Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans: Jacksonville Grades, Notes & Quotes

The Jacksonville Jaguars fell to 4-8 on Sunday after a crazy, backbreaking 42-39 loss to the Tennessee Titans. On a day that saw a multitude of big plays and mistakes from both teams, the Jaguars ended up on the losing end.

Sunday was possibly the best overall performance from the offense, and—surprisingly—the defense was the weaker side. However, the most counterproductive moments came from kicker Jason Myers and the special teams.

Myers missed two extra-point attempts, his fifth and sixth misses on the season. This forced the Jaguars to chase for those points all game. This hurts even more when the deficit does reflect those crucial misses.

The Jaguars played well at times, and the offense's success and improvement in the red zone was a major positive. But as has been the case all season, the Jaguars committed some horrible mistakes, and that made the difference.

Positional Grades

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

Quarterback: A

Blake Bortles had his best performance of the season and of his short NFL career. Completing 66 percent of his passes, Bortles was smart and productive.

His 322 yards and five touchdowns was not what most expected, but Bortles delivered an incredible display. While the loss may taste bitter, seeing Bortles play like this was great to see.

Running Back: B

While Bortles was dealing dimes, rookie running back T.J. Yeldon had a productive day himself. His 136 total yards and a touchdown made Yeldon one of the most productive players of the day.

Yeldon provided a big play with his 67-yard catch-and-run. It was apparent through the day that he was working extremely hard, and he was rewarded with his second rushing TD of the season.

Wide Receiver: B+

Bortles spread the ball around well, but it was obvious that his favorite target was Allen Robinson. Robinson had 10 catches on 15 targets, totaling 153 yards and three touchdowns, a career day for the sophomore.

Robinson has been on a tear this season, but nothing has compared to his dominance on Sunday. The rest of the WRs played roles, but they all paled in comparison.

Tight End: C+

It was a familiarly quiet day for the tight ends, but they did come through for a few big receptions. Julius Thomas and Marcedes Lewis both had a first-down grab a piece, and Thomas added a go-ahead TD.

It wasn't the most active day, but they played their part. Thomas was able to score for his third straight game, and it's encouraging to see him continue to find the end zone.

Offensive Line: B-

Both of the sacks were mostly due to Bortles holding onto the ball for too long, and the O-line did well to open up a little space for Yeldon and Denard Robinson.

The only player who really disappointed on the line was center Stefen Wisniewski. Besides the major error of snapping the ball over Bortles' head and gifting the Titans seven points, he was consistently whupped on the interior.

Defensive Line: C-

The defensive front didn't have a great day. In fact, it was possibly one of their least impressive yet. They offered little resistance to Titans RB Antonio Andrews, and the pass rush from the front four wasn't great.

While the lack of a pass rush from the line wasn't surprising, the lack of dominance in the run game was disappointing. The Titans were able to get to the second level often with their rushing attack, and that balance was hard to combat.

Linebackers: C-

Linebacker Telvin Smith tallied two sacks, seven solo tackles, two tackles for loss and a forced a key fumble late in the game. He made more and more of an impact as the game went on, as did fellow LB Paul Posluszny. 

However, along with Thurston Armbrister, the LBs got decimated in the passing game. The Titans decided to test the Jaguars over the middle, and when it was time for Smith or Posluszny to make a coverage play, they often failed.

Secondary: D+

Corners Davon House and Dwayne Gratz were both able to notch a pass defended as well as a lucky interception for House, but other than that, it was a rough day from the secondary. The only standout performance was safety Johnathan Cyprien, but even he missed multiple tackles.

Sure, safety Sergio Brown earned a sack, but Mariota shredded the Jaguars secondary and a ridiculously poor tackling display led to plays like his 87-yard TD run. It may have been the worst overall performance of the year.

Special Teams: D

What is there to say? Punter Bryan Anger did fine, the returns were pedestrian, but not mistake-ridden, and the coverage on kicks and punts had possibly one of the consistent outings of the year.

But Myers missed two extra points. Two. It's hard to reason that he should stay on the team at this point, and it's fair to say his two misses were a dooming factor for the Jaguars.

Coaching: C+

Offensive coordinator Greg Olson deserves a lot of credit for continuing to help this team move the ball and then doing the right thing in the red zone by giving handoffs to Yeldon and throwing to Thomas and Robinson.

