Titans snap skid, beat winless Jaguars
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Titans held onto for the win this time.
Even if it was against the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars.
Sammie Hill blocked a field goal attempt in the final seconds, and the Tennessee Titans held off the winless Jaguars 16-14 Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak.
Jackie Battle ran for a touchdown, and Ryan Succop also kicked three field goals as the Titans (2-4) bounced back after blowing the biggest lead ever by a home team in the regular season with their loss to Cleveland.
Jurrell Casey had two of Tennessee's six sacks. The Titans forced two turnovers as they won their first game at home this season - only their second here in nine games.
The Jaguars (0-6) scored with 37 seconds left as Blake Bortles found Clay Harbor for a 20-yard TD. They recovered the onside kick. But Hill got his right fingers on Josh Scobee's 55-yard field goal attempt with 3 seconds remaining.
Even though this game was a sellout, thousands of empty seats awaited two of the NFL's worst teams.
The Titans gave their fans a reason to stick around to the end by making this more exciting in the final seconds than they wanted.
Playing without Jake Locker because of his injured right thumb, Charlie Whitehurst threw for a career-high 233 yards in starting his second game in three weeks.
But Bortles, the No. 3 overall draft pick, had his best day yet. He had 336 yards as the Jaguars outgained the Titans 379-290.
Locker sat out his second game in three weeks with another injury to his right hand.
He had plenty of company on the sideline as the Titans, who placed veteran starters safety Bernard Pollard (Achilles tendon) and left tackle Michael Roos (right knee) on injured reserve this week, started three rookies.
Taylor Lewan, the No. 11 pick overall, replaced Roos. Second-round draft pick Bishop Sankey started at running back with Shonn Greene (hamstring) out.
Avery Williamson started his second straight game at inside linebacker. And the rookie returned a fumble 41 yards with 4:25 left to help seal the win.
The Jaguars came in second in the NFL behind only the Bills and Jets with 16 sacks. They added three more of Whitehurst as they hit him repeatedly during the game.
Bortles was nearly perfect in helping the Jaguars open a game with their first touchdown drive this season. They went 80 yards on a drive capped by a 1-yard TD by another rookie Storm Johnson, Bortles' teammate at UCF.
Jacksonville also forced the Titans to settle for field goals. The Titans took the lead for good when Battle capped an 80-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge just before halftime for a 10-7 edge.
The Jaguars had their chances. Titans cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson picked off Bortles' pass at the Tennessee 16 in the third quarter and ran it back to midfield. Succop put Tennessee up 16-7 with his third field goal, a 42-yarder.