Capers Plays Key Role in This Heist

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  Lonnie Marts found the end fitting.

Marts batted away a two-point conversion pass with 31 seconds left, securing Jacksonville’s 22-20 victory over Carolina on Sunday and capping a week dominated by talk of Dom Capers’ return to Charlotte as the Jaguars’ new defensive coordinator.

“It’s nice to know we can come through in the clutch like this, especially coming back with Dom,” Marts said. “Dom’s probably pretty excited.”

Capers, who spent four years as Carolina’s first coach but was fired after the Panthers went 4-12 last season, was forbidden by Jacksonville Coach Tom Coughlin from speaking to reporters about coming back to Ericsson Stadium. But Capers had plenty to tell his new players.

“He told us about the running backs, who was a good pass blocker, who runs north and south, who runs east and west and a little bit about their quarterback, and it pretty much was all true,” safety Carnell Lake said. “He knows those people out there more than anyone.”

Capers’ defense didn’t give up a touchdown last week in Jacksonville’s 38-point victory over San Francisco, but Carolina scored twice in less than two minutes in the second quarter to take a 14-6 lead.

The Jaguars came up big when they had to in the waning seconds, though, after Carolina’s Steve Beuerlein threw his second scoring pass to Wesley Walls, this one a one-yarder that gave the Panthers a chance to tie. Beuerlein’s short conversion toss to Walls near the goal line was slapped to the ground by Marts, giving the Jaguars their third consecutive 2-0 start.

Mark Brunell engineered the Jaguar comeback with a big boost from James Stewart, who scored twice, the second time on a 44-yard run up the middle with 1:48 left. Brunell completed 20 of 32 passes for 214 yards.