Gene Frenette: Time to flip script on Titans, ease pain for 1999 Jaguars
Nearly two decades after his NFL retirement, Aaron Beasley still can’t bring himself to play the Tennessee Titans in a video game.
It’s too much scar tissue for the former Jaguars’ cornerback. Beasley was part of the 1999 team that was on the cusp of going to the Super Bowl, only to lose a third time that season to their second biggest AFC Central division rival (after the Pittsburgh Steelers) in the AFC title game at TIAA Bank Field (then-Alltel Stadium).
For many of the ‘99 Jaguars, what happened on their home field 23 years ago in the most heartbreaking loss in franchise history can’t be easily dismissed or forgotten. Bad Titans memories linger in varying degrees for those Jaguars, who collapsed in the second half and lost 33-14, falling one game short of the Super Bowl.
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“Oh, man, it’s real,” Beasley said. “I might play a video game, but not against the Titans. If I play Madden, it’s never against the Titans. I don’t even want to look at them. It still haunts me.”
But looking at the Titans is what Beasley will do Saturday night, from his seat in the northwest end zone cabana at TIAA Bank Field.
Like many of his Jaguars teammates from a generation ago, Beasley will be part of a likely sold-out crowd when Tennessee faces the Jaguars in a nationally-televised AFC South showdown for the division title, giving the winner the right to host a playoff wild-card game next week.
While none of the current Jaguars know much, if anything, about that gut-wrenching loss or totally grasp the depth of fan animosity toward the Titans, the ‘99 Jaguars feel that pain. They don’t want Doug Pederson’s team to experience the same feeling.
“The magnitude of this game, for getting into the playoffs, this is probably another version of that ‘99 AFC Championship game because it’s the Titans,” said former Jaguars running back Fred Taylor.
“It’s just one of those moments where, hopefully, the guys step it up and get it done. I think winning this one will be equally as exciting as winning those playoff games [against Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers] in 2017.”
The Jaguars are a touchdown favorite against the Titans with most oddsmakers, just as they were in '99 when Tennessee overcame a 14-7 deficit and scored the game’s last 26 points.
“What happened in the past has no bearing on Saturday night,” said Jaguars Hall of Fame tackle Tony Boselli, who serves as a game-day radio analyst for the team’s official station, 1010XL. “They shouldn’t care about 1999. Some of them weren’t even born.”
Indeed, three starters (Tyson Campbell, Travon Walker, Andre Cisco) and third-team running back Snoop Conner didn’t come into the world until after that fateful day on Jan. 23, 2000. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, then 15-weeks-old, and 18 teammates on the Jaguars’ current 53-man roster were still in diapers.
Kyle Brady, a tight end on the ‘99 team, is attending Saturday’s game with his 17-year-old son, Kellen. He’s not sure what he might be feeling as the game unfolds.
“Going to this game will be especially interesting — same two teams in the same place on a big stage [like 1999],” Brady said. “It’s really a playoff game. It’s a whole different cast of characters, but the same show and same outfits on the actors.
“It’s been a few years since I felt emotional at a game, so we’ll see.”
Lost opportunity
Many Jaguars fans believed the third time would be a charm for the hometown team in the ‘99 AFC title game.
Despite losing twice to Tennessee in the regular season — a 20-19 defeat at TIAA Bank when a Samari Rolle end-zone interception in the final minute ended a Jaguars comeback, then a 41-14 drubbing in Nashville in late December — there was a viable reason to feel good about Round 3.
A week earlier, the Jaguars sent Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino into retirement with a 62-7 rout of the Miami Dolphins, jumping out to a 41-0 lead in the second quarter.
Many felt the momentum generated by a resounding win in front of a boisterous home crowd of 75,173 would carry over into the next week. And it did for most of the first half, but the Jaguars failed to sustain it as they were sabotaged by six turnovers, 100 yards in penalties and Titans quarterback Steve McNair punishing them with 91 rushing yards off scrambles.
As Beasley put it: “There was a lot of self-inflicted wounds.”
Two interceptions by quarterback Mark Brunell and four Jaguars fumbles gave the Titans a lot of life. None was bigger than Reggie Barlow failing to hang on to a punt that gave Tennessee three free points before halftime, cutting the Jaguars’ lead to 14-10.
During halftime, running back James Stewart had an uneasy feeling about how the game was going.
“I was trying to get the guys to wake up,” said Stewart. “We were being like, ‘Oh, we got this.’ I could sense the momentum turning. I’m not a big vocal person, but I was the most vocal with people that day at halftime. I didn’t think the sense of urgency was there.
“It started from the beginning of the second half. We allowed the Titans to hang around and once the momentum switched, it was like a slow death.”
Tennessee marched 76 yards for a touchdown on their first second-half possession, then later sacked Brunell in the end zone for a safety. On the ensuing free kick, Derrick Mason took Bryan Barker’s punt 80 yards to the house and a 26-14 Titans lead with 5:13 left in the third quarter.
Suddenly, the Jaguars’ running game that worked so well in the first half became a non-factor. Tennessee turned Brunell’s second pick into a TD to close out the scoring, highlighted by McNair scrambling for a 51-yard run prior to his 1-yard plunge into the end zone.
“When the game started turning, we didn’t step it up a notch to prevent it,” said Stewart. “Halftime had a tenseness to it because we thought we’d be up by more points. We didn’t stop that avalanche that was happening. The clock kept ticking down and I thought, ‘Oh, s---! We’re not going to come out of this.’
