The Jaguars face a stout Titans run defense and surging QB Cam Ward in their season finale.
With one game left in the regular season, the Jacksonville Jaguars will host division-rival Tennessee on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX) at Everbank Stadium.
With their 3-13 record and in last place in the AFC South, the Titans appear pretty beatable on paper. But Jaguars head coach Liam Coen says Tennessee presents real challenges, even if the team has been eliminated from playoff contention since the Jaguars downed them 25-3 in Week 13 in Nashville.
"(W)e understand that they’ve improved," Coen said, noting both the Titans' recent defensive tightening against the run and quarterback Cam Ward's increasing maturity under center.
Fans in Duval County are looking forward to the Jaguars clinching the division title, but the team is focusing on beating the Titans on Sunday. (Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union)The Titans have held their last five opponents to an average of less than 85 yards rushing in four of their last six contests.
Since their bye in Week 10, the Titans have held their opponents on average to under 78 yards rushing. In Weeks 1-9, other teams ran for an average of over 141 yards on the Titans.
In Week 13, the Titans held the Jaguars to just 70 yards on 27 carries. Travis Etienne Jr. led Jacksonville that Sunday, scratching out 28 yards on 12 carries. The Titans also limited Bhayshul Tuten to 17 rushing yards on eight carries – one a 2-yard TD that iced the Jags' win.
The Jaguars announced Thursday that Tuten will play in Sunday's season finale against the Titans.
Jags QB Trevor Lawrence is no doubt familiar with the work of Titans DT Jeffery Simmons (right), who amassed 6 tackles, a sack and 2 QB hits in their Week 13 meeting. (Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean)Tuten, who has missed two games after having finger surgery, was listed on the Jags' injury report Wednesday, but he was a full participant at practice on New Year's Eve.
By these two teams' November matchup, though, quarterback Trevor Lawrence was showing the evolution that has been expected since "the Prince that was promised" was picked first in the 2021 NFL draft.
With the Jags' running game hampered at Nissan Stadium, Lawrence threw for 229 yards and two TDs and ran for a 2-point conversion. Lawrence showed his leadership mettle that day in Nashville, extending two previous wins by the Jags to their third straight victory. Jacksonville has continued that winning streak, which sits at seven ahead of Week 18's season finale.
While Lawrence is having a record-breaking season and is now mentioned among the candidates for NFL MVP, Cam Ward has quietly been improving and maturing.
In the last Jaguars-Titans matchup on Nov. 30, the top pick in the 2025 draft completed 24 of 38 passes for 141 yards, and rushed once for seven yards. The Jags sacked the rookie three times.
But since Week 13, Ward has thrown eight TD passes – two in each of the Titans' past four games, leading the team to two wins – at Cleveland in Week 14 and versus Kansas City in Week 16. In his last two outings, though under pressure from the Chiefs and then the Saints, sacked twice and four times, respectively, Ward also showed he can perform under such pressure: against the Chiefs, he went 21-for-28 for 228 yards, then completed 21 of 40 passes for 251 yards versus the Saints. Throughout this recent six-week span, Ward has thrown just one interception (against Cleveland).
On Sunday, Ward is aiming for his fifth consecutive game with at least two TD passes.
Coen noted Thursday how much more Tennessee's offense is scoring.
"You can tell that Cam has definitely found a little bit more of a rhythm," he said. "They’re getting the ball out of his hands, (calling) more RPOs [run-pass options], (and) they’re running it well."
Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile also is seeing the strides Ward is making and calling him "super talented."
"Since we played them last, they've been putting up a bunch of points," Campanile told reporters Thursday. "He's done a great job making decisions. He keeps a lot of plays alive and does so with his eyes down the field.
"(He's) committed to getting the ball down the field. So, he does a tremendous job of that."
In their meeting on Nov. 30, the Jaguars came away with their sixth victory in seven games against the Titans. But Jacksonville isn't taking their final meeting versus the Titans lightly.
"There’s not a lot of quit in that football team in Tennessee right now," Coen said, adding, "It's a division opponent, a team that obviously doesn’t probably like us too much."