Tennessee Titans win Again, improve to 10-0

Behind 14-3 at halftime and outplayed in many of the game’s statistical categories the Tennessee Titans did what good teams are supposed to do—they found a way to win.  With the Titans rushing game once again underachieving, veteran QB Kerry Collins took to the air and led Tennessee to a 24-14 victory over the host Jacksonville Jaguars to run their record to 10-0.

The Titans got on the scoreboard first as a Rob Bironas field goal accounted for the only scoring of the first quarter.  The Jaguars took over in the 2nd, with two Maurice Jones-Drew rushing touchdowns providing a 14-3 cushion at halftime.  Most of the Titans problems were self inflicted, with numerous dropped passes and costly penalties making Jacksonville’s task easier than it should have been.  Kerry Collins even threw his first interception since October 5th.

Perhaps motivated by the sight of the Jaguars prematurely celebrating heading into the locker room at halftime, Tennessee pulled it together during the break and began to methodically work their way back into the game.  Kerry Collins threw two TD passes in the third quarter—56 yards to Justin Gage and 13 yards to Brandon Jones—to give his team a tenuous three point lead heading into the fourth.  Tennessee finally put the game away on Collins’ third touchdown pass of the game, again to Gage for 38 yards with just under four minutes to play. 

Jaguars’ safety Gerald Sensabugh expressed his teammates’ disappointment with the 2nd half collapse that let Tennessee back in the game:

"It's very frustrating. We pretty much shut them out the whole first half, came in and felt like we had a lot of momentum going our way and then went back out and gave up a few big plays. That sums it up pretty much. That was horrible."

Tennessee managed to win despite being outrushed (140 yards to 117), gaining fewer first downs (17 to 13), losing the time of possession battle (32:27 to 27:33) and going 1 for 13 on third down conversations.  Collins’ second half passing heroics gave them the edge in that category (230 yards passing to 117) and net yardage (344 to 257).

The Titans will go for their 14th consecutive regular season win next Sunday as they host the New York Jets.  After that hurdle, their next two opponents (the Lions at Detroit and the Cleveland Browns at home) have a combined record of 3-16.  Jacksonville may have lost any shot of making the playoffs with Sunday’s loss, but they’ll try to get back in the win column next Sunday as they host Minnesota.  They’ll then hit the road for their next two games at Houston and Chicago.