Ramsey says last week's loss shifted Jaguars focus for Titans

Jacksonville wants momentum heading to playoffs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – All week, the talk around the Jaguars has been about how the team will approach the regular season finale against the Titans.

That's because the Jaguars are locked into the third seed in the AFC playoffs and can't improve their positioning. That doesn't mean that the game is meaningless, though. Especially after last week's loss to the 49ers in San Francisco.

Shortly after the team's arrival in Nashville Saturday, Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey said Saturday that dropping a 44-33 decision changed how the team looked at the Week 17 matchup.

"I would be nice to get a win and go into the playoffs with a win, but I wouldn't say we are thinking about that," Ramsey said. "We are thinking about this game. We did take an L last week so we kind of shifted our focus. We want to regroup and grind it out for this week."

t may seem hard to imagine the Jaguars not taking their foot off the gas just a bit Sunday and history has examples of both approaches. In 1996, the Falcons had nothing to gain in the final week as they came the Jacksonville, while the Jaguars were playing for their playoff lives. Only a missed Morten Andersen field goal kept the Falcons from winning. 

In 1999, during the Jaguars best season, Tom Coughlin rested quarterback Mark Brunell in the last regular season game against the Bengals. Jay Fielder passed for 317 yards as the Jaguars beat Cincinnati 24-7.

There are some other statistical accomplishments on the line, most notably for the Jaguars defense which spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the NFL but slipped to second in scoring defense and third in total defense after last week's loss. Leonard Fournette needs 29 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for his rookie season and quarterback Blake Bortles needs 230 passing yards to become the fourth player in NFL history with 15,000 passing yards in his first four seasons. The others are Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and Ryan Tannehill.