Jaguars Will Remember These Titans

The evidence has piled up. Now it’s insurmountable.

The Tennessee Titans own the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jacksonville running back Fred Taylor can’t acknowledge it, even after a 27-13 loss to the Titans on Monday night that was the Jaguars’ fifth to their rival in a row--including their only three losses last season, the final one in the AFC championship game.

“I still think we’re better,” Taylor said. “I know it sounds stupid, and it will keep sounding stupid until we beat them.”

That could take a while, from the looks of a Jaguar season that began with high hopes but has sunk to 2-5 after four consecutive losses.

“I wondered what they’d say after this one,” Tennessee tight end Frank Wycheck said. “There are only so many times you can go to the well and say, ‘We didn’t play very well.”’

The Titans don’t have to make excuses.

Eddie George rushed for 165 yards and a touchdown in 30 carries, Steve McNair passed for 234 yards and two touchdowns, and the defense sacked Mark Brunell five times as the Titans (5-1) won their fifth game in a row.

The Titans have been an afterthought on the national scene since a Buffalo field goal in the final minute beat them in the first game of the season.

With the St. Louis Rams cruising through their schedule, records in their wake, no one pays much mind to the team that was one-yard short in the last Super Bowl.

But the Titans turned away their most persistent and seemingly inept challengers yet again Monday by dispatching the Jaguars in front of 68,498 at Adelphia Coliseum, where Tennessee has yet to lose.

Jacksonville is certifiably a bust, and hasn’t scored more than 14 points in any of the last five games, losing the last four.

When the sprinkler system came on inside the 20-yard line just before Mike Hollis kicked a 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, it seemed fitting enough: This Jaguar season is headed for the showers.

Super Bowl?

“I don’t think that’s unreachable, but it’s certainly not in the front of our minds now,” Brunell said. “We’re thinking about a win. We need a win, real fast.”

Brunell didn’t struggle with interceptions or fumbles the way he did the previous game, when he was benched for the first time in his career.

But even when Jacksonville seemed on the verge of something big, something bad seemed to happen.

On the first play of the Jaguars’ second possession, Taylor broke a 71-yard run to the Tennessee 11-yard line.

It was the longest of a season in which he had only 135 yards before Monday.

A few plays later, stalled at the five-yard line, Jacksonville turned to Hollis for a 23-yard field goal.

Later, in the final two minutes of the first half, the Jaguars drove deep into the Tennessee territory after Brunell, with defensive end Jevon Kearse on his way, dumped the ball to running back Anthony Johnson and Johnson turned it into a 48-yard gain.

Brunell then completed a pass to Keenan McCardell, who was headed for the end zone when Marcus Robertson jarred the ball loose at the one-yard line and Samari Rolle recovered in the end zone for a touchback, killing another Jacksonville chance.

Jacksonville--which lost receiver Jimmy Smith to a bruised knee in the first half--didn’t manage a touchdown until 53 seconds remained in the game, when Johnson scored on a two-yard run.

But Tennessee’s strengths shouldn’t be overlooked.

George is the backbone of the team. He has played in the Pro Bowl in three of his first four seasons, and has an opportunity to become the only back other than Eric Dickerson to rush for 1,200 yards in each of his first five seasons.

“Teams know Eddie’s going to get the ball, and he goes out and does it anyway,” said guard Bruce Matthews, who kept his consecutive starts streak alive at 203 games despite a sprained knee.

Injuries at receiver to Kevin Dyson--out for the season because of a knee injury--and Carl Pickens and Yancey Thigpen, who played Monday, haven’t stopped the Titans.

Monday it was Derrick Mason who provided a lot of the early juice, returning a kickoff 66 yards to set up the first touchdown, when Wycheck scored on a four-yard pass from McNair.

Mason scored the second touchdown, catching a 22-yard pass that was bouncing off the defender in the end zone for a 14-3 lead.

That was more than enough.

Again.