Thursday, October 28, 1999Jaguars priming for playoffs
Offense slumping, but Jacksonville still AFC favorite
BY TOM GROESCHEN
The Cincinnati EnquirerThe Jacksonville Jaguars could go to the Super Bowl this year. The Bengals will go nowhere. So of course, the Jaguars purport to be facing Lombardi's Packers instead of the Bengals this Sunday.
“We're 1-3 at Cinergy Field,” Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin said Wednesday in a teleconference with Cincinnati reporters. “It's always a dangerous game when we play them.”
In 1999, most would disagree. The Jaguars (5-1) have been named Super Bowl favorites by Sports Illustrated and some others and are a 121/2-point favorite over the Bengals (1-6).
Jaguars free safety Carnell Lake, a former Pittsburgh Steeler who has helped Jacksonville become the No.1-ranked defense in the NFL, said the no-nonsense Coughlin figures to ride the team hard this week.
“He definitely has made a point of saying not to take these guys lightly,” Lake said.
Yet, that is what Jacksonville probably should do. The Jaguars are allowing only 10 points a game, and the Bengals are averaging only 8.5 points a game since a season-opening 36-35 loss at Tennessee.
The Jaguars are loaded and seem primed for a deep postseason run as they play their fifth NFL season.
Offensive standouts include quarterback Mark Brunell, run ning back Fred Taylor, receivers Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell, and the game's No.1 left tackle, Tony Boselli. All have been to the Pro Bowl except Taylor, who rushed for 1,223 yards and scored 17 touchdowns as a rookie last year.
On defense, new coordinator Dom Capers has elevated a unit that ranked 25th last year to No.1 now, with help from free-agent pickups in former Tennessee tackle Gary Walker (five sacks) and Lake. Defensive end Tony Brackens has six of the team's league-leading 22 sacks, and outside linebacker Kevin Hardy (41/2 sacks) should have made the Pro Bowl last year, the Jaguars believe.
The offense, traditionally the strength of the Jaguars, ranks only 14th in the NFL. Brunell (ribs) and Taylor (hamstring) have been hurt, although both figure to start vs. the Bengals.
The Jaguars have scored just eight touchdowns in six games, and Brunell's passer rating is just 72.7. That is well below his career mark of 86.3, which ranked fifth in NFL history entering 1999.
Some blame taskmaster Coughlin — who has taken over play-calling duties this year — for riding Brunell relentlessly. Both parties deny any rift, but some Jaguars have told Jacksonville reporters that Brunell has not been as loose as in years past.
ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski, a former NFL quarterback, studied some Jacksonville game tapes and declared that Brunell was “in a slump.”
“He's a tremendously talented guy, he's just not playing with the confidence I've seen from him before,” Jaworski said.
“I can play better,” Brunell said recently. “I think we can all play better as an offense.”
Coughlin knows much is expected of this franchise, whose shining moment was its shocking upset of Denver (at Mile High Stadium) in the 1996 playoffs. The Jaguars have been to the playoffs three straight times but have not found the key to reaching the Super Bowl.
“This is the third time we've been 5-1,” Coughlin said. “We certainly call this a critical time, in the midpoint of our season. It's very important that this team make a strong push right now.”
Brunell may be struggling and the Jaguars may be 1-3 at Cinergy, but the Bengals have a way of making opponents well. The one Jacksonville win here was last Nov.29, a 34-17 decision in which Brunell threw for four touchdowns for the first time in his career.
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