Changing of the Guard: Jaguars down Titans, claim AFC South title in Prime time thriller 20-16

The Jacksonville Jaguars claimed the AFC South Title after defeating the Tennessee Titans 20-16 on Saturday Night Prime time on ABC.

Sitting nearly three minutes from another division title, Tennessee seemed to have full control of the game and a ticket to the first round of the AFC playoffs.

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Jacksonville’s offense struggled to move the ball consistently. Their defense, worn down by the repeated battering of Derrick Henry, held on thinly.

But in a moment, Rayshawn Jenkins flew off the edge unblocked. He hit Joshua Dobbs from behind to jar the ball free, knocking it down the field and into Josh Allen’s path.

In a single moment, Jacksonville realized their dream. Scratch that, the Jaguars achieved their goal in that moment.

The goal that midway through the season seemed nearly impossible. Seven weeks prior, they sat at 3-7 while Tennessee firmly held the AFC South at 7-3.

Jacksonville never flinched and reeled off six wins with one loss over the course of the rest of the season. For Tennessee, six consecutive losses saw them loosen their grip on the South, with their seventh straight loss being the dagger.

As Josh Allen scooped the ball off the grass and sprinted down the left sideline and into the end zone, it signaled a changing of the guard for the AFC South.

Second half struggles changed the game

“Nobody wants to finish how we did. That’s never the plan. Never the goal,” Henry said in the visiting locker room of TIAA Bank Field after the game. “Stuff happens. Adversity happens. We wanted to win the division and have a great record, yeah. But it didn’t happen this year.”

The Yulee native looked primed for another sweet serving of home cooking as he rushed 30 times for 109 yards, repeatedly being met by several Jacksonville defenders to no avail.

As Henry churned out yards, Dobbs put on a clinic in the first half. He went 12 of 15 for 114 yards and one touchdown as the Titans pulled ahead 13-7. But in the second half Dobbs — who only started one game prior to Saturday’s matchup — coughed the ball up twice leading to a 10-point swing by Jacksonville.

The first, an interception thrown to Tyson Campbell after Arden Key hit his arm on a downfield pass attempt. The second, giving the Jaguars the division title after being blitzed from his blindside.

After the game, Vrabel lauded the effort of his team in the loss.

“We’re out there battling. Battling their a-- off. With guys that didn’t even start the season with us,” he said when asked about the second half struggles. “So, that’s what the problem was sometimes tonight. That’s where it was.”

From clown to crown

Jaguars fans started 2022 in clown attire — calling for the outing of general manager Trent Baalke and owner Shad Khan.

They start 2023 as the champions of the South, winners of six of the last seven and set to host a playoff game next week.

What a difference a year can make. What a difference a coach can make. Doug Pederson took over a 3-14 team and turned them into champions.

“It could have been somewhere in that Denver, Vegas sort of Kansas City sort of stretch of three games,” Pederson said on when he saw the Jaguars starting to change. “[The] middle part of our season that's where things could have really gotten out of hand for us. We just continued to stay disciplined in what we did and what we were doing. We continued to just build.”

As cigar smoke and cheer engulfed the home locker room, there was another emotion in the air of the visitors’ locker room.

Not sadness or somberness. More of a disconnection. The disconnection from a team that’d lost seven in a row and knew they left a win on the field.

“We just got on a [expletive] streak we couldn't get off, couldn't make the plays when we needed to, couldn't be just consistent when we needed to,” Vrabel said as he closed his press conference. “That showed up again tonight.”

Juston Lewis is a sports reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @JustonLewis_.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars defeat Tennessee Titans in AFC South Title game