Andre Branch makes big play for Jacksonville Jaguars

JACKSONVILLE -- This hasn't been an ideal season for Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Andre Branch.

Slated to be a starter in his contract year once Dante Fowler was lost for the season, he missed the first three games with a knee injury and started just three of the next six games, bringing his total of starts to just six in four years.

He also hadn't made a major impact in his six games with just eight tackles, a sack, a pass defensed, a quarterback hit and a forced fumble.

Branch, though, flashed Thursday night in the 19-13 victory over Tennessee as he sacked Marcus Mariota on the final play to end the game. He also had two tackles and a quarterback hit.

"Branch did some good things," head coach Gus Bradley said. "You saw some flashes. He got the sack. He applied pressure to get a good hit on the quarterback so I thought he played better than he has. (We are) still going to keep challenging him, but I thought overall (he) played pretty decent."

"I flushed him (Mariota) out and he stepped up still looking and he had to throw the ball and he was right there and I just made the sack (tackling him from behind)," said Branch, who played a season-high 56 snaps. "It felt good to close out a game and we got the W and that's the most important thing."

When he was asked if it was his best play this year, he said, "I don't look back and look at plays. I just keep playing."

--Wide receiver Bryan Walters was a quarterback in high school so the Jaguars have been practicing a trick play featuring him throwing the ball.

He lines up on the left side, runs an end-around to the right, takes a handoff from quarterback Blake Bortles and throws downfield. The Jaguars finally unveiled it in the second quarter on a first down at the Titans 38. Allen Robinson was open on the play, but Walters missed him.

Walters, who said he completed it every time he ran it in practice, said, "I made a bad throw. We got the win so I can laugh about it."

"We've done that periodically from week to week (in practice), head coach Gus Bradley said "This week, we put more of an emphasis on it. He did a really good job in practice throwing it. It just didn't work. We had a lot of confidence going into it."

Walters, who caught two passes for 35 yards, including a 31-yarder, wasn't cleared from the concussion program until last Saturday. Walters said it was a mild one and he wasn't even sure it was a concussion, but he understands the league's concerns about head injuries.

"You can't mess with the head," Walters said. "That's important."

--Denard Robinson who had seven carries for 27 yards, had a carry from the 12 and four from the seven or closer and failed to score.

"I've got to get the ball in the end zone," he said.

--The Jaguars, who were favored by the odds-makers only once the last three seasons, were favored for the second time in the last five games Thursday night against Tennessee.

The Jaguars were a one-point choice over Houston in the fifth game on Oct. 18, but lost, 31-20, and were favored by 2 1/2 points over the Titans and covered the spread.

The Jaguars were the underdogs in every game in 2012 under former head coach Mike Mularkey, who was coaching the Titans Thursday night, and were the underdogs in every game in 2013 in head coach Gus Bradley's first season.

The only time they were favored last year was when they were a three-point choice over the Titans at home on Dec. 18 and won, 21-13, in a Thursday night game.

So this was only the third time they were favored in the last 58 games since 2011 and two of those three times, they were favored at home over the Titans on Thursday night.

The last time they were favored before that was in the 2011 season finale on Jan. 1, 2012 whey they were a three-point choice over the Colts when Peyton Manning missed the season with an injury. The Jaguars won, 19-13, to clinch the first draft pick for the Colts (Andrew Luck) in the 2012 draft.

The Jaguars were favored four times in both 2010 and 2011 and went 3-1 each year and covered the spread in five of the six victories.

The last time they were favored on the road since 2010 was on Nov. 13, 2011 when they were a three-point choice at Indianapolis and won, 17-3.

They play at Tennessee in two weeks and it will be interesting to see if they are favored again.