Thursday Night Football Week 16: TV Schedule, Live Stream for Titans vs. Jaguars

While this week's Thursday Night Football clash between the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars doesn't feature any kind of postseason implications, it may help decide which team gets the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft.

Jacksonville and Tennessee aren't only deadlocked in the gutter of the AFC South with 2-12 records, they also share the league's lowest winning percentage with the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With three of those teams arguably in need of a quarterback, the race for Marcus Mariota is officially on.

Of course, we shouldn't expect either of these teams to tank Thursday. After all, these are division rivals that love beating up on each other. They would love to come away with a victory and boost locker room morale before the offseason comes around. That could lead to an unexpectedly exciting contest.

So, what does each team have to do if it is to emerge victorious? Before we delve into an answer to that inquiry, let's first take a look at the game's TV schedule and live stream information.

Game Info

When: Thursday, December 18

Where: EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida

Time: 8:25 p.m. ET

Channel: NFL Network

Live Stream: NFL.com

Betting Info (via Odds Shark):

• Over/Under: 40.5
• Spread: Jaguars -3

Storylines to Watch

Overcoming Quarterback Woes

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Jacksonville may not have the best defense in the league—in fact, it has one of the worst, ranking 28th overall—but that may not matter if the Titans can't come up with a game plan to allow their starting quarterback opportunities for success.

The position under center has been a whirlwind for this team in 2014. Jake Locker started the season, but rookie Zach Mettenberger took over in late October. However, Mettenberger suffered a shoulder injury and continues to miss time. Meanwhile, Locker received a start in Week 15 but was lost for the season with a shoulder injury of his own, forcing the team to go with Charlie Whitehurst at quarterback.

Since last week's contest, Tennessee has signed Jordan Palmer to its active roster and Alex Tanney to its practice squad. Yeah, this isn't a good situation at all.

So, which quarterback will start Thursday (a short week)? According to Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean, that would be Whitehurst:

At least Whitehurst has spent the entire season with the team and knows the offense better than any other active quarterback on its roster. He's played in five games this season, completing 56.6 percent of his passes for 967 yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 89.1. That's actually the best of the three quarterbacks that have started for the Titans this season.

Tennessee must do its best to establish a ground game against Jacksonville. Rookie running back Bishop Sankey has been disappointing this season, averaging a mere 3.8 yards per carry and two touchdowns while accumulating only one rush of more than 20 yards. He must get going to give Whitehurst a balanced offense and additional time in the pocket.

The Titans have a variety of speedy pass-catching options, and Whitehurst will find more success when he's throwing short to intermediate routes that allow for high completion percentages while allowing his receivers to create yards after the catch.

If Tennessee can't get consistency from its signal-caller, it will be headed for its ninth consecutive loss.

Firing Up the Running Game

Nick Wass/Associated Press

The Jaguars have their signal-caller of the future in rookie Blake Bortles; however, he hasn't been playing well at all this season. Coming out of college, many analysts were certain he would need significant time to develop, and that appears to be the case heading into Week 16.

In 12 starts this season, he has completed 60.8 percent of his passes for 2,676 yards, 10 touchdowns and 17 interceptions for a passer rating of 70.6. He's thrown at least one pick in every game but one this year and hasn't found the end zone in three of his last five contests.

Making matters even worse, he may not be 100 percent for Thursday due to a foot injury. He was in a walking boot, but according to offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch, via the team's official Twitter account, the quarterback is no longer wearing the foot protection and is expected to play:

Taking all of that into consideration, it's pretty easy to see why the Jaguars need to fire up their running game.

Tennessee is ranked dead last in the league against the run, allowing an average of 139.6 yards per game on the ground. Bortles has provided some help in that department for the Jaguars with his ability to scramble, but that shouldn't be expected Thursday due to his recent foot injury.

Jacksonville was getting some very nice production out of running back Denard Robinson earlier this season; however, he's been lost for the year with a sprained foot. That leaves a committee approach to the team's backfield featuring Toby Gerhart, Storm Johnson and Jordan Todman—all of whom have fewer rushing yards this season than Bortles.

None of these players have been good options this season for Jacksonville, as each is averaging 3.2 yards per carry or less. Gerhart received the bulk of the workload in Week 15, rushing 13 times for 54 yards—a respectable 4.2 yards per carry against a stingy Baltimore Ravens defense. The Jaguars would be wise to continue riding the veteran against Tennessee.

Of course, mixing Johnson and Todman into the rotation will be crucial as well. Johnson has the best chance to break a long run out of the backfield, and Todman can be utilized in the passing game. It really wound't hurt Jacksonville to get a little tricky and try an end around or two with wide receiver Marqise Lee.

The fact of the matter is the Jaguars need to take advantage of Tennessee's biggest weakness. If they can't, they will move to 0-8 on the road for the season.