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Roaring Jaguars Taylor gets seventh 100-yard game in a row in Jags' win
Updated: Monday December 04, 2000 11:18 AM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The Jacksonville Jaguars are accumulating wins, Fred Taylor is piling up yardage and the Cleveland Browns are finding record-setting ways to close their dismal season. Taylor broke the Jaguars' career rushing record Sunday, running for 181 yards and three touchdowns in Jacksonville's 48-0 victory against the woeful Browns. Jacksonville (6-7) won its third in a row and set the team record for largest margin of victory in a regular-season game. Cleveland (3-11) matched its biggest defeat ever. Taylor surpassed 100 yards for the seventh consecutive game, tying him with an impressive group -- Terrell Davis, Earl Campbell and O.J. Simpson -- for the fourth-longest string in NFL history. He has 3,055 career yards, passing James Stewart for the top spot in Jacksonville's six-year-old record book. "He's healthy and he's one of the best in the league," quarterback Mark Brunell said. "He's running with confidence. He's the key to the offense. A lot of times there's nothing there, and he makes something happen." Without question, the third-year running back's performances have been the most encouraging aspect of Jacksonville's upsetting season. Despite their third consecutive win, the Jaguars slipped to the edge of playoff elimination when Denver and the New York Jets won. According to the NFL, a New England victory against Kansas City on Monday night will officially drop the Jaguars out of the postseason race.
"We're playing pretty good football now," left tackle Tony Boselli said. "But you've got to do it for 16 weeks. We're playing for 9-7 and whatever happens happens. Otherwise, let's just let Fred Taylor get his yards, let's let Mark have a good year and we'll go from there." There doesn't seem to be much of a bright side for the Browns. This banged-up, demoralized group being quarterbacked by unknown rookie Spergon Wynn managed 53 yards in offense and never made it past the 50. It was their second-lowest offensive output ever, just 13 yards better than their effort in last year's expansion opener against the Steelers, a 43-0 loss. The Browns have lost their last three games by a combined total of 116-17, not exactly the way the head coach of a second-year expansion team builds the confidence of his players, or front office. "You've got to be realistic that there are some problems we have," head coach Chris Palmer said. "We have to address those. Until we address all our needs, there's no sense in pointing your fingers at the players, the personnel department or anybody else." The low moment came with 5:27 left when Tom Coughlin kept his offense on the field on fourth-and-goal from the 3, knowing a field goal in that situation would have been more humbling to Cleveland than a straight-ahead run. Still, the Browns couldn't stop Shyrone Stith. He scored, and the Browns equaled a pair of 30-plus-year-old humiliations: A 55-7 loss to Green Bay in 1967, and a 51-3 loss to Minnesota two years later. "Things just aren't happening," said quarterback Doug Pederson, one of five to take snaps for the Browns this season. "It doesn't matter who's in the game. Every guy has to be accountable. The bottom line is that it's very frustrating." The Jaguars recorded their second shutout of the season. The other: a 13-0 victory against Cincinnati back in September. Taylor was on the bench for that one, but his return from a preseason knee injury has been impressive. As much as the yardage he has compiled, the way he has done it has been just as telling. He didn't have a run of more than 28 yards. He carried the ball 30 times, debunking the once widely held myth that Taylor is just a big-play guy, a fragile runner who can't carry the load through an entire game or a whole season. "I want to show people how strong I can be," Taylor said. "I had 30 carries and it only felt like 15 or 20. I wasn't tired. I wasn't anything. I was blessed to come out without injury." Brunell threw for 165 yards and one touchdown, a 14-yard strike to Keenan McCardell for a 20-0 lead before halftime. Jimmy Smith caught six passes for 104 yards to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth consecutive season. Notes: The Jaguars' previous biggest win was a 41-3 victory against San Francisco in last year's opener. ... Jaguars cornerback Fernando Bryant left with a high left ankle sprain. Coughlin said the outlook was not optimistic. ... Cleveland linebacker Rahim Abdullah, a native of Jacksonville, had his first career sack.
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