Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars target face-saving win in season finale – NFL News
The Tennessee Titans are hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday (Dec. 30) with both sides heading to end the season at the worst record in the American Football Conference (AFC) South division.
Only advantage the visitors – the Jags – have while going into the game is that they have beaten the hosts in the previous game of the season. A win on the weekend, again, will help them end the season at 3-13 – the worst record achieved by the team since
its inaugural in 1995.
If the Jags go on to lose to the Titans, they stand ending the season on even worse note of 2-14, to the sheer disappointment of first-year owner Shahid Khan and coach Mike Mularkey.
The Jags are coming into the game without running back Maurice Jones-Drew, quarterback Blaine Gabbert and running back Rashad Jennings, who are out with respective injuries.
Coach Mike is expected to give an official update on chances of Maurice’s return but overall the environment appears less conducive for his comeback. He was updated from highly questionable to questionable last week but could not hit the field for a full
practice session.
Although a win will not help the Jags salvage the season it will nevertheless become a face-saviour for some players and officials to an extent at the end. Again, with backup QB Chad Henne in charge of the offence affairs and Justin Blackmon the only receiver
from start of the season, the Jags face a huge task to beat the hosts.
On other hand, the Titans situation is not much different. They have managed, so far, only five wins. This includes some of their losses, like the one 55-7 to Green Bay Packers on past Sunday (Dec. 23), that has angered the owner Bud Adams.
Coach Mike Munchak conceded the embarrassment he had to face because of the loss and now hopes to finish the season on high note to get compensated for the bad feelings.
At the same time, the coach has pleaded for mercy from the owner as far as his pending decisions about some coaches are concerned. Adams has denied to have taken any decision about future of any official yet, he sounded clearer that they would sit together
to discuss the situation in detail.
Bud warned the team that they cannot keep on losing games the way they lost against the Packers, and since he had earlier put the entire officials’ crop on an informal notice, some critical decisions are apparently in the offing.
Although a win on the weekend might not be enough for Munchak and other officials to get away with accepting the responsibility of the team’s consistent and huge losses during the entire season, it may temper down the owner to an extent.
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