The Tennessee Titans kept their playoff hopes alive while the Jacksonville Jaguars seemed to see their postseason aspirations end Sunday in Nashville.
Derrick Henry rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Ryan Tannehill accounted for four touchdowns to lead the Titans to a 42-20 home win over the Jaguars in an AFC South contest.
Tennessee (6-5) moved into a second-place tie with Indianapolis in the AFC South, one game behind division-leading Houston.
Jacksonville (4-7) is now firmly entrenched in last place.
Leading 7-3 at halftime, Tennessee exploded for four touchdowns in the third quarter to blow the game open.
Tannehill hit Dennis Kelly for a 1-yard touchdown pass with 13:13 left in the third quarter to give the Titans a 14-3 lead, and then Henry scored on a 74-yard touchdown run to put the Titans ahead 21-3 with 10:40 remaining in the third.
Jacksonville then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which was recovered by Tennessee and set up a first-and-goal from the Jacksonville 7-yard line.
Henry then scored on a 7-yard touchdown run with 10:24 to go in the third to give the Titans a 28-3 lead.
The Titans continued to pour it on, taking a 35-3 lead with 6:57 left in the third on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill to A.J. Brown.
Jacksonville did answer with a couple of 1-yard touchdown runs by running back Leonard Fournette, the second of which came with 11:50 remaining that cut Tennessee's lead to 35-17.
But the Titans quickly recaptured momentum, taking a 42-17 lead with 9:47 left on a 3-yard touchdown run by Tannehill.
Tannehill finished 14 of 18 passing for 259 yards and two touchdowns for the Titans. He ran for two more, including a 21-yard rush to open the scoring with 6:29 to go in the first quarter.
Nick Foles went 32-for-48 passing for 272 yards and Fournette rushed for 97 yards on 24 carries in defeat for the Jaguars.
--Field Level Media
Jacksonville | Tennessee | |
Leonard Fournette | Player | Derrick Henry |
24 | Attempts | 19 |
97 | Yards | 159 |
4.0 | Avg Yards | 8.4 |
2 | Touchdowns | 2 |
16 | Long | 74 |
Jacksonville | Tennessee | |
Dede Westbrook | Player | A.J. Brown |
8 | Receptions | 4 |
69 | Yards | 135 |
8.6 | Avg Yards | 33.8 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
22 | Long | 65 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Jacksonville | 369 | 117 | 252 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | 2 |
Tennessee | 471 | 219 | 252 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 1 |