{"id":489905,"date":"2026-01-03T17:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T17:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/489905\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T17:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T17:32:11","slug":"why-titans-not-expected-to-go-down-easy-against-jaguars-week-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/489905\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Titans Not Expected to Go Down Easy Against Jaguars Week 18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">Unlike many teams in the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars still have a lot to play for in Week 18. They&#8217;ll likely need to notch their eighth win in a row to clinch the AFC South and ensure that they host a playoff game this season. That means that Trevor Lawrence and the rest of the starters can&#8217;t afford to take the day off like stars on some of the other Super Bowl contenders around the league. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">Beating the Tennessee Titans in the regular-season finale wouldn&#8217;t just give Jacksonville the division. The Jaguars could grab the two seed or even No. 1 with a win if things break their way in a couple of the other games around the NFL. They shouldn&#8217;t have any problem dispatching the 3-13 Titans, but they can&#8217;t go into this one too casually and let it turn into a trap game. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/01kdzvmfzzsgf4jmbx8d.jpg\" alt=\"Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Tennessee Titans, Cam Ward, Trevor Lawrence\" title=\"Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Tennessee Titans, Cam Ward, Trevor Lawrence\" width=\"3033\" height=\"1706\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6s\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) and Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) embrace after the game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. | Andrew Nelles \/ The Tennessean \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Titans expected to put up a fight<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/jaguars\/onsi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> and Tennessee Titans have trended in opposite directions all season. While Jacksonville was able to retool the roster, rebuild its coaching staff, and go from four wins in 2024 to legitimate title contenders in one year, the Titans are just starting their new era with rookie quarterback Cam Ward.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">They&#8217;ve already fired his first head coach, Brian Callahan, after a disappointing start to the campaign for both the quarterback and the team overall. Interim Mike McCoy, who coincidentally is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/jaguars\/onsi\/jacksonville-have-proven-value-patience-development\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trevor Lawrence&#8217;s<\/a> former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/jaguars\/onsi\/jacksonville-underrated-piece-behind-trevor-lawrence-2025-breakout\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">quarterbacks coach<\/a>, has engineered a strong push from Ward in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"4.9802371541502\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mike McCoy said the biggest lesson he learned from working with Trevor Lawrence that he&#8217;s applied to Cam Ward is positive reinforcement. It&#8217;s been a week to week process. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lrCeG3SasS\">pic.twitter.com\/lrCeG3SasS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TDavenport_NFL\/status\/2006420679789523348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">December 31, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">The Jaguars are favored by nearly two touchdowns in this game, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/nfl-picks-week-18-2025-nfl-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL.com&#8217;s panel of editors<\/a> is expecting a closer affair. All five picked Jacksonville to win, but only by an average margin of 10.4 points. Gennaro Filice is predicting a 27-16 loss for the Titans: &#8220;In the final game of a trying rookie season, Cam Ward won&#8217;t have to look far for hope &#8212; it will be quarterbacking the opposing team. Like Ward, Trevor Lawrence was a No. 1 overall pick, and also like Ward, Lawrence suffered through a rough debut campaign that included the midseason firing of his head coach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">&#8220;After an unremarkable first few months under new coach Liam Coen, Lawrence has been on an absolute tear since Thanksgiving, with 16 total touchdowns and one turnover over the last five Sundays. The man&#8217;s playing the best football of his career, winning fantasy leagues and putting Jacksonville in position to take the AFC South with a home victory over a three-win team. This feels like Trev&#8217;s moment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">To see if the Jaguars avoid falling into a trap game with the Titans, sign up for our 100% FREE newsletter that comes straight to your email with the latest news. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/jaguars\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SIGN UP HERE NOW.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">Follow us on X (Twitter)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JaguarsOnSI\">@JaguarsOnSI\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/_John_Shipley\">@_John_Shipley<\/a>\u00a0and make sure you like our Facebook page,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JaguarReport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlike many teams in the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars still have a lot to play for in Week&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":489906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-489905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115832366450406386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}