Titans Clips
Tempers flared in Tennessee on Sunday afternoon as the Titans and Jaguars combined for 23 penalties, including six personal fouls, for 184 yards. Titans safety Mike Brown was ejected for his role in a fight after a punt in the fourth quarter.
Brown went after Jaguars long snapper Ross Matiscik after Matiscik took a shot at Titans running back Julius Chestnut. Matiscik and Jaguars punter Logan Cooke were among the three other players whom officials penalized.
Chestnut said postgame that Cooke threatened him.
“He said he would kill me,” Chestnut said of his interaction with Cooke, via Nick Suss of The Tennessean. “That’s what he said. He came up to me and said he’d kill me. Never heard that one before. That was strange. Especially a punter, you know. It was strange.”
Logan’s frustration with Chestnut began with the punt before the fisticuffs when Chestnut blocked Cooke on a long return by Titans returner Chimere Dike. Cooke stopped Dike after a 47-yard return with 14:06 left in the fourth quarter.
Cooke was evaluated for a concussion and cleared, allowing Cooke and Chestnut to square off on the next punt. Chestnut was not penalized.
Rookie Shedeur Sanders will get a third start next week when the Browns play the Titans.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski announced after Sunday’s 26-8 loss to San Francisco that Sanders will remain the starter.
Sanders completed 16 of 25 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. He missed one play in the fourth quarter when his foot appeared to get caught in the turf as he slid at the end of a scramble.
Sanders won his first career start, throwing for 209 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 24-10 victory over the Raiders.
He is 31-of-61 for 405 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in three appearances this season.
After a big day in the AFC South, the Jaguars are the division leaders.
The Jaguars went to Tennessee and beat the Titans 25-3 today, and combining that with the Texans win over the Colts, Jacksonville is in first place. The Jaguars and Colts are both 8-4, but the Jaguars have the tiebreaker based on their record against common opponents.
The Jaguars play the Colts next week, and then play them again in Week 17, so the AFC South race remains wide open.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 16 of 27 passes for 229 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran the ball three times for 25 yards, and scored a two-point conversion on another run.
“It feels good,” Lawrence said on CBS after the game. “To be in this position, to be able to control your own destiny and be able to play these big, meaningful games in November, December, January.”
The Jaguars will definitely be playing big games down the stretch, and they have an opportunity to turn this into a very big season.
An otherwise dull Jaguars-Titans game turned feisty in the fourth quarter today.
Titans safety Mike Brown was ejected for his role in a fight after a punt, and three other players were flagged for personal fouls.
Brown went after Jaguars long snapper Ross Matiscik after Matiscik took a shot at Tennessee’s Julius Chestnut. Brown got ejected; Matiscik got a personal foul for unnecessary roughness but was not ejected.
Also flagged for unnecessary roughness personal fouls were Jaguars punter Logan Cooke and Titans cornerback Kair Elamn.
The Titans haven’t had much fight other than that incident, as they’re losing 25-3 in the fourth quarter.
Jacksonville is making it look easy today in Tennessee.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has two touchdown passes in the early going, and Lawrence ran for a two-point conversion after the second TD pass, as the Jaguars took a 15-3 lead over the Titans.
Through three offensive drives, Lawrence is 6-for-7 for 122 yards, with two touchdowns. The Titans jumped offside on the Jaguars’ second extra point attempt, and after the ball was moved half the distance to the goal line, the Jaguars sent their offense on the field and Lawrence ran it in for the two-point conversion.
Titans defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons committed a personal foul on the conversion attempt, and the Jaguars again took advantage, purposely kicking off out of bounds from the 50-yard line, which gave the Titans the ball at their own 25-yard line to start the next possession.
It’s been a mistake-filled game for the Titans, and the Jaguars are threatening to turn it into a blowout.
The Jaguars will be missing a key piece on their defensive line in Tennessee on Sunday.
Defensive tackle Arik Armstead will not play against the Titans. Armstead was listed as questionable because of a hand injury. Armstead has 23 tackles, 5.5 sacks and a forced fumble this season.
The Jaguars are 7-4 heading into Sunday’s game. A win and a Colts loss would draw them even in the AFC South ahead of a Week 14 matchup between the teams.
Jaguars at Titans
Jaguars: DT Arik Armstead, WR Dyami Brown, DE Travon Walker, G Patrick Mekari, OL Chuma Edoga, RB Cody Schrader, TE Hunter Long, LB Yasir Abdullah
Titans: WR Mason Kinsey, CB Jalyn Armour-Davis, S Jerrick Reed, S Kendell Brooks, G Drew Moss, C Lloyd Cushenberry, DT Shy Tuttle
49ers at Browns
49ers: RB Jordan James, WR Jordan Watkins, OL Connor Colby, DE Sam Okuayinonu, DL Kevin Givens, LB Tatum Bethune, K Eddy Pineiro
Browns: G Zak Zinter, OT Cornelius Lucas, WR Jamari Thrash, TE Brenden Bates, DE Alex Wright, DT Adin Huntington
Texans at Colts
Texans: WR Braxton Berrios, QB Graham Mertz, LB Jamal Hill, OT Jarrett Kingston, G Laken Tomlinson
Colts: CB Jonathan Edwards, TE Tyler Mallory, RB DJ Giddens, DT Eric Johnson, S Reuben Lowery, OT Luke Tenuta
Saints at Dolphins
Saints: RB Alvin Kamara, OT Barry Wesley, TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden, DT John Ridgeway, DT Khristian Boyd, S Ugo Amadi, CB Rejzohn Wright
Dolphins: QB Quinn Ewers, CB AJ Green, LB Andre Carter, WR Tahj Washington, DT Matthew Butler
Falcons at Jets
Falcons: WR KhaDarel Hodge, WR Drake London, LB Josh Woods, OL Michael Jerrell, WR Casey Washington, DL Elijah Garcia.
