Jaguars

Colts (5-0) @ Jaguars (4-1) -- The Monday night grudge match could be a statement game for the Jaguars. They crushed the Colts in Jacksonville in December, rushing for 375 yards in a 44-17 rout. Bears (2-4) @ Eagles (2-3) -- In a matchup of desperate, last-place teams, the Eagles can deliver a knockout punch to the Bears. Chicago's defense is in shambles, and its quarterback still turns the ball over too much.

Tom Coughlin, master of safety-first football, shucked his conservative reputation like an oyster shell last Sunday.The coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars went deep against the New Orleans Saints.The result was a 494-yard offensive breakout, and repercussions were felt as far away as Baltimore, next stop in the Jaguars' giddy playoff caravan. That's just 362 yards more than the Jaguars managed in a punchless 6-3 victory over the Ravens two weeks ago.Count wide receiver Jimmy Smith among those happy for a chance to expunge the memory of what might be the darkest victory in Jacksonville's five-year history so quickly, "while the memory is so fresh in our heads," Smith said.

The Ravens' defense is ranked No. 2 in the NFL, so you can assume that Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell isn't going to complete 65 percent of his passes Sunday, the way he did in five previous starts against Baltimore.You can assume that receivers Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell won't perform their usual dissection of the Ravens' secondary. And you can assume that the Jaguars won't meet their series averages of 31 points and 414 yards.Now, how are the Ravens going to score?The difference in the Jaguars this season is their No. 1-ranked defense.

Tony Banks had just lost his second fumble of the day. A last-second chance at a comeback was history, the Jacksonville Jaguars were about to extend their record over the Ravens to 8-0, and the fans who weren't rushing to leave PSINet Stadium released their frustration by showering the Ravens' quarterback with boos.Banks was unmoved by the fans' show of emotion after he had turned in the kind of feast-or-famine performance that left his coach shaking his head."I've been booed enough in my career to not let that bother me," Banks said.

On what amounted to the biggest play of the game on fourth-and-one at the Ravens' 34 late in the fourth quarter, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell turned to Keenan McCardell for a 4-yard completion.But it might as well have been Jimmy Smith.Either one of the two could have done it, and both torched the Ravens for 100-yard receiving days, the first two receivers to accomplish that this season.The duo is known as "Thunder and Lightning" in Jacksonville, and the combination worked to perfection in the Jaguars' 30-23 win over the Ravens.

ARIZONA (1-0) AT MIAMI (1-0)Time: 1 p.m.Line: Dolphins by 9.Vs. spread: Cardinals 0-1; Dolphins 1-0.Last week: Cardinals beat Eagles, 25-24. Dolphins beat Broncos, 38-21.Series: Dolphins lead 7-0.Last meeting: Dolphins won, 38-10, on Sept. 8, 1996, in Arizona.Outlook: Arizona is winning with QB Jake Plummer, who owns 10 comeback victories in his 27 Cardinals games. But now he is matched against a team riding high after dumping Denver on Monday night. This is no time to let down, and the Dolphins won't.

On the night of Nov. 7, the Miami Dolphins looked like the team to beat in the AFC.They had just shut out the Tennessee Titans to bring their record to 7-1 in the first half of the season. They controlled the AFC East, unquestionably the NFL's best division, and appeared on a collision course with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the right to go to the Super Bowl.Then it all blew up. The defense, the division lead, the dream of home-field advantage.A month later, the Dolphins are where they usually are in December: hoping that quarterback Dan Marino has enough passes left in his 38-year-old arm, that a running game will somehow materialize and that the defense will reinvent itself as one of the league's stingiest units.

Jacksonville (13-1) at Tennessee (11-3)Time: 1 p.m.Line: Jaguars by 3.Vs. spread: Jaguars 7-6; Titans 8-5.Last week: Jaguars beat Browns, 24-14. Titans beat Falcons, 30-17.Series: Jaguars lead 5-4.Last meeting: Titans won, 20-19, on Sept. 26 at Jacksonville.Outlook: Jacksonville can clinch the AFC Central and a first-round bye with a win or a tie against the only team it has lost to this year. The Jags hold a two-game lead over the Titans, who can keep their Central title hopes alive with a victory.

Time: 1 p.m.Line: Jaguars by 17 1/2.Vs. spread: Browns 2-2; Jaguars 3-2.Last week: Browns lost to Bengals, 18-17. Jaguars beat Jets, 16-6.Series: Jaguars lead 2-0.Last meeting: Jaguars won, 24-21, on Dec. 24, 1995, at Jacksonville.Outlook: The Browns lost their first two games by an average of 30 points and then lost their last three by a an average of only 6.7 points. Improvement, yes, but hollow compared with the bottom line of winning games. Of course, the Browns are excused, as they gain experience as an expansion franchise while competing against teams that view them as a sure victory.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When Tom Coughlin was the New York Giants' wide receivers coach in the late 1980s under Bill Parcells, he was a relentless man on a staff of relentless men. On Christmas, Parcells called the Giants Stadium office to leave a message on Coughlin's voice mail. The phone rang. No one would be working on Christmas.The phone rang again. Coughlin answered. He was the only coach at the office that day -- had been for hours. "I don't know if I should be proud of that story or not," he said.

