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The Tennessee Titans have watched their playoff hopes drop from near-certain to completely up in the air. A three-game losing streak has them at this point but the Titans can still sneak in if they can knock off divisional foe the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 17 of the regular season.
Jacksonville is the better team and recently wrapped up the division title, but doesn’t have as much motivation as it is sitting as the No. 3 seed and already in the playoffs. The Titans could badly use a victory but it won’t be easy on the road.
Tennessee has really struggled of late and will need to pick it up to pull off the upset and qualify for the postseason,
Watch this regular season Week 17 matchup live on Sunday, December 31, 2017, at 4:25 p.m. ET at Nissan Stadium.
Odds Analysis
The Titans will unsurprisingly be the underdog in this one, but it’s hard to know where the spread should come in because Jacksonville could choose to rest some key players. Keep a close eye on the playing time plan because that could affect the line.
Injury Report
DeMarco Murray— The Tennessee running back suffered a knee injury last time out in a loss to the Rams. It seems like he may either be unable to play in this one or will be limited. The Titans may want to keep him on the bench and feed promising second-year back Derrick Henry.
Jaelen Strong — The Jaguars pulled up the wideout to the active roster and he responded with a touchdown catch last time out in San Francisco, but he suffered a torn ACL and was placed on injured reserve. The Jaguars have had several injuries at wideout this season, and this is the latest.
Marqise Lee — The Jacksonville wide receiver missed the team’s game in San Francisco with an ankle injury. He entered the season as the No. 3 pass catcher but injuries to Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns have elevated his role and Lee has responded. Check to see if he will play in this one.
Player To Watch
Blake Bortles — The Jaguars’ quarterback will be more eager than anyone to put last week’s loss to the 49ers behind him. Bortles threw three interceptions in that game, including a pick six, and finished with a quarterback rating of 75.6.
Bortles has thrown 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on the season, but entered last week’s game against San Francisco off a strong stretch and having won four straight. He was playing so well at the start of December, that Bortles was rated as the top-passer for the month heading into Sunday, having thrown for 903 yards and seven touchdowns with zero interceptions in the past three games. That all came crashing down as his inefficiencies again showed up.
He threw two interceptions the first time the Jaguars faced the Titans this year back in September.
He finished just 20-of-34 for 223 yards in that loss to Tennessee.
Free ATS Pick
The Titans won the first matchup between these teams but the Jags are clearly the better team. They should be favored but it remains to be seen how much Jacksonville needs to win this game.
Tennessee was outplaying its talent level earlier this season and now its 8-7 mark is more in line with the projections. The Titans would love to sneak into the playoffs but it seems unlikely to happen.
Take the Jaguars to win this game and check the spread when it comes win because Jacksonville could run away with this one. Take the “over” as Jacksonville will roll up the points in an easy win.
NFL Odds: Jaguars 31, Titans 17
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