Sunday, January 02, 2000

Jaguars out to run up the score

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Jacksonville may need tiebreaker for home-field advantage

BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

James Stewart scores Jacksonville's final TD in a 41-10 win over the Bengals in Week 8. (Josh Biggs photo) | ZOOM |

        JACKSONVILLE — The Bengals have given up 434 points this season and the Jaguars are planning to add as many as they can.

        Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin has informed his team how important it is to keep the 14-point pad over Indianapolis in net points in common games.

        That's the tiebreaker for homefield advantage and the Bengals have contributed to both team's efforts, giving up 72 points to the Colts and Jags on back-to-back Sundays in October.

        “We have to show up,” said defensive end John Copeland, “or we'll get (bleeping) embarrassed.”

        The Bengals seem to expect rather than resent Jacksonville trying to pile up points. Coach Bruce Coslet said, “Bring it on Tom, we'll show up,” and nose tackle Oliver Gibson said, “It's not like college where Nebraska can win 75-0. This is the NFL with grown men fighting for jobs. Any game can go any way, but I'm just saying what our intent is and our intent is to play hard and win the game.”

        Consider the difference in the two teams' locker-room cultures. The big question for the Bengals is how hard they will play after going in the tank in last season's finale, a 35-0 loss to Tampa Bay.

        Meanwhile, there is no big question in Jacksonville, even without injured Pro Bowl quarterback Mark Brunel l. They are simply expecting and willing a win in fear of Coughlin.

        Pro Bowl wide receiver Jimmy Smith said the Jags feel like they're 2-13 instead of the other way around folowing the 41-14 loss to the Titans. And Coughlin has been brutal.

        “A mess,” said Smith when asked how Coughlin reacted Monday morning. “He's not very pleasant to be around right now. . .It was like when you were a kid, you did something wrong and you see it coming and you know you'regoing to get a scolding. We got torn into.

        “Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we need to feel like that,” Smith said . “During the season when you're putting up wins, you get caught up in the hoopla thinking you're good and you're not as good as you think you are. Next thing you know, you're getting blown out 41-14.”

        Smith said the idea is to jump on the Bengals quickly and make them want to go home instead of hanging around in the fourth quarter. After all, the trip back to Cincinatti on the team charter is optional.

        As Coughlin said about his team not underestimating a Bengal team they blew out in a 27-0 first half Halloween, “After last week, I don't know how they could.”

        The Bengals insist they won't go in the tank in this finale (“No one is bagging it,” Copeland said), but it won't matter if two things fail to happen.

        If they can't get Jags backup quarterback Jay Fielder to throw more than 20 passes and if they can't get a big game out of quarterback Jeff Blake. Blake will be pumped playing his last Bengal game in his home state in an effort to give a parting shot to club president Mike Brown.

        “They don't have their Pro Bowl quarterback, but I'm sure Fiedler will play at a high level,” said defensive end Michael Bankston. “We have to put the ball in Fiedler's hands and stop (running backs) Fred Taylor and James Stewart.”

        Blake is a key man today. He traditonally plays well against the Jaguars and Coughlin won't forget how in 1995 he hooked up with Carl Pickens in the game's last minute to turn a 13-10 Jaguar victory into a 17-13 Bengal win.

        Blake has hurt the Jags running and that's what happened last week when Titans quarterback Steve McNair moved around enough to throw five touchdown passes and nearly 300 yards.

        Coslet called it as good a game he's ever seen a quarterback play. The Bengals need that kind of day by everybody. If they repeat the lay-down against Tampa Bay, it would be so bad it could poison next season. Blake says it won't happen.

        “I don't think anybody,” said Gibson, “wants to go into the next six months with a foul taste in the month.”

       

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