The No. 11 Atholton boys basketball team was at home last night, primed to run away from the pack in Howard County. Hammond said not so fast. The visiting Golden Bears took a 19-point first-quarter lead and pushed back every time the Raiders came back with a run, grinding out an impressive 67-62 win in Columbia. Hammond, behind a 21-point performance from senior guard Chris Baker, improved to 15-3 this season and 13-3 in Howard County. Atholton (17-2) remains in first place in the league with a 14-2 mark.

The Ravens clinched the fifth playoff berth in team history, but they did it in a way unknown in this era of Baltimore football. Realizing they had to win to get in - the New England Patriots had won about 20 minutes before kickoff - the Ravens completed a surprising regular season by riding a big-play rookie quarterback to a 27-7-victory yesterday over the Jacksonville Jaguars before an elated 71,366 at M&T Bank Stadium. Joe Flacco threw for a season-high 297 yards as the Ravens (11-5)

The NFL landscape already was littered with the corpses of teams that, like the Ravens yesterday, had to win to get in. Now, here were the Ravens, in front of an eardrum-shattering home crowd, seemingly positioning themselves for a chalk outline of their own. They trailed the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars 7-3 in the final minute of the first quarter. So, Derrick Mason was asked afterward, there was a window there for the Jaguars to ... "No, it wasn't," Mason immediately corrected. "Don't let anybody fool you that it was there.

Where will you be at 4:15 p.m. today? For those not fortunate enough to have tickets to M&T Bank Stadium, the destination of choice is in front of a television set. With a victory today over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Baltimore Ravens can clinch a spot in the NFL playoffs. This is big. This is really big. Not because the Ravens are favored to march through the playoffs and make another trip to the Super Bowl. They are not, although anything is possible. But rather because the Ravens' ascendancy this season has been so unexpected and so joyful to witness.

Ravens run offense vs. Jaguars run defense: : Converted FB Le'Ron McClain has averaged 92.2 rushing yards in his past five games, scoring three touchdowns. It'll be interesting to see whether the Ravens will get the Willis McGahee from last game (103 yards) or the previous five games (a total of 76 yards). The Ravens, who have the NFL's No. 2 rushing attack, have gained at least 140 yards on the ground in nine of 10 wins this season. Jacksonville is 14th against the run but has looked stronger recently.

Eleven months ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars' season ended with a loss to the New England Patriots in an AFC divisional playoff game, but prospects of another successful season - and maybe even a berth in the Super Bowl -weren't far-fetched. That memory seems eons ago now. The Jaguars are limping to the new year with one win in their past six games and a 5-10 record. A victory against the Ravens on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium might be a salve for a team frustrated by the season's disappointments.

1 Hokies-Badgers: In college basketball, does it get any better than this? Wisconsin (left) travels to Blacksburg, Va., to face Virginia Tech. (7 p.m., ESPN2). 2 More hoops: If that game doesn't get you excited, how about George Mason at Liberty? OK, we're not exactly re-creating some of the terrific tournament games of last week here. (7 p.m., MASN). 3 Playing it out: Going into the season, this looked like a good NFL matchup. But the Jaguars (4-7) and Texans (4-7) have seriously underachieved this season.

Jaguars (4-7) @Texans (4-7) TIME, TV: : 8:30, ESPN LINE: : Texans by 3 FANTASY FACTOR: : Jacksonville QB David Garrard has completed 68.2 percent of his passes with three TDs and no interceptions in his past two games against Houston. .... Texans WR Andre Johnson has four 100-yard receiving games (131.8-yard average) at home this season. THE BUZZ: : The Texans are hosting their first Monday Night Football game in franchise history and the first in Houston since 1994. There's nothing to party about, though.

The New England Patriots' win yesterday over the Buffalo Bills came with a significant loss. Linebacker Adalius Thomas (right), a former Raven who has started all nine games for the Patriots this year and is tied for the team lead with five sacks, suffered a broken left forearm in the first half of the Patriots' 20-10 win, ESPN reported, citing team sources. The sources were said to believe the injury will probably end Thomas' season. "It's not good. He's probably done" for the season, one source said.

Redskins (3-1) @Eagles (2-2) TIME, TV:: 1 p.m., Ch. 5 LINE:: Eagles by 6 FANTASY FACTOR: : Redskins running back Clinton Portis is tied for fourth in the NFL with 369 rushing yards. ... The Eagles have the stingiest run defense in the NFL, allowing 53.8 yards a game. THE BUZZ:: The Redskins have yet to commit a turnover on offense.... The Eagles have won 10 of past 13 meetings against the Redskins. Buccaneers (3-1) @Broncos (3-1) TIME, TV: : 4:05 p.m., Ch. 45 LINE: : Broncos by 3 FANTASY FACTOR: : Broncos receivers Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal have combined for 58 catches, most by a teammate tandem in the NFL. THE BUZZ: : Brian Griese of the Buccaneers will face his former team for the first time.