Tennessee offense vs. Jacksonville defense

	TENNESSEE OFFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	Run	13
	Pass	17
	Tot. Yds.	15
	Scoring	7
	Int's allowed	13
	Sacks allowed	26
	JACKSONVILLE DEFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	vs. Run	7
	vs. Pass	5
	Total yds. allowed	5
	# of Ints.	19
	# of Sacks	57
	Turnover differential	+12

Jacksonville's defense has not only benefited from Dom Capers' aggressive zone-blitz scheme, but also from the emergence of Gary Walker and Seth Payne at the defensive tackle position. Although the defensive ends and linebackers seem to get all the recognition on this unit, Walker and Payne are the catalysts. It is their ability to clog gaps in the middle that opens up so many blitz lanes and room to stunt up front.

Although Jacksonville appears capable of keeping the Titan rushing game in check, Tennessee dominated the line of scrimmage in the first two meetings between these teams, averaging 104 rushing yards per game. The key for the Titans is going to be Eddie George's ability to wear down the Jaguars up front, as Tennessee relies heavily on their running game to both set up the pass and control the tempo of the game.

Tennessee's one advantage in the passing game is that their attack is methodical with less emphasis on down-field attempts. Ordinarily, the Titan approach allows teams to stack the line of scrimmage and get after Steve McNair in the pass rush, but against the Jaguars, who already focus so heavily on the rush, the Titans system will focus on a built-in passing scheme to beat the blitz.

In the first two games between these teams, Tennessee's short-to-intermediate passing game was effective because it allowed McNair to get rid of the ball off of quick three- and five-step drops. Look for the Titans to again exploit an underneath zone vacated by the blitz.

Jacksonville's key on defense will be their ability to take H-back Frank Wycheck out of the picture underneath, even if it means using SS Donovan Darrius in coverage. Wycheck is one of the chief offensive threats for the Titans because, although he is not a deep threat, his ability to pick up critical yardage underneath makes him dangerous.

The Jaguars will not be able to match up a linebacker on Wycheck because it would put them at an immediate disadvantage; Darrius must come up from his strong safety position to cover Wycheck off the line. Darrius is a physical enough player to fight through the traffic underneath, but he needs to do an excellent job of getting in position and covering the H-Back in the short-to-intermediate area.

With so many weapons at the specialty positions, Jacksonville thrives off the play-action fake, and, if there is one aspect of the Titan defense that can be exploited, it is their discipline. Tennessee's scheme is extremely aggressive, calling for lots of blitz and stunt action, but it can also tempt players to overcommit and get out of position.

Tennessee has done a fair job against the run this season, allowing an average of 96.5 yards per game in the regular season, but they have also given up some big plays against the run, which is scary against an explosive back like Fred Taylor. Nevertheless, in the last meeting between these two teams, Tennessee yielded just 65 rushing yards to the Jags, effectively taking Jacksonville out of their game plan early and forcing them to play catch-up football as the game progressed.

Furthermore, with Tony Boselli out of the lineup, the challenge becomes much more demanding than in the first two games. Without their big left tackle, the Jaguars not only lose continuity on the left side of the line, but are also forced to overcompensate to make up for Ben Coleman's inexperience at the position.

Coleman's ability to hold up at the left tackle position becomes even more critical in the passing game, where he matches up with pass rush specialist Jevon Kearse. Coleman, forced into duty with the loss of Tony Boselli, has very little experience at the position. On the bright side, Coleman showed he could handle the load last week when he manhandled the Dolphins' speed rush specialist DE Jason Taylor throughout the game. This week the task becomes even more difficult and critical because Coleman will be lined head up on DE Jevon Kearse for most of the game. Kearse has proven to be one of the more dominant overall defensive players this season, which means that Coleman is going to have to have a career day to give Mark Brunell time in the pocket.

If the Jaguars are able to establish the run game and hold up on the offensive line in pass protection, they will find exploitable matchups in the passing game. Jacksonville should take advantage of the Titans aggressive style, because they have the talent at the receiver position to exploit man-to-man coverage. Obviously, Tennessee is not going to ask their corners to play single-man coverage without help from the safeties or linebackers, but play-action is a major concern for the Titans because they ask a lot of their safeties.

Safeties Marcus Robertson and Blaine Bishop are aggressive players who are fully capable of getting caught peeking at the play fake in the backfield. While this won't be a consistent problem, is gives the Jaguar offense, who have proven that they can strike at any time, the potential for the big play. It just takes instance of a safety cheating up too close to the line for QB Mark Brunell to go up top to one of his home-run-threat receivers.