NFL Week 18 Titans at Jaguars Betting Preview
AFC South Championship Game
Tennessee limps into Saturday night’s Titans at Jaguars betting matchup as losers of six straight. Tennessee is now just 7-9 on the year, but either way whoever wins Saturday night’s meeting with 8-8 Jacksonville wins the AFC South and heads to the postseason.
Jacksonville is at home for this de facto division championship game, and they’re trending in a much better direction than their opponents as the Jags have won four straight and six out of their last eight. Duval County has been hyped for this meeting for two weeks considering neither the Jaguars or the Titans’ week 17 games mattered, so will the action on the field equal the excitement in the stands? Jacksonville goes off as a -6.5 favorite here.
Big Dose of Henry on Saturday Night
Not that they wouldn’t anyway, but Tennessee is going to have to ride a heavy workload from Derrick Henry in the Titans at Jaguars betting matchup. Henry has ran for 1,429 yards this season, and has 100+ yards in the last three games he’s played. The Titans rested Henry in the Thursday night game last week (hip) because they knew the visit to Jacksonville was the must win game.
The Jaguars rank 11th in the NFL vs. the run (112.6 yards per game) and gave up 121 yards to Henry in their week 14 meeting, a 36-22 Jacksonville win as +3 point road underdogs.
Where you can get to Jacksonville’s defense is through the air as they are 28th in the league allowing 243.1 ypg, but passing really isn’t an option for the Tennessee offense right now. Josh Dobbs was just signed off the Lions practice squad at the end of December, and was 20-39 last week (51.3%) with 1/1.
No Letdown for Jaguars
Jacksonville is a probably a year early on their rebuild plan, so they’re playing with house money in the first season under coach Doug Pederson after such a tumultuous Urban Meyer experiment in 2021. Sneaking up on a possible playoff berth can kind of help the Jaguars here, as they’ve felt really no pressure until the last 2-3 weeks.
Of course the lights are going to be bright in the nationally televised Saturday night game, but this is also a spot QB Trevor Lawrence has been in this situation plenty of times leading Clemson to the college football playoff three straight seasons. Lawrence threw for 338 yards with 3 TDs / 0 INTs in the first meeting with Tennessee and also added a TD run.
Free Titans at Jaguars Betting Pick
This game has a weird feeling about it, maybe it’s because both squads essentially had a bye last week. You always want to get into the playoffs – but does Tennessee really have any chance behind a QB they just signed two weeks ago?
The Titans have a lot of change coming in the offseason, but gaining playoff experience woul be of incredible value for a young Jaguars team that seems to have hit on their top draft pick Lawrence, have a good running game, and some nice young pieces on defense. Franchise defining game here for Jacksonville.
Free Pick: Jaguars -6.5
