Jaguars Benefit From Opponents' Injuries

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Playing a team without one or more of its top players is nothing new for the Jacksonville Jaguars. They've done it all season.

They faced the Denver Broncos without cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Darrent Williams. They beat the Cincinnati Bengals without receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. They upset the Pittsburgh Steelers without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and receiver Hines Ward.

They even edged the New York Jets after knocking out quarterbacks Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler.

Now the Jaguars (4-2) are getting ready to play the St. Louis Rams, who could be without quarterback Marc Bulger and receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce.

"We don't care who's playing," cornerback Rashean Mathis said Wednesday. "The satisfaction is winning, regardless of who's on the field. We're going play whoever shows up. That's the one thing we cannot dictate in this game: who's going to show up and play each and every week."

Every team in the league deals with key injuries on a weekly basis, but the Jaguars may have benefited from missing starters more than anyone else this season. In the last four games - against the Jets, Broncos, Bengals and Steelers - they are 3-1 and haven't faced a team at full strength for four quarters during that stretch.

"Sometimes you get favorable things.

Sometimes you get things that are not to your advantage and you keep playing," Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio said. "I think those types of things generally balance out and they're not things that we have control over."

The Steelers may have been most affected by injuries against Jacksonville. The Jaguars stacked the line of scrimmage, held Pittsburgh to 73 yards rushing and forced backup quarterback Tommy Maddox to beat them through the air.

That didn't happen. Maddox threw three interceptions and fumbled once. He had two turnovers in overtime, including an interception returned 41 yards by Mathis for a touchdown.

"Fortunate or unfortunate, that doesn't matter," Mathis said. "We're going to play whoever shows up. That's all we can do. It would be the same thing for other teams if we played without any of our key guys."
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