Pro Bowl receiver Jimmy Smith will test the Titans secondary.

That doesn't mean the Titans will win the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, but I believe it will be a low-scoring affair. The reason why both teams have advanced to the conference final is they make other teams beat themselves. The Jaguars and the Titans are great at forcing turnovers and are good at keeping the ball in their own hands, making plays and dictating tempo.

This is a big-time rivalry between two AFC Central adversaries who don't like each other much. They will find themselves embroiled in a physical, punch-you-in-the-mouth football game. The Jaguars are more of a zone-blitz team that tries to keep everything in front of them. The Titans, meanwhile, feature a man-to-man, blitzing defense that relies on the cornerbacks to play good coverage.

The Titans and the Jaguars are two disciplined and confident football teams who are playing solidly on both sides of the ball. The Titans are not as explosive, but they have a smash-mouth running game. I don't buy too much into moral victories and psychological advantages. In a championship game, Tony Brackens will line up against Bruce Matthews and Jevon Kearse will deal with Ben Coleman, and the bottom line is that they will try to knock each other out. The two teams care little about how many times the Titans have won or the Jaguars have lost in previous meetings.

All season, people have underrated Tennessee and favored the Jaguars and the St. Louis Rams because the Rams and the Jaguars do it the prettier way. They have the flashy, explosive, skill-position players -- the home-run hitters -- with a lot of Pro Bowlers on defense. The Titans have Eddie George, who does things the old-fashioned way. They have McNair, who beats teams with timely plays. They have tight end Frank Wycheck, who leads the team in receiving. The Titans might not get much respect, but they don't care. It doesn't matter to coach Jeff Fisher, who has his team believing.

This game is the Jaguars' flash against the Titans' smash. Given the way the two defenses play, I'm not sure if either team can overcome three or four turnovers, and Tennessee is the best in the league at forcing turnovers. The Jaguars scored 62 points against Miami, something you wouldn't expect in a playoff game against the Dolphins defense. But the key was Miami turned the ball over seven times, and the Jaguars converted those mistakes into points. They won't score 62 against Tennessee.

When they met last month and the Titans won 41-14, the one thing that stuck out was McNair. The Titans quarterback had struggled throwing the ball going into the game, so Jacksonville's philosophy was to stop George. What happened? McNair threw a career-high five touchdown passes. The Jaguars' cat-and-mouse game will be how they play the Titans now. Do they take the risk -- as they probably should -- of stopping George and daring McNair to repeat his performance?

Here are the keys to Sunday's AFC Championship Game for each team. The team that operates these keys the best will win the football game:

Tennessee Titans
1. Take out Taylor: The Jaguars have a lot of weapons, but it starts with Fred Taylor. Last week, the Titans had to stop Edgerrin James, and they did. The Titans must eliminate Taylor from the Jaguars offense. It makes the Jaguars change what they want to do.

The Titans can create a lot of schemes and use a lot of different people because of Jevon Kearse. The Jaguars might have to use three people to block Kearse in certain protections. That means a lot of other people are single-covered, but they can also free up another body to double-team Taylor because the Jaguars will be occupying two or three players with Kearse. That also might mean Taylor will have to stay in and help protect.

No one can cover Taylor in the open field. The Titans will try to make Taylor beat them with a five- or six-yard gain, and not let him catch and run. The Titans had success against James, so they will try to do the same to Taylor. They need players swarming to the football.

2. Chunk plays: The Titans must make five or six "chunk" plays -- gains of 20 yards or more -- whether that is George on a 25-yard gain, or Wycheck over the middle. That means the Titans will be making some big plays, like the Jaguars do. It would be nice for receivers Yancey Thigpen and Kevin Dyson to step up and provide the long gains, but the onus doesn't fall solely on them. Although most big plays come from perimeter players, the Titans have been doing it their way all year. They won't change much.

3. Win time of possession: The Jaguars can strike quickly, but the Titans can control the clock. That means George will get 25 carries, which usually results in a Tennessee victory. The Titans must win time of possession with the ground game, keep the Jaguars offense off the field and make it a low-scoring game.

Jacksonville Jaguars
1. Much misdirection: Because the Titans are such an aggressive defense, the Jaguars can take advantage of it with a lot of naked bootlegs to get Brunell outside. The condition of Brunell's knee has been overrrated. He is not 100 percent, but what did the Jaguars do the first play against Miami? They ran a bootleg with Brunell and got him going to his right. When Brunell can make plays on the perimeter, he forces the Titans to have to defend the entire field. The Jaguars can use a motion man to block Kearse, get Brunell outside and run crossing routes away against single coverage.

2. Make McNair a pocket passer: The Jaguars must change their pass-rush lanes and make McNair beat them from the pocket. They don't want him on the move; they want him dropping straight back three, five or seven steps and planting to throw on designed pass plays. The Jaguars need to make McNair beat them inside rather than outside, either by design or on a broken play when he can either run it or get the ball to a receiver for a big gain.

In the matchup last month, McNair was able to bust out of the pocket and make some throws on the run. The Jaguars will play him differently this time and make him play quarterback from a standing position instead of a running position. He might be able to beat the Jaguars from the pocket, but the Jags need to take their chances and play to McNair's supposed weakness.

3. Beat one-on-one coverage: Because the Titans will be so aware of stopping Taylor, I would expect receivers Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell to get a lot of work outside. The two playmakers must beat man-to-man coverage against Titan cornerbacks Denard Walker and Samari Rolle. They play single coverage well and have had big games against the Jaguars, especially Rolle.