Wednesday, January 12 Jags try to restore roar By Mark Cannizzaro Special to ESPN.com

The Jacksonville Jaguars enter Saturday's AFC divisional playoff round with a dominant 14-2 record, having mowed through their regular-season schedule with relative ease -- except, of course, for the two games with Tennessee Titans.

They even got a colossal break when the Dolphins upset the Seahawks last weekend, preventing the Jags from having to open the playoffs against the Titans, the only team to blemish Jacksonville's record.

	Mark Brunell is expected to play Sunday, but the Jaguars quarterback won't have a lot of mobility.

Everything is seemingly in place for the Jaguars to march to their first Super Bowl -- for this upwardly mobile franchise to realize the lofty expectations heaped upon it entering the season.

Yet many NFL experts actually consider the Jaguars vulnerable to a possible upset at the hands of the Dolphins.

In the last two weeks of the regular season, Jacksonville watched as quarterback Mark Brunell and left tackle Tony Boselli suffered knee injuries.

Boselli, perhaps the team's most valuable player, is out for the postseason. Brunell, who began practicing this week -- and, according to observers, was moving gingerly -- is expected to play against Miami. But he's in the same position he was a year ago -- limping into the postseason.

Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin called the loss of Boselli "obviously a huge blow to our team."

Ben Coleman, a guard who ironically was benched in favor of Rich Tylski in the regular-season finale, is Boselli's replacement at left tackle. Coleman has played there before, starting six times in place of Boselli. The team is 5-1 in those games.

"He knows the job at hand, and he knows what needs to be accomplished," Coughlin said. "He's a very talented young man himself. He's played left tackle before for us. He's done very well over there. He's got a pretty darn good record playing over there."

"I feel comfortable out there," Coleman added. "I feel good about my ability to play tackle. I am not in awe of the tackle position. A lot of people are concerned that Tony is out, and he is a great player. But we can't let one person being out stop the show."

The Jaguars also have some other problems as they embark on this divisional playoff game at Alltel Stadium.

Though they tied the Rams for the league lead in sacks with 57, only 22 came in the final eight games. The Jags had at least four sacks in seven of their first eight games but had four or more only twice in the final eight games.

Also, the Jaguars had 13 of their 19 interceptions in the first half of the season. Four of the team's six multiple-interception games came in the first half, too.

	CANNIZZARO'S PICKS
	Jaguars 21, Dolphins 20 Colts 31, Titans 17

"We haven't been as effective getting to the quarterback," Jags linebacker Kevin Hardy said. "But I think you'll see us back to where we were in the playoffs."

Offensively, of the 12 teams that qualified for the playoffs, the Jaguars had the third-lowest red-zone scoring percentage. They have scored 77.78 percent of the time inside the opponents' 20. The league average is 81.49.

"We've had too many errors in there," Coughlin said.

"We have to be hot when we get in the red zone," Pro Bowl receiver Jimmy Smith said. "In the playoffs, we're playing teams we're probably going to have to match point for point. So we're going to have to score, and we can't be bogging down in the red zone."

Another problem: The Jaguars have been slow starters, scoring just 61 points in the first quarter this season, by far their lowest in any quarter. The slow starts have been even more of a concern the last half of the season. The Jaguars scored just one touchdown in the first quarters of their final six games. Of the Jaguars' 16 opening drives, they scored just three touchdowns and two field goals and punted eight times.

"I'm as frustrated about that as anyone else," Coughlin said. "We should start better."

Despite their injuries and aforementioned problems, the Jaguars are still a heavy favorite to end what could be Dan Marino's final run at a Super Bowl.

This is the drama of the game. A Miami upset, and Marino would be one win away from the Super Bowl.

Picking a convenient scapegoat
The NFL coaching carousel has spun out of control. Coaches such as Pete Carroll, who led the Patriots to the playoffs in two of his three seasons, and Chan Gailey, who took the Cowboys to the postseason in both his two seasons, lost their jobs because of antsy, hands-on owners with unrealistic expectations.

The league is now run by a group of rich owners who deal with their teams like children play with a box of toys. Once they get tired of one of their toys, they get rid of it.

