My Schedule this week is horrible so I am posting the Thursday night preview now, and will be putting up a recap and the rest of the week’s games up over the weekend, hopefully avoiding breaking the games into a further two parts now that we have Saturday games to contend with as well.

I somehow managed a miraculous comeback last week, going 11-5 to take four games out of what I thought was an unassailable five game lead for Dan. I can’t pretend to be excited about tonight’s game, but I think it will be interesting and part of me is sad that once again I won’t get to go through any coaching tape, so onto:

Titans @ Jaguars (-3.5)

With all the exciting games that have playoff implications, we get the Titans at the Jaguars this week, pitting the thirtieth ranked team by overall DVOA against the thirty-first.

The Jaguars defence is the best unit on display, playing respectably tough and are ranked sixteenth by DVOA, but the Jaguars’ offence is horrible and ranked dead last. I don’t think we can know if Blake Bortles is the long term answer until he is playing behind a line that can offer him any kind of protection. They have invested draft picks in this unit, but they have not panned out and a major focus this offseason has to be to upgrade the line so they can see what they have in their quarterback and young receivers. The good news is that much like a couple of other teams with poor records, the players are working really hard for their coach and so I don’t think it is time for a massive overhaul as the Jaguars are building something, but they need more talent.

The Titans seem to be one of the most nondescript franchises in the league, and this is most exemplified by the fact that the player who has performed the best from their opening day roster, is Akeem Ayers, who only started to play really well after being traded to the Patriots. Unfortunately for them, their rookie quarterback Zack Mettenberger has been forced out with injury before he could establish if he was a viable long term starter so the only thing we can say for certain is that given that Jake Locker is injured yet again, we can be pretty sure he isn’t. This is a team that is ranked by DVOA as twenty-ninth in offense, twenty-eighth in defence, and twentieth in special teams, and so there doesn’t seem to be anything they can hang their hat on as an identity.

I’m really uncomfortable with this pick, but I can’t bring myself to back the Titans on the road, so whilst it seems strange to pick the Jaguars over anybody, I think they will win out in this game.

Gee’s Pick:           Jaguars
Dan’s Pick:           Jaguars