NFL Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville Jaguars’ Receiving Corps Must Deliver Against Tennessee Titans

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By @MWCompton

Marqise Lee Jaguars

Rick Dole-USA Today Sports

The Jacksonville Jaguars will try to avoid starting the season 0-6 when they travel to face the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. It’s a welcomed matchup for the Jaguars, who notched their initial win of last season against their AFC South foes following an 0-8 start.

To leave Nashville with a victory this time around, the Jaguars must receive improved performances from their newest offensive weapons, namely rookie quarterback Blake Bortles and the talented-but-underperforming receiving corp of Marqise Lee, Allen Hurns, Allen Robinson and Ace Sanders. The group leaves far too many empty opportunities on the field.

While the Jaguars’ wide receivers have flashed promise, the youthful unit continues to struggle through growing pains, as does Bortles. Thrust into the starter’s role ahead of schedule, Bortles has flashed brilliance on occasion, extending plays with his feet and showing off his rifle of an arm. Despite the excitement his presence brings to the offense, he has thrown only one touchdown to four interceptions in his two starts.

Unfortunately, Bortles has been thrown into the fire surrounded by inexperience. The lack of savvy veterans on the offense doesn’t help matters when the majority of players at the skill positions are learning on the job.

Getting Lee back into the starting lineup should provide a spark against the Titans. A second-round selection, Lee has missed the last three games due to a hamstring injury, but the rookie out of USC has been effective in his limited action, catching eight passes for 73 yards in the first two games. He has practiced this week and is expected to play on Sunday.

While Bortles tends to spread the ball around fairly well, his favorite targets thus far have been fellow rookies Hurns and Robinson. Hurns hasn’t parlayed his fast start (four receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown in Week 1) to sustained success. He has dropped far too many passes since, hauling in 12 catches for 170 total yards in the last four games. Despite the drops, Hurns is the team’s leading receiver with 16 receptions on 35 targets for 280 yards. Robinson, a second-round pick, has shown better hands than Hurns in the early going. He has hauled in 22 passes on 37 targets for 243 yards.

The only wide receiver with more than two years of NFL experience is the oft-injured Cecil Shorts III, the Jaguars’ leading receiver for the last two seasons. An ankle injury suffered against the Washington Redskins in Week 2 has limited his action in recent weeks, and the fairly dependable pass catcher didn’t practice on Wednesday.

Putting more points on the board will also help as the Jaguars rank 31st in both scoring (13.4 points per game) and total offense (272.2 yards). Bortles and his pass catchers must find the end zone. Robinson, at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds with a 42-inch vertical jump, is so far an underutilized weapon in the red zone.

The Titans should provide the Jaguars with the necessary tonic to move the ball, sustain drives and find the end zone on Sunday. The Titans have lost veteran safety Bernard Pollard to a season-ending Achilles injury, and the Titans’ D, which ranks 23rd in total defense (374.2 yards per game), has allowed an average of 32.3 points in the last four games.

There is still plenty of uncertainty hovering over the Jaguars this season, but there is reason for optimism that the offense, replete with a highly-regarded draft class of playmakers, should look significantly improved against an anemic Tennessee defense.

Michael Compton is a Jacksonville Jaguars writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter at @MWCompton and connect with him on Google.

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