On the other side, the defense looked unprepared and outmatched. Head coach Gus Bradley and defensive coordinator Bob Babich will not be too pleased with how their priority performed.

Blake Bortles Has Career Day Despite Loss

James Kenney/Associated Press

The idea of Bortles throwing for over 300 yards and five TDs on Sunday seemed implausible. Throw in the fact that he didn't throw a single interception and also completing 66 percent of his passes and Sunday's performance may have been the best all-time performance from a Jaguars QB.

He made all sorts of throws on Sunday, and when he wasn't throwing deep balls to Robinson, he was going through his progressions and finding the best target. He looked composed, as usual, but the backbreaking interception never came.

Instead, it was a terrible snap from Wisniewski that caused the killer turnover, hardly Bortles' fault. Sure, he could have done better to get on the ball, but he should have never had to deal with that in the first place.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of his performance was that he did it without WR Allen Hurns. Hurns has been a major factor in the offense, and Bortles was able to decimate the Titans without him.

It's not always easy to watch, but Bortles' progress is starting to produce. Sunday may not become the norm (it'd be a Hall of Fame career if it did), but it is a sign that Bortles is developing into the franchise QB the Jaguars have searched for.

Absence of Dan Skuta Continues to Degrade the Jaguars

Steven Senne/Associated Press

LB Dan Skuta hasn't been the most explosive player on the Jaguars defense, but it's obvious that his absence has had a visible impact. The Jaguars simply don't have a guy to slide in behind him, and that was especially apparent on Sunday.

He's a jack-of-all-trades type of player, and that doesn't always show up in the box score, but it gives the Jaguars a solid player in plenty of situations, rather than a liability like Armbrister.

Any kind of absence hurts, but the hole that Skuta's injury has left is one that is hampering the Jaguars in almost every situation. NFL defenses are made of all types of players, but Skuta is the proper example of one who limits mistakes and performs consistently.

While Smith is picking up the slack nicely, he's still having growing pains and Posluszny doesn't quite have the same spring in his step anymore. He gets plenty of tackles and does his job well, but having to carry the weight of Armbrister is too much to bear.

Skuta likely isn't far away from a recovery, but the longer he's gone, the tougher it will be for the Jaguars defense. 

Gus Bradley Talks Defensive Woes

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

Bradley takes a lot of pride in his defenses, and Sunday may have been a direct shot at his core ideals. The defense was taken apart by the Titans throughout the game, and he recognized that, as seen in his postgame press conference streamed on Jaguars.com.

"Defensively, when you score that many points, you need to get stops," Bradley said. "And we didn't. We didn't do very good on third down, in the red zone, again they scored some opportunities there."

Bradley also discussed the poor tackling display on Sunday, something that has been trending in the wrong direction of late. A team that was somewhat stout on defense last year and early this year is now falling apart, it seems.

This hurts Bradley, the Jaguars and the fans even more due to the offense showing improvement and putting up points like they did. Bradley knows that it's on him to have the defense ready, along with Babich, and they simply weren't.

The Jaguars still need considerable help in terms of personnel, and as the season has progressed, it's gotten more and more glaring. Bradley can't and shouldn't take the full blame for Sunday, but it's certainly still his responsibility.

Allen Robinson Talks About His Career Day

James Kenney/Associated Press

Robinson has shown great progress and maturity in his second NFL season, and he's now had a few performances that have to make you stop and wonder what his ceiling is.

At the moment, it seems extremely high, perhaps as high as former Jaguars greats like Jimmy Smith. But while Robinson is putting up impressive performances, his postgame interview on Jaguars.com shows that it isn't too easy to enjoy when the team loses.

"It's tough, it's tough," Robinson said. "Week in, week out, if we're the offense that we know that we can be, as far as the guys on the field, the individual stats are going to be there... It's tough to enjoy."

Robinson and the rest of the offense knows what they are capable of, and they must be disappointed to have the standout day they did and not earn the victory.

The responsibility for the loss doesn't rest on Robinson or most of the offense, but they have to deal with it all the same. Hopefully, they can still have a positive takeaway from Sunday and try and continue to produce like this in the future.

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.