’96 vet McCardell has lived through it: Jaguars can rebound

JACKSONVILLE — The first time any kind of national buzz came the Jaguars’ way was at the end of the 1996 season. A second-year expansion team, saddled with a 3-6 record at the bye week, somehow snuck into the playoffs by winning six of its last seven games by a touchdown or less and made it to the AFC title game.

Whether the 2018 Jaguars (3-5) can climb out of their current funk, starting Sunday at Indianapolis (3-5), and duplicate that feat is highly questionable. But one man with a connection to both teams, receivers coach Keenan McCardell, understands it starts with having the right attitude.

“We weren’t worried about the future or what would happen down the road,” McCardell says of the ’96 Jaguars. “We just took it upon ourselves as an offense to have the mindset that it doesn’t matter how much the other team scores. We got to do more.”

Truthfully, the Jaguars of 22 years ago and the one now saddled with a fourgame losing streak couldn’t be further apart. They were in totally different places, even if the coach in ‘96, Tom Coughlin, is now the team’s final authority in the front office.

Both sides of the ball were polar opposites. The ‘96 defense had no Pro Bowlers, just a bunch of blue-collar worker bees like Clyde Simmons, Jeff Lageman, Don Davey, John Jurkovic, Tom McManus, Eddie Robinson and Chris Hudson who got the most out of their ability. The present defense is loaded with big names who are struggling to duplicate their phenomenal success of last year.

On offense, though nobody knew it at the time, Coughlin’s second team was on the front end of a glorious four-year playoff run in which that unit did most of the heavy lifting. Quarterback Mark Brunell, offensive tackle Tony Boselli and receiver Jimmy Smith would go on to earn multiple Pro Bowl selections. McCardell, also a Pro Bowler, would eventually combine with Smith for 13 1,000-yard seasons as Jaguars.

The 2018 offense has none of those kind of playmakers or a quarterback with Brunell’s big-moment ability. It also doesn’t have a tight end threat in the red zone like Pete Mitchell or a right tackle as impactful as Leon Searcy.

A generation later, McCardell wants his receivers to understand they control their own destiny, despite the team’s current predicament. They can’t do anything about a promising season turned upside down by an 0-for-October.

So the focus has to be on winning Sunday’s road game against the Indianapolis Colts and maybe, like the ’96 Jags, they can find a way to pull off a miracle run and get into the playoffs.