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(SportsNetwork.com) - There is no flex scheduling on Thursday nights, meaning the NFL Networks television vehicle will not exactly be going out with a bang this season. You can look at 2014s final Thursday Night Football battle between the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars in two ways, a tilt to decide who will end up in the AFC South cellar or an opportunity to garner a better pick in the 15 NFL Draft. The Titans and Jags will square off having mustered only two wins apiece with one of Tennessees coming when it edged Jacksonville, 16-14, back in Music City on Oct. 12. Since that game, the teams have combined to lose 14 of 16 contests with the Titans dropping eight straight in Ken Whisenhunts first season at the helm, and the Jaguars losing six of eight behind rookie quarterback Blake Bortles. Each team suffered its latest setback in Week 15 as Tennessee fell to the lowly New York Jets, 16-11, and Jacksonville came up short in Baltimore, 20-12. The Jets Chris Ivory scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 3:09 remaining in the fourth quarter to lift New York to its triumph in Nashville although the Titans made it interesting and nearly pulled off another Music City Miracle on the games last play, lateraling numerous times before Delanie Walker came up short at the Jets 9-yard line. Jake Locker made his first start for the Titans since Week 5 and likely his last with the organization as he left the game late in the second quarter with a dislocated left shoulder. The injury-prone Locker, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2011 draft, started because rookie Zach Mettenberger re-injured his right shoulder the week prior. He was subsequently placed on season-ending injured reserve this week and is unlikely to return to the Titans next season. To me, hes a true pro, Whisenhunt said. Hes a great teammate, works hard and you obviously feel badly for Jake just from the standpoint of having to have surgery and his season being over. Charlie Whitehurst replaced Locker against the Jets and was 10-of-24 for 203 yards in his first action since Week 7. The veteran will start again this week and be backed up by the recently signed Jordan Palmer. I havent played as well as I wanted to this year. Theres a few plays I left out there, Whitehurst said. But every time I go out there, theres a few personal things that come out of it -- Its been fun to do it and kind of see what youre made of. Tennessees current eight-game skid is the franchises longest since the 1994 Houston Oilers dropped 11 straight. Jacksonville, meanwhile, fell in the Charm City when the Ravens Joe Flacco threw for 221 yards with a touchdown and the Baltimore defense kept the Jaguars out of the end zone. Josh Scobee kicked four field goals to account for the Jags entire offensive output. Bortles threw for 210 yards with an interception for the Jaguars. He was, however, also sacked eight times by a swarming Baltimore defense that limited Jacksonville to 248 total yards. Theres gonna be talk about how Hey Jacksonville played extremely hard, very physical, came into our house and did some really good things, special teams wise two phases did really good but I told them were not into moral victories, Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley said. Were into victories. Were into victories. Thats what were after. After the beating Bortles was diagnosed with a mid-foot sprain and has been in a walking boot but the Jags are hopeful he will play on Thursday and the rookie was back at practice on a limited basis by Tuesday. As far as I know, its going to be Blake, Jaguars offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said Tuesday. Were going to obviously see how he practices. He did better, Bradley added on Tuesday. You could see him improve. The Titans lead their all-time series with the Jags by a 22-17 margin, including the win earlier this season when Jackie Battle rushed for a TD and kicker Ryan Succop booted three field goals. Bortles threw for a career-high 336 yards and a touchdown in the setback but Tennessee sacked him six times and blocked a potential game-winning 55-yard field goal with 12 seconds left. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Tis the time of year when certain teams give up and the Titans seem to be at the top of that list, failing to succeed no matter who is under center, Mettenberger, Locker or Whitehurst. The (injury) circumstances arent great, but when something like that does happen, it does give you a chance, Whitehurst said. Theres no substitute for it. You get to play. You get to play in the NFL. The lack of a consistent competent option at the games most important position has hindered Tennessee all season and the Titans head into the final two games with the NFLs 29th ranked offense, mustering just 307.9 yards per game and scoring less than 14 points per game during their current skid. The Jags are even worse, however, 31st in a 32-team league while averaging under 300 ypg at 293.8. On paper that should make things easier for the respective defensive units but they havent exactly set the world on fire either as the Jags stop unit is ranked 28th, surrendering 372.6 ypg, and the Titans are actually a tick below at 29, allowing six yards more. The run game has been particularly daunting for Tennessee. The Titans cant run it, amassing under 65 yards per game over the last 2 1/2 months, and they cant stop opponents from running it, surrendering a league-worst 139.6 ypg. Jacksonville has a little more hope because Bortles, the No. 3 overall pick in last years draft, has shown signs, albeit only for brief periods. Bortles has thrown 10 