Titans @ Jaguars
This game wasn’t a total blowout from the get-go, but it became pretty clear on the first drive of the game that Tennesee’s defense showed up to play on Sunday. They kept James Robinson bottled up for most of the day, taking away Jacksonville’s most consistent offensive weapon early and forcing Mike Glennon to beat them through the air. That obviously did not happen, as Gardner Minshew II replaced him early in the third quarter after Glennon threw an interception to Malcolm Butler. The other story of the game was obviously Derrick Henry, who eclipsed 200 rushing yards in a game for the fourth time since 2018. Only four other RBs have done that in that timeframe. The game was otherwise a mess, as the footing was an issue for a lot of players who were slipping and sliding around like they were skating around at Rockefeller Center. Jacksonville’s kicker, Aldrick Rosas, really struggled with his footing, slipping on a field goal attempt that ended up getting blocked and also slipping on a kickoff later in the game. Jacksonville’s PA announcer was also ridiculously loud on the broadcast, which made for a very distracting watch. Overall, the game was mostly a doozy as Tennessee ran away with a 31-10 victory.
Tennessee Titans
Quarterback
Ryan Tannehill: 19/24, 212 yards, 2 TD, sack
Logan Whiteside: 1 carry, 18 yards
Ryan Tannehill wasn’t really asked to do too much in this one. He was efficient with the few throws he made, and the Jacksonville defense really had no answer for anything on Sunday. There weren’t any egregious misfires and his two touchdowns were beautiful throws. The matchup was ripe for the picking and his 20+ fantasy points were welcomed by many of us who fired him up in playoff matchups this week. We all kind of hoped for a bit more after last week’s blowup, but when Derrick Henry is running all over the defense why even bother throwing the ball at all? This will do, and Tannehill has another fantastic matchup next week against the Lions.
Tannehill tossin' TDs. @titans
📺: #TENvsJAX on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/hQgBgSB4Qy pic.twitter.com/HXhtyVIRxU— NFL (@NFL) December 13, 2020
Running Backs
Derrick Henry: 26 carries, 215 yards, 2 TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 7 yards
Jeremy McNichols: 11 carries, 9 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 0 yards
What more is there to say about Henry at this point? This was Henry’s 22nd straight game with 50+ rushing yards, and as I said in the opener it’s also his fourth game since 2018 with 200+ yards on the ground. As good as he was, the day could have been even better. He had a 25-yard screen pass called back on a holding penalty, but he did end up making up those yards with a long run. The Titans also went for it on 4th and 2 in the red zone early in the game, and they handed it off to Jeremy McNichols for some reason and he went nowhere. Henry was consistently running for 3-5 yard chunks on every carry and slowly racking up the yards until he found an enormous hole for a 36 yard TD late in the 1st half, and after that it was big play after big play for the rest of the game.
When he’s not running through defenders, he’s blowing past them. #FantasyFootball | #Titans pic.twitter.com/dsqtHrs92x
— QB List (@TheQBlist) December 13, 2020
On their first drive of the 2nd half, Henry had a 47 yard run down to the 5-yard line that set up a Tannehill TD to Geoff Swain. As someone who fired him up in a closely contested DFS slate, I was a little upset. But, after a Mike Glennon interception a few plays later, Swain caught a long pass that took the Titans down to the 1, and set up a Henry TD on the next play. It was a fair trade in my opinion.
Another one. @KingHenry_2
📺: #TENvsJAX on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/hQgBgSB4Qy pic.twitter.com/O2aawGlr99— NFL (@NFL) December 13, 2020
Henry left the game after eclipsing the 200-yard mark in the 4th quarter and was replaced by McNichols, who didn’t really do much of anything as Tennessee just tried to run out the clock. He did have a long run that was called back on a holding penalty, but he’s not fantasy-relevant right now. He might be worth adding as a stash this week just in case Henry gets hurt in Week 15, but if he makes it through the Detroit game unscathed then you can officially cut ties with McNichols.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
A.J. Brown: 9 targets, 7 receptions, 112 yards, TD
Corey Davis: 3 targets, 3 receptions, 34 yards, fumble
Geoff Swain: 3 targets, 3 receptions, 34 yards, TD
Jonnu Smith: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 20 yards | 1 carry, 3 yards
Anthony Firkser: 1 target, 1 reception, 5 yards
A.J. Brown had the catch of the day on a flea-flicker early in the 1st quarter. The broadcast called it “Julio-esque”, and considering that Brown wore a Julio jersey pregame then it’s safe to say that the shoe fits. Check out the one-handed grab from multiple angles.
Another look😯 pic.twitter.com/ubibHKMMnT
— QB List (@TheQBlist) December 13, 2020
Brown wasn’t perfect on the day, as he dropped an easy 3rd-down conversion on their next drive, but he was immediately bailed out by a fake punt on the next play. He also made a nice leaping grab early in the third quarter, but he came up limping after getting his ankle rolled up on and he struggled on his walk back to the Titans’ sideline. It appeared to be a re-aggravation of the injury that he sustained last week, but similar to last week he also returned shortly after and made a few more grabs before the game was fully out of reach. He’s a beast and he should feast next week against Detroit.