Jets: CB Jarvis Brownlee, RB Khalil Herbert, EDGE Braiden McGregor, DL Mazi Smith, WR Arian Smith, TE Jalani Woods, DL Tyler Baron
Rams at Panthers
Rams: QB Stetson Bennett, RB Jarquez Hunter, CB Derion Kendrick, OL Beaux Limmer, DE Desjuan Johnson
Panthers: CB Jaycee Horn, WR Hunter Renfrow, LB Claudin Cherelus, LB Christian Rozeboom, C Cade Mays, DT Jared Harrison-Hunte, DT Cam Jackson
Cardinals at Buccaneers
Cardinals: OL Hayden Conner, RB Emari Demercado, CB Elijah Jones, CB Max Melton, DL Walter Nolen, S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson
Buccaneers: QB Connor Bazelak, CB Benjamin Morrison, S Kaevon Merriweather, G Luke Haggard, G Elijah Klein, DL Elijah Simmons
The Jaguars have become a viable playoff contender, with a 7-4 record. Those wins have come despite more than a few mistakes from quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence leads the league with 14 turnovers. Last week against the Cardinals, Lawrence had four. The Jaguars nevertheless pulled out an overtime win, 27-24.
Jacksonville, which is now one game behind the 8-3 Colts for the AFC South lead, faces the Titans on Sunday. The Jaguars then host the Colts and Jets before traveling to Denver and Indy. The Jaguars end the season with a home game against the Titans.
With 14 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions, Lawrence has a passer rating of 79.4. He’s second to last among all qualifying quarterbacks, ahead of only Titans rookie Cam Ward.
Regardless, the Jags are winning. They’re in a three-way tie for the three wild-card spots in the AFC, with the Bills and Chargers. If the Jags keep winning, Lawrence could get to the postseason for the second time in his five-year career.
Veteran cornerback Kaiir Elam has found a new place to play.
The Titans announced that they have signed Elam to their 53-man roster on Wednesday. Elam was released by the Cowboys earlier this week.
Elam played 10 games for the Cowboys and had 29 tackles in those appearances. The 2022 first-round pick had 81 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery in 29 games for the Bills.
Elam also visited with the Jets before agreeing to a deal in Tennessee.
The Titans also announced that they have waived cornerback Samuel Womack. Womack played in five games for the AFC South team this season.
The Titans fell to 1-10 with Sunday’s 30-24 loss to the Seahawks, but there will be a major silver lining to their losing season if it ends with quarterback Cam Ward on an upward trajectory.
Interim head coach Mike McCoy believes that Ward is heading in that direction. Ward threw for 256 yards and a touchdown against the Seahawks while avoiding an interception for the third straight game. Ward also ran for a season-high 37 yards and his first NFL touchdown while taking the Titans from being down 20 points to a one-score loss.
Ward was sacked four times, but they’re coming at a lower rate than they did early in the season and he didn’t fumble the ball. He also showed a knack for making throws on the move that fits with McCoy’s belief that the first overall pick in the 2025 draft is making real progress.
“It’s taking that next step, and that’s what he’s done,” McCoy said, via Teresa Walker of the Associated Press. “We’ve been saying it from day one, the way he competes, the way he works every day. When we first came in in the offseason program, the early mornings, staying late, things like that, it’s starting to pay off.”
Given the overall makeup of the roster, the Titans might not win another game this season but more outings like Sunday for Ward should make for interest in their coaching job once the team’s search really gets going in January.
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba set a franchise record and he remains on pace for an NFL record.
Smith-Njigba had eight catches for 167 yards against the Titans and now has 1,313 receiving yards for the season. That breaks the franchise record that Smith-Njigba’s former teammate DK Metcalf set in 2020 and Smith-Njigba is also on pace to become the first player with 2,000 receiving yards in a single season.
Two of Smith-Njigba’s catches went for touchdowns in a 30-24 win that pushes the Seahawks to 8-3 on the season. Last Sunday’s loss to the Rams means they’ll remain in second place regardless of what the Rams do against the Buccaneers on Sunday night, but the win was a good rebound from that result and a boost to their overall playoff chances.
Smith-Njigba has picked up at least 79 receiving yards in each game this season and he almost matched that on his first touchdown catch. It was a 63-yard strike from quarterback Sam Darnold and the wideout would take on a 56-yarder on the first play of the third quarter.
Week 13 will have the Seahawks back home to reunite Darnold with the Vikings. Darnold was 16-of-26 for 244 yards on Sunday and Kenneth Walker ran 11 times for 71 yards, but the team’s
Smith-Njigba’s second score put the Seahawks up 23-3 in the third quarter and the Seahawks were pretty quiet from that point. Titans rookie Chimere Dike returned a punt 90 yards for a score, Cam Ward scored his first NFL rushing touchdown and Dike caught a touchdown with 43 seconds left to play to bring the Titans within six points. The Seahawks were able to recover the onside kick and close out the win.
Ward was 28-of-42 for 256 yards and he ran for a team-high 37 yards, which makes for a bit of a silver lining on a day when his team fell to 1-10. He’ll try to build on the effort against the Jaguars in Tennessee next weekend.
