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| | | | | | | |  Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Expect George all night against the weakened Jags
By Eric Dickerson
MondayNightFootball.com
I wouldn't write Jacksonville off completely after its ugly 15-10 loss to Baltimore last Sunday. Teams just go out and play horribly sometimes; it happens to even the best of them.
|  | | Fred Taylor has averaged 2.9 yards per carry this season. |
Jacksonville should have beaten Baltimore at home to split the season series, but turnovers killed the Jaguars. Turnovers always kill you. What caused them? Some will point to Mark Brunell's botched snaps. But sometimes it's just a bad day. On a night like that where nothing goes right, you can't put a finger on what caused it.
An improved running game would help Jacksonville's case -- especially against the Titans at Adelphia Stadium. So Fred Taylor rushing for say -- an impressive 120 yards or so -- is so important to Brunell and those receivers. With Taylor nursing a knee injury, Brunell has been taking a beating and the Jags have a disappointing 2-4 record.
Meanwhile in Tennessee, with Eddie George plowing along, the Titans are considered a Super Bowl contender at 4-1. George is a north-south guy perfectly suited to that smash-mouth Titans offense. They don't take any prisoners, and I love that. That's the main reason they have been so successful against Jacksonville. George and that smash-mouth offense can overwhelm a finesse team -- especially in the fourth quarter. Those defenses just grow tired of hitting him late.
So here's what you should expect on Monday night:
1. When the Jaguars have the ball:
Taylor running well makes this group as balanced as last year's, a team that rolled to a 14-2 regular season record and crushed Miami 62-7 in the playoffs before losing to Tennessee in the AFC Championship Game. He is an elite NFL back, a potential All-Pro that can break a long one and shake off a couple of defenders. He's just not back into the groove of things right now, and some of that is the offensive line and the rest of it, to be honest, is he's worried about his knee.
If you're a running back and you have an injury that takes you out for awhile, you are always going to think about it until you have that one final statement game, again a 120-yard hard-charging one, that gets you over that mental block. That may be the case with Taylor.
Without Taylor, you will see Brunell running all over the place to avoid the Titans pass rush, looking for Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell. So far this season, Brunell has been sacked a league-high 27 times.
2. When the Titans have the ball:
Tennessee is trying to implement toss plays into its offense with George. The Titans are trying to get Eddie to run on the outside on tosses and pitches. With starting wide receivers Carl Pickens and Yancey Thigpen hurting, they have been running George even more than usual recently, rushing for 181 yards on 36 carries against Cincinnati last week. Detractors may say Tennessee looks too one-dimensional. But I say, go with what's working, and 181 yards can be classified as working. So why go away from it and fool them with passes? I don't expect any trickery on Monday against Jacksonville. Just George, George and more George.
3. Matchup to watch:
Jimmy Smith vs. Samari Rolle: I like to watch these one-on-one battles between corners and wide receivers. Smith is an outside guy, capable of taking over a game. In Jacksonville's first game against Baltimore this season, he made 15 catches for 291 yards and three touchdowns in a narrow 39-36 loss. Rolle is the Titans' best defensive back and just as athletic as Smith. Rolle will also shadow Keenan McCardell at times.
4. Key players of the game:
George: Jacksonville will see George 30 times Monday.
DE Tony Brackens: Brackens is one of the few big defensive linemen that is athletic enough to make big plays and not just bull rush people. Last year, led by Brackens, the Jaguars forced a lot of turnovers (Remember the Dolphins playoff slaughter). With much the same personnel, they just haven't done it yet this year. Brackens needs to make big plays Monday and get to Titans quarterback Steve McNair.
5. Question of the night:
Why have things gone so bad for Jacksonville in just one season?
A lot of variables go into Jacksonville's 2-4 start, but the two general things are that the Jags haven't fired on all cylinders offensively all season and have suffered a lot of turnovers. You'll have the offensive line playing well, but then all of a sudden the receivers are playing poorly. Without Taylor running well, they just have not put a complete game together.
Eric Dickerson, a Hall of Fame running back, is a sideline reporter for Monday Night Football.
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