If ever there was a team whose reputation still runs ahead of reality it is Jacksonville.
The Jaguars, who had the best record in the NFL just two seasons ago, look as if they have been swimming with tiger sharks at Jacksonville Beach lately.
Never mind that they slumped to 7-9 last season, one year after going 14-2 and making the AFC championship game. The roster Coach Tom Coughlin will put on the field for season opener at 1 p.m. Sunday in Jacksonville against the Steelers won't be as good as last year's.
It began when they had to shave $37 million from their salary cap by March 1, which cost them some veteran backups such as Mike Logan and starting right tackle Leon Searcy and, ultimately, safety Carnell Lake.
Lately, they've been hit with injuries. Pass-rushing right defensive end Tony Brackens is out with a knee injury. All-Pro offensive tackle Tony Boselli says he will play, but a knee injury from the last preseason game won't help. Wide receiver Keenan McCardell, who tortured the Steelers for 11 receptions in a game last season, had hernia surgery Aug. 16. Cornerback Fernando Bryant and middle linebacker T.J. Slaughter went out with separated shoulders two weeks ago. Tight end Kyle Brady is overcoming a staph infection.
Not even the hometown fans are buying into the Jaguars. As of yesterday, seats were still available. They expect to sell it out by 1 p.m. today to avoid a TV blackout, something they've never had in Jacksonville, but it's obvious the fans have cooled on the Jaguars.
"That is surprising to me," said Mark Brunell, the Jaguars quarterback. "It's unfortunate. We would like to have those seats filled. It wasn't a problem the first three or four years, but it's something that we have kind of dealt with for a while down here."
The Steelers, of course, aren't buying the lowly Jaguars routine. They've beaten them only once in six visits to Jacksonville, and they somehow managed to lose to the Cleveland Browns in the second game of last season.
"I still see them as a good team," safety Lee Flowers claimed. "This is a big week for them. They treat this like a playoff game. I don't think Coughlin is going to let that team get down on itself and make excuses.
"If all their starters or none are playing, I still think this will be a hard game. You can never take them lightly."
One Steeler likely to benefit from Brackens' injury is left tackle Wayne Gandy. Instead of Brackens, who had 19 1/2 sacks the past two seasons, Gandy will draw Paul Spicer, a 26-year-old graduate of Saginaw Valley State who has played for Frankfurt in NFL Europe and Saskatchewan in the CFL and has one sack and no starts in two NFL seasons with two teams.
"It might not be Tony Brackens, but I'm quite sure Tom Coughlin doesn't have a bum backing up anybody on his team," Gandy said.
No bum, but no Brackens.
"We have some guys who are out, let's put it that way," Coughlin said.
"You mention Brackens, but we have a guy of our own out, Chad Scott," Gandy said. "You get into that who's out, who's not, that's when you get beat. It's a guy in a different colored jersey, and he's going to be trying to get after you."
Last year, for the first time, each team won on the other's turf after years of splitting the series. The Jaguars, however, have won four of their past five meetings, counting a sweep of the series in 1999. This will be the last year they meet as AFC Central Division rivals. Next year, the Steelers will move to the AFC North and the Jaguars will play in the AFC South. They will play one game in 2002 in Jacksonville.
Coughlin says the Steelers are still Jacksonville's biggest rivals, as they have been since they entered the league in 1995 and upset the Steelers in their first game.
Despite their problems, the Jaguars are three-point favorites Sunday. Jacksonville still has some firepower with Brunell, receivers McCardell and Jimmy Smith, and halfback Fred Taylor, who ran for more yards than any Steelers opponent in history when he gained 234 yards Nov. 19.
"I think they're dangerous, because everyone's going to say they lost all those players and everyone's hurt," Logan said. "Come opening day, the majority of them will be out on field. It's the opener, and they're playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's what everyone gets up for down there."
Steelers not buying into demise of Jaguars 
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