JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The Jacksonville Jaguars have to improve on defense to make a run at the Super Bowl. Who better than Steve Young and Jerry Rice to help them find out how far they've come?

	Steve Young directs one of the NFL's most potent offenses.

The San Francisco 49ers open the season Sunday at Jacksonville in an intriguing matchup between a perennial title contender and a team that feels it is reaching that level.

With his offense already in good shape, Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin took big steps in the offseason toward improving a defense that ranked in the bottom third of the league the last two seasons.

He signed free agents Carnell Lake at safety and Gary Walker at defensive tackle and drafted cornerback Fernando Bryant in the first round.

Maybe most importantly, Coughlin hired defensive coordinator Dom Capers, who faces as strong an opening test as he could ask for. The Jaguars go against last year's top-ranked offense, a unit with one of the league's best quarterbacks and possibly the best receiver ever to play the game.

"This is the way to gauge yourself," said Bryant, who could start for the injured Dave Thomas in the opener. "You want to go up against the best. Their offense was the best in the NFL last year. This is how we tell if we've gotten any better. I'm pretty sure the whole defense is looking forward to it."

While the Jaguars are thinking Super Bowl, the Niners are out to prove that they have not lost their edge. That looked like the case last season, when Atlanta won the NFC West and San Francisco became mired in an ownership squabble while age, injuries and salary cap problems started adding up.

	INJURY REPORT
	Niners: OUT: TE Greg Clark (ribs). QUESTIONABLE: RB Travis Jervey (ankle); DT Reggie McGrew (knee); G Phil Ostrowski (foot). PROBABLE: C Chris Dalman (knee); T Dave Fiore (knee). Jaguars: DOUBTFUL: LB Bryce Paup (pectoral). QUESTIONABLE: LB Bryan Schwartz (hamstring). PROBABLE: LB Brant Boyer (knee); RB Chris Howard (shoulder); CB Dave Thomas (quadricep).

One of San Francisco's biggest offseason moves was rehiring Bill Walsh to run the team's day-to-day operations and take a few hacks at the team's overblown salary cap.

His latest move was getting rid of veteran Pro Bowl safety Merton Hanks. But even Walsh can't make the Niners healthy, and that will have an effect come opening day.

"We went through the preseason without 14 of our guys," Niners coach Steve Mariucci said. "It's hard for me to say where we are right now. People ask, how good are the 49ers? I say that I don't know because I haven't seen all the 49ers yet."

Much of the mystery surrounds the defensive line.

Charles Haley, who will start his first full season since 1996, didn't play in the preseason. Neither did defensive lineman Bryant Young, who could be back for the opener after the career-threatening leg injury he suffered last season. First-round draft pick Reggie McGrew played 10 snaps last week, his first action of the preseason.

Meanwhile, the running game was ranked first in the league last season, but Garrison Hearst was lost for the year when he went out with a broken leg in the playoff game against the Falcons.

Former Eagle Charlie Warner and reclamation project Lawrence Phillips are expected to share the rushing duties against the Jaguars. So far, the results have been mixed at best.

"We haven't run the ball in the preseason, but last year we averaged 50 yards in the preseason, and we ended up leading the league in rushing," Mariucci said. "We'll continue to run and pass and mix personnel groups. We'll play like we always play."

The Jaguars can't say the same thing, at least as far as their defense is concerned.

Capers brought his zone-blitz schemes over to Jacksonville after spending four years working them as head coach at Carolina, where the Panthers played the 49ers twice per season.

"We've always had a lot of respect for his defenses," Young said. "We know him. He knows us. It plays both ways. His scheme is unique in that you don't see it around the league that much. But you're seeing it more and more. It's something we've seen quite a bit. It's not going to be shocking for us."

Despite Jacksonville's new emphasis on defense, this game has the makings of a shootout, with Mark Brunell going against Young in a pairing of the league's two top left-handed quarterbacks.

In last year's opener, San Francisco got a 96-yard touchdown run from Hearst in overtime for a 36-30 victory over the Jets, one of the best games of the season.

New Jaguars tight end Kyle Brady was with New York for that game. He figures even with Jacksonville's improvements on defense, the offense will be feel some pressure to score.

"I don't think you go into a game planning on having to score 42 points," Brady said. "Every game, you'd love to score that. But you don't plan on having to do that. You just hope the defense can hang in there and do a good job."

SAN FRANCISCO Season schedule and results

JACKSONVILLE Season schedule and results

September 12 @Jacksonville 4:15pm ET September 19 New Orleans 4:05pm ET September 27 @Arizona 9:00pm ET October 3 Tennessee 4:15pm ET October 10 @St. Louis 1:00pm ET October 17 Carolina 4:15pm ET October 24 @Minnesota 1:00pm ET November 7 Pittsburgh 4:15pm ET November 14 @New Orleans 1:00pm ET November 21 St. Louis 4:15pm ET November 29 Green Bay 9:00pm ET December 5 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET December 12 Atlanta 4:15pm ET December 18 @Carolina 4:15pm ET December 26 Washington 8:20pm ET January 3 @Atlanta 9:00pm ET

September 12 San Francisco 4:15pm ET September 19 @Carolina 1:00pm ET September 26 Tennessee 4:05pm ET October 3 @Pittsburgh 1:00pm ET October 11 @NY Jets 9:00pm ET October 17 Cleveland 1:00pm ET October 31 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET November 7 @Atlanta 1:00pm ET November 14 Baltimore 4:05pm ET November 21 New Orleans 8:20pm ET November 28 @Baltimore 1:00pm ET December 2 Pittsburgh 8:20pm ET December 13 Denver 9:00pm ET December 19 @Cleveland 1:00pm ET December 26 @Tennessee 1:00pm ET January 2 Cincinnati 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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