Titans get a massive gift from outside of Nashville in Week 13 in the most thrilling finish of the afternoon

The updated draft order is looking even better for the Titans.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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Here’s the bad news: the Tennessee Titans looked as lost as they’ve ever been in Week 13. They fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars 25-3 in a truly unwatchable showing at home, and the fabric of this team may begin to fray down the stretch of these final five games if things stay this ugly.

For Cam Ward and company, that’s really not good.

Now here’s the good news that came from the week: the Titans recorded another loss, keeping them safely atop the NFL Draft order for at least a little while longer. They still have a small margin for “error” if that’s what you want to consider another win to be, but one team sent them a gift in a thrilling game that gives them a bit more breathing room than before.

The Jets’ win gives Tennessee more draft cushion

The New York Jets came into Week 13 as one of the five bottom-feeders with two wins or fewer, gunning for draft positioning atop the Tankathon.com leaderboard (loserboard?).

But they were victorious at MetLife Stadium over the Kirk Cousins-led Atlanta Falcons, who are a massive disappointment right now in their own right. And would you believe it: they won on the leg of 41-year-old former Titans kicker Nick Folk, who drilled a 56-yarder to walk it off.

I was reliably told he couldn’t do that. Anyhow, he got head coach Aaron Glenn a badly-needed win for his job security and program-building in New York. And this win propelled the Jets out of the one-and-two-win club, leaving just the Titans, Saints, Giants, and Raiders to scrap for the top pick.

Every win by other bad teams is a big deal for Tennessee, which still has the best strength of schedule in the NFL today at .571.

It’s truly astonishing to look back at the horrendous luck of this horrendous football team so far, which has played just two non-playoff-caliber teams in 12 outings. That ridiculous gauntlet has gone a long way in keeping them at the top of the draft order with only one win, but it also is what will bite them should they do any more winning this season.

One more win would drop them down to fourth in the order, at the back of the line of two-win teams. Strength of schedule is the primary tiebreaker here, so their head-to-head loss to the Raiders means nothing unless they somehow tied in SOS down to the third decimal point, which isn’t happening.

The Giants play the Patriots in the final game of Week 13 on Monday Night Football, so next up on the agenda of Titans fans: Go G-Men Go!

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