A low point in the recent rash of coach firings, however, took place this week in Buffalo, where Bruce DeHaven, the Bills' special teams coach and a 13-year member of the franchise's coaching staff, was fired because of one play gone wrong.

Granted, DeHaven's special-teams unit was bested by Tennessee's miracle play in the Titans' 22-16 wild-card win. But what about everything else DeHaven's special-teams units had done over the years for Buffalo?

This was a classic scapegoat situation, and Bills coach Wade Phillips, who was obviously covering his own backside, should be ashamed of himself. Perhaps he should fire himself for screwing up the Bills' quarterbacking situation at the end of the season.

"You would hope that what you'd accomplished during the year, even during 13 years, would mean more than one play -- but it was a big play," DeHaven said. "I'm in charge of special teams, so I'm responsible."

The Titans won the game last Saturday on Kevin Dyson's 75-yard kickoff return off a lateral with three seconds remaining. Also in the game, the Bills allowed the Titans 192 yards in kickoff returns, the most ever against the Bills in a playoff game, and other errors, such as a defensive holding penalty on a missed Tennessee field goal, led directly to 10 Titans points.

"I'm disappointed with special teams," Phillips said after the game. "That's the difference in the game."

DeHaven's record, however, was strong. His kickoff coverage unit led the league four consecutive years (1987-90). He also groomed the likes of Steve Tasker, perhaps one of the best special-teamers in NFL history.

"In the NFL, you're never surprised by anything that happens," DeHaven, 51, said. "That play is so painful to me, but I've moved on. I feel confident in my abilities as a coach. I just hope to have that opportunity again."

Destiny's team?
Speaking of that incredible Tennessee victory, the improbability of it all left Titans players and coaches using the word "destiny" often when describing their season.

"When you run a flea-flicker throwback and it works to win a playoff game, God is on your side," Titans linebacker Joe Bowden said.

"For it to work the way it did," added Isaac Byrd, whose role on the fateful kickoff return was taken over by Dyson, "it's almost like we're a team of destiny."

Titans kicker Al Del Greco, a veteran of 16 NFL seasons, said the final two minutes of the game left him "spent."

After Buffalo kicker Steve Christie's field goal with 16 seconds remaining appeared to have sealed the Titans' fate, ending yet another season prematurely, Del Greco figured this was just another horrendous playoff ending for the franchise.

"We had a bunch of situations where you just kept asking yourself, 'Why?' " he said. "I will never ask, 'Why?' again. I promise you that. Whether it's destiny, the new uniforms, the new city, whatever, thank goodness fate was on our side this time.

"I truly believe we're destined to keep going."

Colts not ready to "Freak" out
One player who controls much of the Titans' destiny is maniacal rookie defensive end Jevon Kearse, who had 14½ sacks during the regular season and another two in last week's victory over Buffalo, including one for a safety.

If there's anyone on the mind of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning entering Sunday's divisional playoff it's Kearse, who they call "The Freak."

"It's kind of hard for your attention not to be on Jevon Kearse," Manning said. "To a lot of people, he has been a surprise. To me, I got to know Jevon pretty good in college when we played against him twice.

"I got very familiar with Jevon back in our backfield. I knew what an outstanding talent he was," continued Manning, who twice lost to Kearse's Florida Gators in college. "I was happy to see that nobody in our division drafted Jevon, so I didn't have to see him twice a year."

Kearse's 14½ sacks were one more than the entire Tennessee defensive line had in 1998. He also forced a team-high 10 fumbles.

The Colts, led by Manning, rookie running back Edgerrin James and All-Pro receiver Marvin Harrison, topped the AFC and were fourth in the NFL in total offense. Among Colts' rookie records set by James were most touchdowns (17), most yards rushing (1,553) and most 100-yard games rushing (10).

Manning set team records for most completions (331) and most yards passing in a game (404) and season (4,135). Harrison set team records for most yards receiving (1,663) and most receptions in a game (14) and season (115).

In other words, Indy has plenty of firepower.

Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post writes a weekly AFC notebook for ESPN.com that appears each Thursday.