Take it from Lonnie Marts, Jacksonville's middle linebacker: The
Jaguars will not be thinking about the glories of their 62-7
trashing of Miami when they take on Tennessee on Sunday for a trip to
the Super Bowl.
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| Mark Brunell will try to lead the Jaguars past the Titans for the first time this year. |
"We'll be working twice as hard because we know this team beat
us twice and have so many weapons," Marts says.
Yes, Jacksonville's only losses were to Tennessee _ 20-19 in
Jacksonville the third week of the season and 41-14 in Nashville a
month ago. Coach Tom Coughlin took the blame for a bad decision in
the first loss; the entire Jacksonville team blames itself for the
second.
Despite all that, the Jaguars are favored by 7 points. Some of
that is for the home field, some of it is for last week and some is
because the perception remains that the Jaguars have more talent
and better balance.
Tennessee, on the other hand, thinks of itself as this season's
team of destiny, largely because of the "Music City Miracle," the
last-second lateral and kickoff return that beat Buffalo.
Destiny? Miracles?
Here's a stat.
Eight times during the '90s, teams have met in the playoffs
after one of them swept the season series. Five times, the team
that lost the first two won the third.
That's good enough.
Jaguars 24, Titans 13
Tampa Bay (plus 13½ at St. Louis:
On paper, this looks like an all-time mismatch -- teams with
rookie quarterbacks with less than a half-season as a starter just
don't win these games, particularly against a team that piles up
points like the Rams. Yes, Shaun King seems to have a knack for
coming through late, but he's still very green.
View it two ways.
The Bucs, who probably have the best all-around defense in the
NFL, haven't played an offense like St. Louis _ the closest thing
to it was Minnesota, whom the Rams outraced last week. On the other
hand, the Rams haven't seen a defense like Tampa Bay's _ the
closest was Tennessee's which held the Rams to a season low 21
points in a 24-21 victory.
That game, however, was in Nashville. This one is in the Trans
World Dome, where the Rams are 9-0 and averaging 36 points a game.
"You just have to do what it takes," says Bucs coach Tony
Dungy.
"I know the Washington people felt if they got ahead of us, we
wouldn't be able to come from behind. We got 13 down and came back
and won," Dungy said. "So, I don't think you can ever say we can
never win a game if it's like this. You've got to win it, no matter
how it is. If they happen to score a lot, we just have to score
more."
The other way the Bucs can win is to knock Kurt Warner around
early and shake his confidence.
But that hasn't happened much all year.
It's unlikely to happen here.
Rams 24, Buccaneers 7
Last Week: 2-2 (spread), 3-1 (straight up).
Playoffs: 5-3 (spread), 7-1 (straight up).
