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'I'm happy here now' Two current Jaguars felt unwanted with the Titans
Posted: Wednesday January 19, 2000 12:24 AM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The Tennessee Titans may have been right. Maybe they really were better off without Gary Walker and Lonnie Marts. Pushed out the door in Tennessee after last season, both players came to grips with the business side of the NFL and wound up happy with their new team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Still, it's the notion that they were unwanted in Tennessee, and that the Titans have prospered without them, that make Marts and Walker two intriguing characters in Sunday's AFC championship game. "If that's how they feel, I can't say anything about it," Marts said. "Good for them. Good for the Jags. We're in the same position, too." Walker insists it wouldn't have taken much to keep him Tennessee. His contract expired after last year and he says a well-timed phone call from the team that drafted him out of Auburn in 1995 probably would have done the trick. "That's all it is, is a business," Walker said. "I'm happy here now. That whole thing about leaving Tennessee is behind me." Marts would have liked to have stayed too, but he felt practically shoved out the door -- or stabbed in the back. The Titans didn't make a decision on the 10-year veteran until the beginning of training camp, when most teams are running out of salary-cap room and spots on their roster for experienced veterans. Marts also had two kids and a pregnant wife. Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin scanned the waiver wire and couldn't believe what he saw. Back in September, when the wounds were still fresh, Marts left no doubts about the bitterness he felt over being dragged along for two seasons with the nomadic franchise, then waived just when it was ready to settle in a permanent home. "Since the day I got there, it seemed like they started trying to replace me," Marts said in September. "They recruited me hard. I picked my family up and moved there. Why recruit me so hard to come there and then turn around and try to replace me?" In this case, it seems both teams benefited from the changes. Walker finished with a career-high 10 sacks and brought a sense of consistency to a defensive line that had been plagued by injury over its first four years. Marts made an unexpected shift from the outside to middle linebacker, helping the Jaguars solve one of their long-standing weaknesses. He was third on the team with 112 tackles. The Jaguars moved from No. 25 in the league on defense to No. 4. The Titans improved, too. Their defense recorded 24 more sacks, four more interceptions and, most importantly, helped produce five more victories than last year. They signed free agent lineman Jason Fisk and threw him into a rotation at defensive tackle. Joe Bowden took Marts' spot at outside linebacker. Tennessee also drafted Defensive Rookie of the Year Jevon Kearse, who gave the Titans a pass-rush threat they hadn't had in years. "It's combinations of people," Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin said. "It's chemistry. It's how a team comes together and fits together. With people coming and going, teams change. You know you're going to have to build like that and try to improve, and you take your hat off to those who have." Both Walker and Marts would love the issue to go away this week, but they know it won't. The fact the Jaguars suffered their only two losses of the season to the Titans doesn't help matters. They also figure a victory in the final meeting Sunday would be the ultimate revenge, both personally and for the team. "I've tried to leave the issue alone," Marts said. "I am excited about playing them again. But I'm excited because of the fact that I've never been to a Super Bowl. That's all they represent to me now, is a chance to go to the Super Bowl."
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