JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- They don't have turn-back-the-clock nights for 5-year-old franchises.

	Mark Brunell and the Jaguars offense are clicking on all cylinders.

Still, the Jacksonville Jaguars seemed to be honoring their 1996 team Sunday, a group that was talented enough to be dangerous but not well-established enough to stop taking chances.

Big risks, big plays and great results all returned for Jacksonville in a 41-23 victory over the New Orleans Saints. It was a 494-yard outburst that moved the Jaguars back into the top 10 in total offense and erased doubts that surfaced after a terrible performance last week in a 6-3 victory over Baltimore.

"It's not daring, you've still got to be smart," said quarterback Mark Brunell, who threw for a season-high 351 yards. "We said we were going to try to get the ball downfield and make big plays. We were going to open it up and see if we could make things happen. Fortunately, it worked out."

While coach Tom Coughlin challenged the offense to play better, he also showed a willingness to tinker with his formula for success.

Ball control, defense and field position were working for the Jaguars (9-1), but they were making too many games uncomfortably close. With running back Fred Taylor injured and out of the lineup, Brunell was struggling and the receivers were getting frustrated.

Suddenly, the Jaguars of old emerged. Coughlin was willing to throw downfield again, a staple of the 1996 team that upset Denver in the playoffs. Brunell looked like a daredevil again and enjoyed the third-most productive game of the past three seasons.

"I evaluate each team to see what it will take for us to win," Coughlin said. "I try to see what we have to do to take better advantage of some of the plusses we have."

As always, one of their strongest points is receiver Jimmy Smith, who caught three passes of 40 or more yards and finished with a career-high 220 yards. He moved to second in the AFC in receptions (65) and yardage (922). Just as importantly, he sounded like he was having fun again, a feeling that had dissipated as the season progressed, and he became more responsible for downfield blocking than making big plays.

"When you're a two-time Pro Bowl receiver, you don't want to spend the entire game blocking downfield," Smith said. "You want to make plays, because that's my job. It's frustrating, but then again, this is a team sport. There are going to be games where you don't have the 100-yard games and long touchdowns."

Not on Sunday.

It was a good time to break out, because the top-ranked defense showed its first signs of weakness. New Orleans played much of the game with three receivers and forced the Jaguars into nickel packages, taking some of Dom Capers' blitz schemes out of the equation.

If other teams follow suit, it could put a bigger burden on the offense. Fortunately for the Jaguars, Brunell, Smith and Keenan McCardell seem to be peaking at the right time, even with Taylor out of the lineup.

"It was a good game for us," Brunell said. "It was nice to not only get the pass going, but we ran the ball well. There were big plays. Everything we talked about improving we improved."