NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Titans have a chance to begin the season 2-0. It's the type of opportunity they haven't seized in a very long time.
When the Titans walloped the Cleveland Browns 43-13 to kick off their 2019 schedule, it marked their fifth 1-0 start of the decade. However, they followed the road rout with back-to-back AFC South losses to the Indianapolis Colts and the Jacksonville Jaguars, extending a run of futility when it comes to early season consistency.
Tennessee hasn't won its first two games since 2008, which was also the most recent year the franchise won a division title.
The Titans came out of last September square at 2-2, they were 4-4 after October, and they were 5-5 going into their open date in mid-November. They finished the regular season 9-7, secured the AFC's final wild card and made a surprise run through the playoffs that ended with a loss in the conference title game at Kansas City, which went on to win the Super Bowl.
Still, that kind of postseason journey is notable because it's rare. The Titans would much rather be hosting games at Nissan Stadium come January, and a victory Sunday against the Jaguars at that very venue would be a step toward making that ambition a reality.
"Obviously, the No. 1 goal every single year is to win the division," Titans safety Kevin Byard said. "So we have to start by beating our division opponent."
Tennessee is coming off a 16-14 win last Monday night at Denver, where the franchise hadn't won since 1987, when it was known as the Houston Oilers. The Titans have won six straight series meetings with the Jaguars in Nashville, with the past two matchups lopsided results - 30-9 in 2018 and 42-20 last season.
However, Jacksonville got a lot of attention by beating the Colts 27-20 last Sunday despite being the biggest home underdog in the opening week of the 2020 season.
"I think the Colts kind of underestimated them, and they win in a dogfight," Byard said of the Jaguars. "So hopefully it won't be a dogfight for us. Hopefully we can get up and score a lot of points. But at the end of the day, it's all about trying to be 1-0 this week."
AP photo by David Zalubowski / Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry carries the ball during last Monday night's season-opening win against the host Denver Broncos. Henry rushed for 116 yards on 31 carries in the 16-14 victory.The Jaguars also have their eyes on staying undefeated, which would be only the eighth such 2-0 start in the history of a franchise that debuted in 1995 and the second time they've done that inside the division.
"I feel like (there's) always going to be that doubt when people think about us, and that's just the status quo we have to change around here," Jacksonville defensive end Josh Allen said. "So, yeah, I think it's a big game for us, it's a big game because it's a divisional game. It's a game we must have."
Jacksonville coach Doug Marrone, who has a farm outside Nashville and dozens of friends and family members living in the area, has lost all three of his trips to the Music City with the Jaguars since taking over in 2017.
"I just know at least we're going up there and it's not going to be cold," Marrone quipped this past week.
After last week's promising comeback win, Marrone reminded his guys not to look back. Not to last week. Not to last season. And certainly not to the last time Jacksonville won at Tennessee (2013), because only one of them would even know what he was talking about.
"I wanted to make sure that there was clarity, meaning it was just real clear for everyone knowing that it's just human nature for people to say, 'Hey, listen, this is what happened before or this is what happened to this team,'" Marrone said. "Whether it be success or failure, you know what, this is really a whole different deal. It's a whole different team. It's a whole different atmosphere, everything."
Only three players on Jacksonville's current roster have experienced NFL victories in Tennessee.
Cornerback D.J. Hayden won twice there with the Raiders, in 2015 and 2016. Fullback Bruce Miller won there seven years ago with the San Francisco 49ers. And defensive tackle Abry Jones was a rookie when the 2013 Jaguars, winless through their first eight games, shocked the Titans 29-27, though Jones was inactive and on the sideline for Gus Bradley's first victory as a head coach.
The Jaguars haven't won in Nashville since, and they haven't been really close lately.
They couldn't stop DeMarco Murray or Derrick Henry in prime time in 2016 and trailed 27-0 at halftime. Henry gashed them the past three years as well. He had a 66-yard touchdown reception in 2017, a four-touchdown performance that included a record-tying 99-yard run in 2018 and a 74-yard scoring run last year.
The result? Jacksonville's second-longest road losing streak in franchise history; the franchise is 0-8 at New England.
"You always kind of get these streaks and things that people try to correlate things year after year. But I think in reality, every year's a new year, every week's a new week," Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew said. "I think a lot of times these trends are more superficial than anything actually tangible.
"I think it's a challenge that we're looking forward to. We obviously don't want any streaks like that."
The Titans insist they won't overlook Jacksonville, which has more road losses at Nashville (16) than anywhere.
"I don't think one guy in this locker room is going to take anything for granted," Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. "Obviously, their team has changed a lot since last year, and you look at the game tape how they played this past Sunday, that's all we can really evaluate on this team.
"You can't depend on last year. So I saw a team that plays extremely hard, plays disciplined and had no quit in them. They fought hard the whole game, and that's what we expect."