Cowboys 28, Jaguars 25

<br>JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) _ Tom Coughlin says his quarterback isn't playing with confidence. Mark Brunell says he's got all the confidence in the world. <br><br>Once again, the Jacksonville Jaguars

Friday, August 30th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) _ Tom Coughlin says his quarterback isn't playing with confidence. Mark Brunell says he's got all the confidence in the world.

Once again, the Jacksonville Jaguars aren't on the same page. By now, that should come as no surprise.

While Brunell and his fellow first stringers were inept again Thursday night, Quincy Carter and the Dallas Cowboys enjoyed their final taste of preseason success with a 28-25 victory over the Jaguars.

``I'm very pleased with the win,'' Cowboys coach Dave Campo said. ``I think that's something our guys are starting to get the feel for.''

Playing the first half, Carter ran for one score and threw for 136 yards, including a lucky deflection that resulted in a 35-yard completion to Jeremaine Copeland to set up the first touchdown.

Dallas (3-1) led 21-2 at halftime.

Meanwhile, Brunell and his first-team offense closed the preseason without a touchdown _ a stat that only begins to describe the scope of the troubles. In 17 drives Brunell has started over four games, the Jaguars (1-3) have produced one field goal and 16 punts.

Coughlin put the blame for this one on Brunell, not his slew of new receivers playing in place of Keenan McCardell, who left for Tampa Bay, and holdout Jimmy Smith.

``The receivers were in position tonight to make some plays, but it just didn't happen,'' Coughlin said. ``We're obviously at the end of the preseason, and some questions prevail. I believe somehow, some way, Mark's going to snap out of this and play with his normal confidence and fire.''

Brunell said confidence isn't the problem.

``Preseason games don't determine whether you're confident or not confident,'' Brunell said. ``I'm very confident. And I'm confident we can turn it around. We've been down before, we've had tough times, we've turned it around. I think we can do it again.''

Jaguars backup running back Stacey Mack got going in the third quarter to make it close. He scored a 61-yard touchdown against the Dallas reserves, and had another 5-yard touchdown to pull the Jaguars to 21-16.

Mack finished with 100 yards on 12 carries, but it wasn't enough. Soon after John Henderson sacked Chad Hutchinson in the end zone to make it 21-18, the Jaguars turned the ball over and Dallas scored on a 7-yard pass from Hutchinson to Copeland.

The Jaguars scored a touchdown to pull within three with 1:57 left, but the Cowboys recovered an onside kick to end Jacksonville's chances.

With several starting positions and roster spots on the line, a few Cowboys stood out.

Antonio Bryant caught four passes for 41 yards and showed he could be a capable replacement for the injured Raghib Ismail. Rookie Woody Dantzler returned a punt 34 yards and a kickoff 57 yards; he also muffed one punt.

Ennis Haywood had a 36-yard run to set up Dallas' final touchdown. Kicker Billy Cundiff made field goals of 29 and 42 yards after having a 44-yard attempt partially blocked by Henderson.

Campo sounded most excited about Carter, who completed 11 of 22 passes and avoided big mistakes all preseason.

``I thought he handled himself pretty well,'' Campo said. ``There are some things he can get better at. He's a young quarterback. Hopefully, we'll have an opportunity for him to grow during the season.''

On the Jacksonville side, defensive tackle Marcus Stroud made two big plays in the first quarter, but later left with an ankle injury. Henderson had three deflected passes to go with his safety and blocked kick.

Jacksonville's Fred Taylor rushed seven times for 7 yards, his poorest outing of the preseason.

Rookie backup David Garrard finished 15-for-25 for 167 yards for Jacksonville. He lost the fumble that set up Dallas' last touchdown, and cost his team points when he ran out the clock late in the first half with no timeouts left and the Jaguars in field-goal range.

Hutchinson went 5-of-9 for 39 yards for the Cowboys.