Mark Brunell is the leader of one of the NFL's most explosive offenses.

A team that celebrated a first almost every time it turned around over its initial four years -- first winning season, first playoff game, first division title -- now only seeks only one more: first trip to the Super Bowl.

Anything less this season would be something of a disappointment.

"You don't put pressure on yourself, but you've got to feel it," says defensive lineman Gary Walker, signed as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. "It's a young team -- a strong, young team. There are good veterans in quality positions. So, you'd have to say it's looking good."

Indeed, the Jaguars have players either in or nearing their prime at almost every key position on offense.

At running back, Fred Taylor comes off a 1,223-yard rookie season in which he was only completely healthy for about half the games.

He has the explosiveness to score from anywhere on the field, as he proved last season with touchdown runs of 77, 70 and 52 yards. The 52-yarder came on the first play after he took over for the injured James Stewart. It emphatically established Taylor as the runner of the future for Jacksonville.

Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell continue to make up one of the top receiving tandems in the NFL. The same goes for Tony Boselli and Leon Searcy at their left and right tackle positions. Free-agent tight end Kyle Brady could give the Jaguars the third receiving threat they've been missing.

At quarterback, Mark Brunell enters his seventh season. He has thrown for 12,417 yards the last four years with a quarterback rating of 87.1. Many feel he could be an MVP if he brings his game up a notch this season.

"They said some of those things last year, too," Brunell says. "At this point, they're just compliments. That's all they are."

Defense, it seems, is where this team's fate will be decided. In addition to Walker, the Jaguars spent $18 million to bring veteran safety Carnell Lake over from the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

They also drafted cornerback Fernando Bryant and defensive lineman Larry Smith, indicating there was no facet of the defense, ranked 25th last season, that couldn't use an improvement.

Still, the most important offseason addition could be that of new coordinator Dom Capers. He wants to become more aggressive with a defense that managed only 30 sacks last season and gave up 350 yards or more eight times.

"Change is good," says linebacker Bryce Paup, who was misused last season in Dick Jauron's scheme. "But first, we've got to build a base. Once you have some base to build on, you can work into the zone blitzes or whatever he wants to do. Then, it's all based around execution. If we can't execute, there's no sense in running it, because it will still end up as a middle-of-the-road, average defense."

Some of Jacksonville's problems last season revolved around a spate of injuries that socked the team for the second consecutive year. Only twice did the defense start the same 11 players in back-to-back games.

"The No. 1 thing you have to understand when you talk about any kind of scheme is that you have to keep enough guys healthy to do things over the course of time," coach Tom Coughlin says. "It's very difficult to develop when you're in and out of personnel all year long."

Coughlin got a contract extension and a big raise over the offseason. At $2.4 million per year, he's among the NFL's top-paid coaches. He's also considered possibly the most successful NFL coach (27-10 since the middle of 1996) yet to take his team to the Super Bowl.

The coach insists the increased expectations brought on by the team's early success and the additional money don't affect him. And he refuses to look beyond the team's opener against San Francisco, or on to the Super Bowl that seems within this team's reach this season.

"Whenever you talk about wider-range goals, it comes right back to one thing," he says. "Be the best individual player you can be, be the best football team you can be and win your division. Everything else stems out of that."