MNF: Jaguars Perspective

Players to watch:

TE Marcedes Lewis – The 6’6” 275 lbs tight end is off to the best start of his career. Lewis has great size and receiving skills, but he only had 7 TDs in his first 4 years. This year, however, he leads the team with 5 TDs and has finally become the legitimate weapon the Jaguars had been hoping he would turn into.

LB Kirk Morrison – After racking up 100+ tackles five years in a row with the Raiders, Morrison was traded to the Jaguars. It will be interesting to see if Morrison can still make plays sideline to sideline and help stop CJ2K.

RB Maurice Jones-Drew – Jones-Drew is the most important player to the Jaguars offense. This year he has struggled at times, and has only seen the end zone twice. Jone-Drew is simply too good of a player to continue this trend; look for him to have a break out game under the lights at home.

Key Matchup: Jaguars defense vs. RB Chris Johnson – I think every defensive coordinator in the NFL’s goal when playing the Titans is to do whatever it takes to stop Johnson and make QB Vince Young beat them. The only problem is stopping Johnson is a lot easier said than done. The key is to be extremely disciplined and contain the outside. The only teams that have done a good job against Chris Johnson are the Steelers and Broncos (they let up 34 yards and 53 yards, respectively.) Both run 3-4 based defenses, are very disciplined, hold their gaps, and contain the outside. Not surprisingly, the Titans lost both games that Chris Johnson had poor performances. It will be hard, but the Jaguars are going to have to do whatever it takes to slow him down.

Why the Jaguars will win: The Jaguars are coming off two big wins the last two weeks, QB David Garrard and the offense has shown that they are capable of spreading the ball and putting up some points (31 and 38 in the last two games.) The Jaguars defense has really struggled this season, but the one place they have excelled is stopping the run. If they are able to stop the run I have no doubt that will be able to come away with the victory.

Final Score: Jaguars 27 Titans 17