Little Consolation in Moral Victories for Jacksonville Jaguars
By Michael Compton
@MWCompton
Ken McPeak-USA Today Sports
For a winless Jacksonville Jaguars team that has lost to high-powered squads like the Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers this season, Sunday’s 16-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans offers little in the way of moral victories.
The Titans entered Sunday’s game at 1-4 and figured to be the perfect tonic for the Jaguars, a young team that must learn how to prevail in winnable games. In a 17-9 loss last week at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Jaguars’ defense held the Steelers to a single touchdown. The defense, despite some sloppy play at times, produced another solid effort on Sunday, once again giving up just a single touchdown in the loss.
Quarterback Blake Bortles continues to flash promise in defeat. One of six rookies to start on offense for the Jaguars, Bortles completed 32-of-46 pass attempts for 336 yards and a touchdown. He started fast, engineering an 80-yard scoring drive on the Jaguars’ initial possession that featured a 59-yard pass reception to tight end Clay Harbor. The Jaguars actually grabbed an early 7-0 lead when Storm Johnson, my Jaguars’ x-factor against the Titans, capped the opening drive by crashing into the end zone from the one-yard line for his first NFL touchdown.
With the Titans leading 16-7 late in the game, Bortles hit Harbor for a touchdown to trim the lead to two with just 37 seconds remaining in the contest. The Jaguars even recovered the ensuing on-side kick, but Josh Scobee’s 55-yard field goal attempt was blocked, securing the victory for the Titans and sending the Jaguars home to Jacksonville still in search of their first win of the year.
The bottom line from Sunday is that the Jaguars, for the second straight week, had a chance to win. Until the youthful Jaguars figure out how to minimize mistakes and sustain drives, the missed opportunities will continue to cost them in the win-loss department. The near-misses show the Jaguars are close — perhaps even closer than their 0-6 record indicates — but frustrated fans don’t show up in droves to cheer on moral victories.
Michael Compton is a Jacksonville Jaguars writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter at @MWCompton and connect with him on Google.
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