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Jaguars: For the Fans

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 7, 2001

STADIUM: Alltel Stadium.

CAPACITY: 73,000.

TICKETS: Season tickets $100 to $825, with a three-season minimum. Call (904) 633-2000. Individual game tickets go for $40, $50, $65 and $95. Call (866) 4JAGS-TIX.

PARKING: Available at private lots around the stadium.

DIRECTIONS: From Tampa-St. Petersburg, take I-4 East to I-95 North. Once in Jacksonville, exit at Union Street and follow signs to the Sports Complex.

RADIO: No regular programming.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Which way are the Jaguars headed? Two seasons ago, they battled the Titans in the AFC title game. Last year, they suffered their first losing season since 1995. Some point to injuries that decimated the O-line and crippled the D, and say they're ready to rebound. Others insist this team has tired of Tom Coughlin's intensity and will never return to the top on his watch. Our take? Expect the Jags to finish with a winning record, but still looking up at the Titans and Ravens.

ESPN, The Magazine

One year, they are a half away from the Super Bowl; the next year, half the roster is gone. That's what the NFL's salary cap can do.

Welcome to the story of the Jacksonville Jaguars, circa 2001.

Okay, the Jaguars didn't lose half their roster in their purge toward the NFL's salary cap in the spring, but 22 players were released or allowed to become free agents. That left a team that lost the AFC championship game after the 1999 season a shell of itself 14 months later.

Except that's not how the team sees it. The idea of the offseason was to trim the cap while maintaining the core, and the belief around the team is that they were successful enough to return to the playoffs after a 7-9 season in 2000.

"We believe we can be very competitive," Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin says. "Will we be different? Certainly. But can we win? There's not a doubt in my mind."

Anthon Sports

This time last year, Tom Coughlin told anyone listening he didn't believe in the concept of a window of opportunity. Now, he just hopes it hasn't slammed shut.

Coughlin, entering his seventh season as the Jaguars' head coach, and the front office desperately tried during the offseason to hold together a team that not so long ago was one of the NFL's best. Mission accomplished, but toward what end?

The Jaguars creatively juggled their payroll in an attempt to solve the league's worst salary-cap problem. And when the juggling was done, much of the core of the team that reached the AFC championship game after the 1999 season was intact.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the same core slid last season, finishing 7-9 and out of the playoffs for the first time since 1995.

The Sporting News

The Jaguars still have some of the names that made them such a dangerous team when the NFL moved into the new millennium -- Mark Brunell, Tony Boselli, Jimmy Smith, Fred Taylor, Tony Brackens. The problem is they don't have enough of them any longer. Attrition and the salary cap changed the football landscape in Jacksonville.

Not that the Jaguars are a bad team. Despite the flood of injuries that may have ruined their last-ditch push for the Super Bowl, the Jags still split with Tennessee and Pittsburgh and their two losses to Super Bowl champion Baltimore were by a total of eight points. They just keep losing players, mostly because of cap constraints.

Street & Smith's Pro Football

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