Titans hope to revive rivalry with Jaguars

The Jaguars (8-5) visit Sunday looking for a fourth straight victory over Tennessee and second consecutive season sweep. A Jacksonville victory finally would even the overall series at 12 ? not counting the 1999 AFC championship the Titans won at Alltel.

?We haven?t beaten the Jaguars in quite some time, so when you have a rivalry usually there are people taking turns winning ballgames, and that hasn?t happened,? Fisher said.

The Titans dominated this rivalry once, winning six of seven not counting the three victories in 1999. But this game pits two of the hottest teams in the NFL right now.

Jacksonville has won five of the last seven and is tied with Cincinnati, protecting a one-game lead for the AFC?s two wild-card berths. Tennessee has won four straight, six of eight, and another victory would put the Titans at .500 for the first time this season.

That would be amazing after an 0-5 start, but not nearly as stunning as the way they got here. They started by tying for the NFL?s second-greatest comeback in the final 10 minutes, coming back from 21-0 down and shocking the New York Giants 24-21.

Vince Young became the only rookie quarterback to lead consecutive comebacks from 14 points down the next week against Indianapolis, setting up Rob Bironas? second straight game-winning field goal ? only the third from 60 yards or longer to win a game in league history.

And Young took care of it himself last week, sprinting 39 yards for a touchdown to beat Houston 26-20 in overtime.

?They?re red hot,? Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. ?We haven?t been able to win three in a row, much less four in a row, so they?ve done something we haven?t done. They?ve also beat the Houston Texans, and that?s something we weren?t able to do.?

The Jaguars have been a puzzle this season. They lost both games to Houston and fell at Buffalo, but routed Indianapolis 44-17 last week, piling up 375 yards rushing. Fred Taylor had 131 yards before resting a sore hamstring, and rookie Maurice Drew had 303 all-purpose yards.

?We?ve got 375 reasons to prepare hard this week,? Titans linebacker David Thornton said. ?They are definitely playing tremendous football right now. Their run game is the best.?

Del Rio isn?t letting his Jaguars use the words ?postseason? or ?playoffs? trying to keep them focused on finishing this season. This might be their easiest game left because they host New England on Dec. 24 and finish at Kansas City.

The Titans technically remain in the playoff chase themselves. But the three straight comeback victories have them thinking they can win out for their first winning season since 2003.

?Anything is possible,? Titans running back Travis Henry said. ?It may take a miracle for us to get in. But if we take care of our business, who knows??

Jaguars defensive end Bobby McCray said they know the Titans have beaten good teams like the Colts in this streak.

?Their confidence has to be high. So there?s no chance we?ll take anything for granted. We know how much this game means to us,? he said.

The Titans are focusing their energy on building for 2007. Playing well would be a big step against the team that has beaten them by a combined 77-20 in their last two games ? both in Florida, and the last a 37-7 whipping on Nov. 5.