the field. Neither offense was able to stay on the field during the second period as both offenses punted in back to back drives, following consecutive three-and-outs. With an opportunity to put Tennessee away, Jacksonville again went three-and-out, following a first down Anton Harrison holding penalty, following by a first and 20 Lawrence sack. Tennessee, with an opportunity for a short field goal before the half, decided to go for it on fourth and two from the Jacksonville 21. With the fourth down pass falling incomplete, Jacksonville had their opportunity for points to extend their lead before the half.

After moving to midfield via two Brenton Strange check downs, Coen opted to attempt a Hail Mary with one second remaining, instead of attempting a 61-yard field goal with a backup snapper. However, a Roughing the Passer penalty on the former ‘President of Jacksonville’ Arden Key, after a hit on Lawrence resulted in a sideline scuffle and an untimed down, Cam Little made the 45-yard field goal. (Jaguars 18, Titans 3)

Halftime Stats:

• Score: Jaguars 18, Titans 3

• First downs: Jaguars 11, Titans 5

• Time of possession: Jaguars 15:46, Titans 14:14

• Sacks: Jaguars 2, Titans 2

• Turnovers forced: Jaguars 1, Titans 0

• Rushing yards: Jaguars 34, Titans 46

• Yards per rush: Jaguars 3.1, Titans 5.8

• Net passing yards: Jaguars 152, Titans 59

• Passing yards per attempt: Jaguars 9.5, Titans 3.3

• Redzone: Jaguars 1/1 (100%), Titans 0/1 (0%)

• Penalties: Jaguars 7 for 45-yards, Titans 6 for 46-yards

• Points off turnovers: Jaguars 7, Titans 0

At the half, Jaguars’ QB Trevor Lawrence was 11/14 for 169-yards, 2 TDs, 1 carry for 14-yards (156.5 passer rating). Conversely, Cam Ward was 10/16 for 69-yards (72.1 passer rating), with the Titans going 1/6 on third down and 0/1 on fourth downs.

Second Half

Things didn’t get much better after the half as Anthony Campanile’s unit kept the pressure up, again forcing another three-and-out – Jacksonville’s fourth of the game. Following the punt, with left tackle Walker Little ruled out of the game with a concussion OL Cole Van-Lanen flipped over from right guard (where he began the game in reserve of Patrick Mekari), to left tackle. Rookie Wyatt Milum replaced Van-Lanen at right guard. Following a three-and-out by the Jacksonville offense, a Roughing the Kicker penalty on Tennessee extended the Jacksonville drive. Jacksonville wrapped up the 15-play, 71-yard drive with a two-yard Bhayshul Tuten touchdown to extend the lead. The touchdown drive was highlighted by a 17-yard conversion by Brian Thomas Jr on third and ten and a 14-yard catch by Quintin Morris to enter the redzone. (Jaguars 25, Titans 3)

With a 22-point lead, the Titans offense continued to struggle to get anything going, again punting on the following drive after facing fourth-and-seven from their own 45.

After a Jaguars punt, the Titans’ offense turned the ball over on downs following three straight incompletions. With the game in blowout mode, both teams struggled to get much going, while Jacksonville spent much of the fourth quarter punting, in time elapsing mode, and Tennessee turned the ball over on downs twice and fumbled the final series away.

Best highlight:

Jakobi Meyers’ first quarter 50-yard catch and run with Brian Thomas Jr leading the convoy was simply a thing of beauty, setting the stage for Sunday’s scoring.

Biggest play(s) of the game:

According to rbsdm.com, the biggest play of the game by Expected Points Added (EPA) was LeQuint Allen’s first quarter forced fumble and recovery on the kickoff (+4.8 EPA).

Per rbsdm.com, the biggest play of the game by Win Probability was Meyer’s 50-yard reception (+11%)

Key stats (traditional):

• QB Trevor Lawrence: 16/27 for 229-yards, 2 TDs, 3-carries for 25-yards (8.3 YPC)

• RB Travis Etienne: 12 carries for 28-yards (2.3-yards), 1 catch for 13-yards

• WR Jakobi Meyers: 6 catches on 6 targets (15.0 YPR), 1 TD with a long of 50-yards

• TE Brenton Strange: 3 catches on 4 targets (15.0 YPR), 1 TD with a long of 21-yards

• LB Devin Lloyd: 8 tackles (5 solo)

• DE Josh Hines-Allen: 3 tackles (all solo), 2 sacks, 3 QB hits

View the full box score here

Game balls:

• Special Teams: DT DaVon Hamilton – Hamilton filled in admirably for LS Ross Matiscik, playing nearly the entire first half at DT and long snapper on field goals and punts.

• Defense: DE Josh Hines-Allen: 3 tackles (all solo), 2 sacks, 3 QB hits

• Offense: QB Trevor Lawrence: 16/27 for 229-yards, 2 TDs, 3-carries for 25-yards (8.3 YPC)

PFF notables:

The team over at Pro Football Focus noted the following from the game:

• The Jaguars had 97-yards to the Titans’ zero on deep completions (3 deep completions to zero)

• Jacksonville lead 95 to 54-yards on yards after the catch

Full highlights:

• You can watch the top plays of the Week 13 matchup on the NFL’s YouTube channel here.

Post-game notables:

1. Jaguars in the driver’s seat

With the Indianapolis Colts’ 20-16 home loss to the Houston Texans, the Jaguars lead the AFC South at 8-4, with week fourteen’s matchup in Jacksonville looming. With Sunday’s win, Jacksonville jumps the Colts, moving the Jaguars from the sixth seed to the fourth seed.

2. Miscues again rear their ugly head

Penalties (and drops) again presented an additional obstacle to overcome for Jacksonville on Sunday, as the team had nearly 100-yards lost in accepted flags on their 13-penalties and multiple drops. While the penalties didn’t cost Jacksonville on Sunday, obviously this will need to be cleaned up with a late season playoff push approaching.

3. Handling Business

While it wasn’t the prettiest game, featuring 100+ yard receivers, 300-yard passers, or an explosive rushing attack, the Jacksonville Jaguars walked into an away stadium and stifled an opposing offense to a 2/12 third down efficiency (17%) and 1/4 on fourth down (25%). They forced two turnovers, sacked Tennessee three times, and gave up just 121 net passing yards. That’s how a winning team handles business.

What are your thoughts from tonight’s game, Jaguars fans? Jacksonville is 8-4 and leading the AFC South after 12 games! Who would have guessed that?!