Tennessee Titans vs Jacksonville Jaguars: What's the Game Plan for Jacksonville?

The Jacksonville Jaguars (3-6) look to continue their hunt for the AFC South title with an important Thursday-night battle against the Tennessee Titans (2-7). The Jaguars are coming off an important road win in Baltimore, and now it's time to return home and earn their first divisional victory.

The Titans have struggled this season, leading to the firing of Ken Whisenhunt and the hiring of interim head coach Mike Mularkey, who was the head coach of the Jaguars in 2012.

That adds some depth to an already-important divisional rivalry.

With that said, the Titans have had flashes of brilliance through quarterback Marcus Mariota and a relatively stout defense, and the Jaguars will have to anticipate that the Titans will play their best on Thursday night.

James Kenney/Associated Press

This is a make-or-break game.

If the Jaguars lose, it seems unlikely that they'll be able to win enough games over the rest of the season to win the AFC South and make the playoffs. If they win, then the race continues and the Jaguars get to press forward.

Offensive Game Plan

In the Jaguars' 22-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the offense struggled to capitalize on four turnovers from the Ravens, only scoring 10 points off takeaways.

On Thursday, the offense will have to act much more efficiently due to the Titans' strength in pass defense.

Quarterback Blake Bortles completed less than 50 percent of his passes, but his off day only led to one turnover, which can be considered a positive. He'll need to continue limiting turnovers this week but should look to throw farther downfield as he's done in previous weeks.

While the Titans' pass defense ranks third in the NFL, Tennessee is 21st against the run, allowing 112.3 yards a game.

According to the Jaguars' official website, running back T.J. Yeldon didn't practice on Monday and Tuesday and only participated in a limited capacity on Wednesday. He may be unable to go, which means that Denard Robinson and Toby Gerhart could see more carries.

	Yards	Average	Touchdowns	Yards per Game
T.J. Yeldon	531	4.0	1	66.4
Blake Bortles	203	7.0	0	22.6
Denard Robinson	50	3.3	0	8.3
Toby Gerhart	44	2.2	0	8.8

The Titans will anticipate a pass-heavy day, and they may be right, but the Jaguars really need to run the ball 25-30 times on Thursday. Keeping that defense honest would be the best thing for Bortles and his receivers, and it would also help to keep Mariota off the field.

Offensive coordinator Greg Olson has done a good job with the play-calling this year, but he will have to respect this Titans secondary.

Getting more receiving options than wideouts Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson is vital because they will likely be top defensive priorities for the Titans.

Defensive Game Plan

The Jaguars will look to contain Mariota first and foremost.

The pass rush has been unsuccessful for the most part this season, and so the Jaguars will instead have to try to force coverage sacks and hope that he loses patience.

A big factor on Thursday will be shutting down Mariota's most dangerous target, tight end Delanie Walker. Walker is a threat at any point on the field, but he specializes in the red zone. It'll be on the linebacker group—especially Telvin Smith—to contain and defend him.

The linebackers will also have to combine with the defensive line to continue their stout play against the run. The Jaguars are first in the NFL in average yards allowed per carry, and keeping the Titans one-dimensional will be crucial. 

The secondary has been lackluster as a whole this season, but the play of cornerback Davon House has been fantastic to watch.

The rest of the secondary doesn't need to perform at that level on Thursday, but it needs to be consistent and contain Mariota's options.

It'll also be important to see how well the Jaguars are able to force turnovers. The plentiful turnovers from the Ravens and Buffalo Bills ended up being huge in the end, and getting those turnovers in bunches would be a major factor on Thursday.

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All stats provided by ESPN.com unless otherwise stated.

Evan Reier is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report covering the Jacksonville Jaguars. Follow Evan on Twitter @evanreier.