Corey Davis was stripped on a screen pass that was recovered by Jacksonville late in the 2nd quarter, but it only led to a field goal a few plays later. It was the only blemish on the day for the Titans and it really didn’t hurt them at all. Davis was quiet otherwise, and he put up an identical statline to Geoff Swain who instead scored a TD (as mentioned earlier) on a really nice throw from Tannehill. There’s not much else worth mentioning here, since, again, it was the Derrick Henry show and the passing offense was mostly relied on to move the chains.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Quarterback
Mike Glennon: 13/23, 85 yards, INT
Gardner Minshew II: 18/31, 178 yards, TD | 2 carries, 22 yards
Mike Glennon was aggressive early on, forcing some throws into some tight windows and mostly getting away with it. He fired one into Laviska Shenault Jr. early on their first drive that was an absolute bullet, and Shenault held on to convert the third-down play. It would end up being Glennon’s best throw of the day, but he likely should have been intercepted more than once in this one. Glennon was forced to throw it more often than they expected once it became clear that Tennessee showed up to defend the run on Sunday, and I think that kind of threw them for a loop. Glennon didn’t make any mistakes in the 1st half, but the offense also couldn’t move the ball downfield reliably and therefore didn’t find the endzone.
Once Glennon threw an interception on their first drive of the 2nd half, Gardner Minshew II started warming up on the sideline and he would end up taking over for the rest of the second game. The interception wasn’t a terrible throw, as Malcolm Butler (who had a fantastic game) ended up making a nice leaping grab, but the offense wasn’t going anywhere as long as Glennon was in there.
The entire dynamic of the offense changed as soon as Minshew entered the game. He led the Jaguars down the field to score on his first drive, converting a fouth-down play around midfield and also converting a third-down with his legs a few plays later. He brought an energy that was lacking and his inclusion in the offense also revived the running game. He wasn’t sharp, but he got the job done and put the team in position to score on a few different occasions. There was one really nice pass to D.J. Chark Jr. in the endzone that was batted away by Butler, but it likely would have been a touchdown against 90% of corners in the league. Minshew should be the starter going forward and he immediately elevates the value of everyone else around him, though a date with the Ravens is in line for Week 15 and the ceiling is certainly low as far as fantasy production goes in that matchup.
.@GardnerMinshew5 finds @Air4Cole for the @Jaguars TD!
📺: #TENvsJAX on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/hQgBgSB4Qy pic.twitter.com/bTUmtmQpFf— NFL (@NFL) December 13, 2020
Running Backs
James Robinson: 12 carries, 67 yards | 4 targets, 4 receptions, 16 yards
Devine Ozigbo: 4 targets, 4 receptions, 30 yards
Dare Ogunbowale: 1 target, 1 reception, 12 yards
As I alluded to earlier, there was no room to run in this one for James Robinson. His 12 carries were his second-lowest total on the season and the lowest since Week 6. They abandoned the run early since he simply had nowhere to go. Jacksonville was missing their starting center Brandon Linder and that likely played a part in their lack of success, but Tennessee’s defense was simply the better unit on the day. The game did change for Robinson as soon as Minshew came in the game, as he was able to break out a 46 yard run on Minshew’s second drive that accounted for most of his output on the day.
He did have a couple of plays called back that would have been very nice to have; An 18 yard TD run that was called back on an illegal formation penalty by D.J. Chark (where the defender nearly ripped Robinson’s shirt off), and a 26-yard reception on a screen pass in garbage time that was called back on a holding penalty.
Devine Ozigbo‘s line jumps out for those of us in PPR leagues, but all of his touches came in garbage time and should not be expected at any point moving forward. Minshew did feel comfortable throwing to him, but it’s not worth chasing. Nothing to see here.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Keelan Cole Sr.: 12 targets, 7 receptions, 67 yards, TD
Laviska Shenault Jr.: 11 targets, 6 receptions, 49 yards | 1 carry, 2 yards
D.J. Chark Jr.: 9 targets, 2 receptions, 16 yards
Collin Johnson: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 33 yards
Tyler Eifert: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 22 yards
James O’Shaughnessy: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 14 yards
Keelan Cole Sr. had two targets on Jacksonville’s first drive and he kept getting fed all game long, scoring the Jaguars’ lone touchdown of the day. This was likely due to the fact that Malcolm Butler was shadowing D.J. Chark all day, but it was nice to see Cole put up a season-high 12 targets in this one. Like the rest of the Jaguars’ receivers, he struggled to get separation against Tennesee’s tight coverage but he made enough plays to reward anyone that took a chance on him. He did nearly have a TD in garbage time on a ball that was slightly overthrown.
Laviska Shenault Jr. also had his highest target share of the season, but it was likely just the result of a perfect storm of a game script with an ineffective run game and a sizable deficit. It would be nice to see Shenault take on more of a Cordarrelle Patterson utility role, but Jacksonville isn’t exactly going out of their way trying to win games at this point so I understand why they’re not being more creative on offense. Shenault did hobble off the field late in the game after making a low catch, but it didn’t appear to be anything serious.
D.J. Chark‘s poor game was simply the result of Malcolm Butler‘s presence. Butler played Chark tight all game, and while there were opportunities for Chark to score (three end zone targets in the game), he couldn’t get enough separation to make a play on the ball. There simply wasn’t much he could do, and hopefully, you weren’t burnt too badly by this poor outing.
— Ben Brown (@FelixTheDog23 on Twitter, iamatechnician on Reddit)