touchdown passes versus 17 interceptions and has the leagues second-worst passer rating at 70.6 but hes also under significant duress more often than not, being sacked an NFL-high 41 times since hes taken over from Chad Henne. The impressive skill set is visible, though, and Bortles has embraced a leadership role. A lot of (the sacks) are on me, Bortles said. Some are on the offensive line. Its on the whole offense. Its football, so you better be used to getting hit. Bortles also seems aware that he needs to speed up his decision making. In college, you can run around and do more stuff, but in the NFL guys are a lot faster and stronger, the Central Florida product said. So its a little more difficult. You want to be able to get rid of the ball and live another down, not lose yards on third down and create longer field-goal situation. Those are definitely things Im working on. Whitehurst has actually been Tennessees most effective QB this season, compiling an 89.1 passer rating and going 1-2 as a starter with the lone triumph being against the Jags in the October game when he completed 17-of-28 passes for 233 yards. I feel good about Charlie and what hes done, Whisenhunt said. He started against Jacksonville the last time and played a pretty good game. Hes been a great support in the room, and we have confidence in him. OVERALL ANALYSIS Neither team looks primed to much offensively but the Jags seem like the lesser of two evils here mainly because the Titans have been an abject disaster on the road, losing six straight and being outscored by an average of 34 to 16 in those games. 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And yet as they left TD Garden amid the slush and snow of a winter storm on Thursday evening, there was a sense among the Leafs that they had finally stood toe to toe with their long-time bully, only to fall just short. NASHVILLE -- David Desharnais enjoys playing in high-pressure situations, and showed how much Saturday night. Desharnais scored at 1:43 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators. Desharnais stripped the puck from defenceman Mattias Ekholm along the left boards, skated to the left faceoff dot and put a slap shot over goalie Carter Huttons left shoulder. "I like playing those overtimes, those shootouts, I want to make the difference," Desharnais said. "I knew he was going to try to hold that puck there, so I just beat him to the puck and took a shot." P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal. "The most important thing was for us to win the hockey game," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "What an effort from David Desharnais. It was a great effort to pursue the puck and stay in the play, and he took a perfect shot." Gabriel Bourque, Nick Spaling, and Shea Weber scored for Nashville. The Predators have lost three straight. The Predators lost rookie defenceman Seth Jones late in the first period. A shot from the left point by Montreal defenceman Andrei Markov hit traffic in front and struck Jones on the left side of his face, and he did not return to the game. Subban opened the scoring at 11:30 of the first period, taking the puck from the right point into the high slot and then beating goalie Marek Mazanec with a slap shot. It was the reigning Norris Trophy winners fifth goal of the season. Just under two minutes later, Pacioretty doubled the Montreal lead. Brendan Gallagher sent a pass from inside the Montreal blue line to Pacioretty in the neutral zone. He drove down the left side around defenceman Kevin Klein and beat Mazanec with a backhand. Plekanec made it 3-0 with 5:23 left in the period when he redirected a feed from Brian Gionta past Mazanec. That ended the night for Mazanec. Hutton, who started Nashvilles last fivve games, relieved him.dddddddddddd. Hutton was lifted from Nashvilles last game Thursday night in Tampa after allowing four goals on 14 shots. "I think this is a strong point in coming back," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I look at the first period and we didnt play poorly. They executed on a couple of things, but we didnt get any saves. I mean three goals in five shots. Unfortunately, it wasnt Mazs night." Montreals three-goal outburst ended a stretch of eight games in which it failed to score in the opening period. Bourque got Nashville on the board at 11:51 of the second when he beat Carey Price with a wrist shot from the lower part of the right circle. With less than two minutes remaining in the period and Nashville on the power play, Spaling tipped home a pass by Shea Weber. Nashville carried the play in the second, outshooting Montreal 20-6 in the period. "It was a tough start for us, and weve talked about having good starts in this building," Weber said. "But we showed a lot of character tonight and did a lot of good things. Thats going to build some confidence." Weber tied it 3 with a power-play goal at 13:40 of the third. Just 8 seconds after Subban was sent off for tripping Matt Cullen, Mike Fisher found Weber on the left side, where he beat Price with a one-timer for his team-leading ninth goal. "You have a player like Webs out there making some pretty good plays," Price said. "That was a pretty top-notch slap pass to the back door guy and that was a great shot. And hes going to shoot a puck like that, you are going to score almost every time." Price made 31 saves for his 17th win of the season. NOTES: Entering Saturday, Nashville and Colorado were the only teams Price had failed to beat. ... Nashville C Colin Wilson returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch Thursday night in Tampa ... Montreal D Josh Georges missed the game because of a lower-body injury, ending his games streak at 167. ' ' '