Jaguars were down two defensive linemen, Travon Walker and Arik Armstead. Hines-Allen responded with two sacks and numerous pressures
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Josh Hines-Allen led the Jaguars’ defense with two sacks and three tackles for losses in a 25-3 victory over the Titans.Hines-Allen has recorded 5.5 sacks and 33 pressures in the five games since the team’s bye week.The Jaguars’ defense held the Titans without a touchdown, despite missing key players Travon Walker and Arik Armstead.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense entered the game against the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 30 without half its strength on the defensive front.
Josh Hines-Allen didn’t just pick up the slack — he picked up the entire unit, certainly from an emotional standpoint.
Hines-Allen continued his hot streak since the Jaguars‘ bye week against the Titans with two sacks, three quarterback hits and three tackles for losses in a 25-3 victory at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., to give the Jaguars (8-4) their fourth victory in five games since a 35-7 loss in London to the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 19.
He was already looking ahead to what the victory meant for the Jaguars: an AFC South game on Dec. 7 against the Indianapolis Colts at EverBank Stadium (1 p.m., CBS).
“Just got to keep doing our thing,” Hines-Allen said. “We got the Colts next week, a really, really good team. We’re going to have to get our minds right. We got a lot of people banged up, so looking forward to that matchup.”
Hines-Allen has been the catalyst for the defense since the bye. In five games since then, he has 5.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits and six tackles for losses. In his first seven games, he had a half-sack, four tackles for losses and 11 quarterback hits.
According to the NFL’s NextGen stats, Hines-Allen had seven pressures in 31 pass rushes against the Titans. His 33 pressures since the bye week are the most in the NFL, entering the league’s late Sunday afternoon schedule.
Hines-Allen was more than willing to spread the credit.
“What’s our identity? I feel like right now, it’s stop the run,” he said. “When it’s time to go hunt with the [front] four … the guys in the back end [secondary] cover their life off and they’re doing a heck of a job so far.”
Hines-Allen’s big plays killed drives
All three of Hines-Allen’s negative plays helped get the Titans off the field. He sacked Cam Ward in the second quarter on a third-and-five and in the fourth quarter on a second-and-10, with the Titans failing for the third time in four attempts on a fourth-down conversion attempt two plays later.
In between, Hines-Allen nailed running back Tyjae Spears for a 3-yard loss in the third period, with the Titans punting two plays later.
The Jaguars needed Hines-Allen to come up big. They already knew they’d be without Hines-Allen’s bookend on the other side for the second game in a row; Travon Walker (knee) and news came out on the eve of the game that defensive tackle Arik Armstead would be out with a hand injury.
It turned out to be one of the defense’s better performances of the season. Austin Johnson also got a sack and one by Andrew Wingard was nullified when Hines-Allen, of all people, had a hand to the face penalty.
The Jaguars held an opponent without a touchdown for the second time in three weeks and will maintain their league lead in rushing yards allowed by holding the Titans to 67 yards. After Tony Pollard had 36 yards on Tennessee’s first possession, they rushed for only 31 yards on 11 attempts (2.8 per carry) after that.
Rookie quarterback Cam Ward, coming off his best performance of the season the week before in a 30-24 loss to Seattle, was forced to dink and dunk most of the game, gaining only 141 yards on 24 of 38 completions.
The Titans converted a combination of three of 16 third- and fourth-down conversion attempts.
After Tennessee got its only points on a Joey Slye field goal, the Titans came up empty on nine consecutive possessions, four three-and-outs, three four-and-outs and a fumble recovered by Rayuan Lane III.
Coen said Hines-Allen playing without pressure
Jaguars coach Liam Coen ventured an educated guess that Hines-Allen is playing without pressure since he broke the franchise sack record held by Tony Brackens.
Hines-Allen needed only two sacks to break one of the team’s longest-standing defensive records, but it took him 10 games until he finally did it against the Los Angeles Chargers at home.
“I think for him, personally, it gave him a little bit more freedom to let it rip and play,” Coen said about Hines-Allen’s performances since breaking the sack record. “He was rushing today, a lot of opportunities. He was pushing the pocket, making life challenging for the tackles … I’m very proud of him and he continues to stack blocks and get better every week.”