“We never could recover. Everything steamrolled from the time we came out of the halftime locker room. To have that go down the way it did, it still bothers me to this day.”
Running back Fred Taylor, who ran for 110 yards on 19 carries, admits he was “a bit pissed” at the time that the Jaguars didn’t run more with him and Stewart. But he makes no excuses for his team’s collapse, preferring to credit the Titans.
“I know why we lost: they were just the better team,” said Taylor. “I don’t want to carry something to my grave, thinking ‘Oh, we should have done this or that.’ No, they kicked our ass.”
'Kill that ghost'
A month ago, before the Jaguars beat the Titans 36-22 in Nashville for the first time since 2013, few envisioned a scenario where the regular season finale would decide the AFC South crown.
But once Tennessee failed to eliminate the Jaguars from division contention, followed by a Lawrence-led offense overcoming a 27-10 deficit at home against the Dallas Cowboys and winning in overtime, a planet-aligning situation began to take shape.
As the Jaguars were surging, injury-riddled Tennessee spiraled into a six-game losing streak, flipping all the momentum where the roles are now reversed from early December.
It’s the Jaguars, not the Titans, that are rightfully expected to win as they ride one of the NFL’s biggest hot streaks.
“The anxiety for the [Jaguars] players won’t be because of the past, it’s about the division and the playoffs being on the line,” said former Jaguars defensive end Jeff Lageman, also the team’s game-day radio analyst. “This one game is everything.
“The Titans are playing with house money because they’re not expected to win.”
For good reason. All signs point to Pederson’s team continuing their hot streak, while also administering a little payback on behalf of the ‘99 Jaguars.
It goes beyond the teams trending in opposite directions. Not only has Lawrence ascended into a top-10 NFL quarterback, and pushing top-5 status, but the Titans had to put veteran QB Ryan Tannehill on IR. Now they’re forced to try to win the AFC South with seldom-used Joshua Dobbs, who just made his first career start in last week’s 27-13 loss to Dallas.
Anybody see Dobbs, who has attempted all of 56 passes in seven career games played since 2018, outdueling Lawrence on the road in such a high-stakes game?
Without Tannehill as a more legitimate passing threat, and the Titans having a big liability in pass protection at both tackle positions, the effectiveness of the Titans’ play-action game is diminished. That allows the Jaguars’ defense to focus more on stopping Tennessee’s only real offensive threat in running back Derrick Henry.
On the flip side, Lawrence has the luxury of attacking the NFL’s worst pass defense (Titans allow 279.3 yards per game), which he did last month by throwing for career bests of 368 yards and 8.8 yards per attempt.
For many of the ‘99 Jaguars attending the game in person, it’s hard to contain the anticipation. This could be one of the loudest Jaguars’ crowds in history, both because of the opponent and what’s riding on the outcome.
“The environment’s going to be too awesome,” said former Jaguars linebacker and Neptune Beach resident Tom McManus (1995-99). “I can’t pass it up. I was in the stands for Buffalo in 2017. I wouldn’t miss this one for the world.
“I want the Jaguars to take it to them on Saturday night and kill that ghost.”
Not another heartbreak
For Jaguars fans and players with long memories, the sting of that AFC Championship loss in ‘99 doesn’t completely go away.
One thing can surely make it better: watching a 23-year-old quarterback like Lawrence blossom before their eyes and securing the franchise’s second AFC South title by taking down the Titans.
"Hell, yeah, it's personal," McManus said. "It's just great to be in this position against Tennessee with the playoffs on the line."
This now feels like the Jaguars’ and Lawrence’s time. With a sharp play-caller in Pederson directing him, and playing to his strengths, Lawrence has never felt more empowered as an NFL quarterback.
It’s a big reason why the Jaguars put up 29 consecutive points against Tennessee last month. For the first time, the Titans have as big or maybe bigger worry in containing a skill player in Lawrence as the Jaguars had the last few years in keeping Henry in check.
Everything about Lawrence’s makeup suggests he will be ready for his first championship moment.
“We’ve known that this game was coming for a while, that this is where we wanted to be, Week 18,” Lawrence said. “Coach Pederson said it a few weeks ago, ‘I’ve got a crystal ball. This thing’s going to come down to Week 18, and we’re going to have a shot.’ We all jumped on board. We believed it. We kept putting in the work, and we’re here now.
“We knew this was coming, but we had to take care of business every week to get here. We have to stay in the moment. We have to do what we’ve been doing, prepare the same way, put together a great game plan, got to know it, obviously, go out and play the game, and that’s what we’ve been able to do, and we’ve been able to execute. The same things that won the other ones are going to win this one.”
Tennessee is likely going to have to deal with a Lawrence-Pederson tag team for quite a while. The ‘99 Titans started a dominance of the Jaguars that saw them win 31 of 47 games over a 23-season span, but this quarterback-coach combo has a chance to be special.
“Where this team has come from a year ago, it’s fantastic,” Lageman said. “[Losing this game] would not compare to the disappointment of ‘99 because this is just the beginning of something good for this franchise. You got a hell of a coach and a hell of a young quarterback.”
Boselli can hardly contain his excitement for the Jaguars’ future, saying: “I think it’s built to go beyond this. This isn’t a 2017 team situation where it was one-and-done. They’re building a team and an organization on the football side that will compete for championships for the next decade.”
Never mind what might transpire in the next 5-10 years. Jaguars fans have seen enough angst and frustration over losing to the Titans for over two decades.
It’s time to start winning big again. And ease the pain for those ‘99 Jaguars.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 1999 Jaguars will find some solace if current squad makes playoffs
