The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) may not have looked dominant against one of the league's expected worst teams, the Tennessee Titans (0-1), but they came away with a win -- which is all the matters.
Luke McCown, making his first start of the season (taking the reigns from recently and suddenly cut David Garrard), played well enough to keep the team alive, but also played neither overwhelmingly good nor noticeably bad. Completing 17 of 24 attempts for 175 yards and no touchdowns or interception, McCown appeared average through feh-ness -- whereas David Garrard's averageness came on the merit of incredible, Holy-Cow! plays balanced out with terrible, Oh heavens no! plays.
McCown did have a pair of fumbles on the day, even loosing one on a quarterback sneak -- events that, if made a trend, will lead to an even quicker Blaine Gabbert appearance.
Maurice Jones-Drew and Deji Karim carried the offensive load on the day, running for a combined 120 yards (24 carries and 97 yards for Jones-Drew; 14 carries and 33 yards for Karim) and receiving another 39 (all Karim).
The Jaguars got up early, getting a 21-yard touchdown run out of Maurice Jones-Drew in the first quarter, but in the second, the Jags were only able to muster a 48-yard Josh Scobee field goal, giving the Jags a 10-0 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Titans offense began gathering momentum. The Jags got another field goal to start the 3rd quarter, but Matt Hasselbeck connected with Kenny Britt on a broken pass play, leading to an 80-yard touchdown pass and a narrowed 13-7 lead.
After yet another Josh Scobee field goal (this one 45 yards), Matt Hasselbeck led the Titans down the field again, scoring another touchdown with Britt from the 2 yard line.
The Titans got the ball back, not trailing only 16-14, and began driving with 1:45 left in the game. Hasselbeck led the team almost to mid-field with 23 seconds left, but an ill-advised pass into deep double coverage gave Dwight Lowery an interception and guaranteed a Jaguars win.
The Jags play again next Sunday at 1:00 p.m., squaring off against the vaunted New York Jets.
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