The Tennessee Titans are arguably Jacksonville’s biggest rival in the AFC South, but the series hasn’t been competitive in quite a while. The Jaguars have lost eight of their last nine against the Titans, and they haven’t won in Nashville since 2013. But back when the team was better in the late 2000s, these teams played some actual meaningful matchups.
On Good Morning Football, former Jags star running back Maurice Jones-Drew remembers one of those occasions fondly, even though it didn’t exactly go the Jags’ way. They lost to the previously winless Titans 30-13, but it was a big day for both Jones-Drew and Titans running back Chris Johnson.
“Going into this game, we were both pretty decent, we were in the middle of the pack, so we knew we had to go in there and get a victory,” Jones-Drew said. “What happened was, Chris Johnson went for a long run, and then we knew we had to match, then I went for one, then he went for one, then I went for one, then he took off and kind of was the game after that, but it was fun.
“It’s one of those games where you go in knowing that it’s going to be a battle.”
"It's one of those games where you go in knowing it's going to be a battle."@MJD shares his memories of a great RB battle with CJ2K in a Jaguars-Titans matchup in Week 8, 2009 pic.twitter.com/yMK7kJFTgP
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) December 10, 2021
Johnson had a prolific game, totaling 228 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. But Jones-Drew had arguably an even more stunning outing, rushing for 177 yards and two scores of his own on just eight total carries. If you’re trying to do the math at home, that’s an unbelievable 22 yards per carry.
Jones-Drew went on to be a Second-Team All-Pro that season with his second-best career mark in yards and his best finish in terms of touchdowns with 15. Johnson, meanwhile, broke the 2,000 rushing yard mark in his second season in the league, becoming the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in the process.
The loss sent the 3-3 Jaguars into a bit of a spiral during the second half of the season, as they finished the year 7-9 and ranked last in the AFC South. Still, it was an excellent battle between two of the best backs in the league at the time, and it certainly lived up to the hype in that regard.