Jaguars Expanding in the Right Direction

Halfway into a surprisingly successful season, the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars are starting to feel like they’re in a playoff race.

Mark Brunell passed for 164 yards and a touchdown, and the Jaguars scored twice within 2:49 of the first quarter for a 23-15 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

The victory put the Jaguars at 3-5, a half-game behind Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in the AFC Central. Jacksonville’s victories have come against division foes--the Browns, Pittsburgh and Houston. No expansion team has won four games in its first season.

Brunell, who also had 58 yards rushing in 11 carries, had a six-yard touchdown pass to Cedric Tillman with 3:42 left in the first quarter and Jacksonville went ahead, 13-0, when Mickey Washington returned an interception 48 yards for a score with 53 seconds left in the quarter.

“I think the key to this game is that we ran the ball,” said Brunell, who made his third start in a row for the Jaguars. “We converted on third downs. We just played well enough to win. Our defense played great, so we’re pretty excited.”

Jacksonville converted on 12 of 17 third-down plays, and Vaughn Dunbar, seeing his first significant playing time for the Jaguars, ran the ball 26 times for 90 yards.

The Browns (3-4), coming off a bye week, have lost their last three games.

“We just have to rally together,” Brown Coach Bill Belichick said. “I know we’re a better football team than this. We’re not playing anywhere near what we should be playing. We had a lot of mistakes and some dropped balls. It just wasn’t very good.”

Cleveland trailed, 20-15, late in the game and were trying for a go-ahead touchdown when defensive end Jeff Lageman sacked Vinny Testaverde and forced a fumble. Bryan Schwartz recovered near midfield with 4:27 left, and Mike Hollis kicked a 31-yard field goal with 1:10 left.

Mike Dumas picked off a Testaverde pass at the Jacksonville goal line to assure the victory with 17 seconds left.

Testaverde had thrown 174 passes without an interception before Washington stepped in front of Rico Smith and went 48 yards for Jacksonville’s second touchdown. Hollis’ extra-point attempt missed.

In the second quarter, Brunell went up the middle on a nine-yard scramble on third and eight to keep what became a 77-yard scoring drive alive. Brunell threw deep toward Jimmy Smith, and Isaac Booth was called for interference at the four.

Two plays later, Dunbar went one yard over left tackle for the touchdown to make it 20-6.

On the ensuing kickoff, Michael Bates went 24 yards on a short kick, allowing the Browns to start at their own 49 with 44 seconds left. After two completions, Testaverde threw to Smith over the middle for a 29-yard touchdown. Testaverde overthrew Earnest Byner on a two-point conversion attempt.

The Browns seemed to get a big break with 6:45 left in the third quarter. Le’Shai Maston took a short pass over the middle and fumbled when Pepper Johnson hit him. Dan Footman recovered for Cleveland at the 12. But Jacksonville safety Harry Colon saved a touchdown when he jarred Testaverde’s three-yard pass away from Smith’s grasp, and Cleveland settled for a field goal.