Titans vs Jaguars Week 14: 3 things that stood out
By Justin Lee
Observations from the Titans win over the Jaguars.
This game was full of fun for Tennessee Titans fans, as they continue to beat up on their division rival in the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In terms of playoff implications, Tennessee is currently projected as the fourth seed in the AFC due to their lead in the AFC South division. However, with the Colts 44-27 win over the Raiders, Indianapolis also improves to 9-4. If Tennessee wants home-field advantage in the playoffs for the first round, they can not afford to lose two of their next three.
With this big win, there were several things that stood out about the Titans so let’s start with something that isn’t getting a lot of attention.
Specials teams played es-“specially” well
Tennessee’s special teams have not been great this season, especially if you don’t think that the 2019 Titans were any sort of barometer. While there were some good things in 2019 (like the Titans blocking several field goals, including winning them a game against the Chiefs in the regular season) the return game and field goal kicking was erratic.
This year is a little different as the Titans special teams have been a little better at kicking field goals, but seemingly worse everywhere else. However, they did their part against the Jaguars with a blocked kick, amongst some other things.
Against the Jaguars, the Titans also got back to their fantastic punting ways with All-Pro punter Brett Kern. The 34-year-old punter had a pretty good game, with four punts inside the 20 and one 50 yard punt in limited use.
The Titans kicker showed consistency on Sunday, something that has not been present for much of the year. Gostkowski was 4/4 on extra points and even had a 53-yard field goal on the board.
If the Titans want to stir up some trouble in the playoffs, having an improved special teams unit will help them out a lot.