It’s Packers and Jaguars

Dave Goldberg

Friday, Jan. 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

"The odds," said Carolina coach Dom Capers, "are probably the same as they've been all season against us."

Well, not quite.

Despite an eight-game winning streak, the Panthers are 12-point underdogs at Green Bay Sunday. That's up from 10 points when the odds opened.

The other expansion team, Jacksonville, is a 7 1/2 -point underdog, a point less than the opening line, at New England.

Can both win? Probably not. But one might and both can make it close.

Panthers at Packers

Here's a simple way to look at the game: the Packers are just where most people thought they would be when the season began. The Packers were so high mentally in training camp that coach Mike Holmgren had to ban the words "Super Bowl."

The Panthers, meanwhile, have proven themselves the best of the rest of the NFC.

They beat San Francisco twice, and their win over Dallas was no fluke, even though Michael Irvin missed all but two plays. They have a solid defense, a no-risk offense and great special teams.

That makes them a little like the 1990 Giants. Sam Mills and Lamar Lathon combine to make one Lawrence Taylor and Capers keeps comparing Kerry Collins to Phil Simms.

But those Giants didn't have to play a title game in the frozen north, only in the wet West, at the park then known as Candlestick. And while the Panthers are 9-0 at home, they're only 4-4 on the road.

PACKERS, 24-13.

Jaguars at Patriots

Speaking of the 1990 Giants ...

Bill Parcells coached that team and Tom Coughlin was the wide receivers coach.

But both these teams are far different than that one. Who would ever believe there would be a team called "Air Parcells?"

This is a funny matchup.

The warm weather team, Jacksonville, may be suited for a cold-weather game. The Jaguars' Natrone Means, in top form, is a first-rate runner on an off-field. So is the Patriots' Curtis Martin, making it a wash.

What may not be a wash is at quarterback, where Mark Brunell's mobility may give him an edge over Drew Bledsoe, particularly if Tony Brackens and Clyde Simmons can get enough pressure on Bledsoe to get him throwing off his back foot.

Jacksonville won 30-27 at both Buffalo and Denver. The only team to go to a Super Bowl by winning three road games was New England in 1985.

Why not make it three? If anyone can outguess Parcells, it's Coughlin.

JAGUARS, 30-27.