"We've got to play well on first and second down," said Nickerson. "What they want to do is play the game close to the vest. They want to run the ball, run the ball. They want to create a lot of third-and-short situations so their quarterback doesn't have to make a lot of decisions.

"If we get them into third-and-long situations, we'll get the rush (on the quarterback) that we're known for."

The Jaguars tied the St. Louis Rams last season for the most NFL sacks with 57, but had little success getting to Couch.

"Cleveland did a lot of things to stop us from getting to him, like three-step drops and keeping extra guys in to protect (the quarterback)," said Jaguars outside linebacker Kevin Hardy.

Hardy expects the Ravens will try to keep their offensive attack fairly simple with Banks under center.

"He's definitely a better quarterback than he has been," said Hardy. "A couple years ago, he was known as a guy that came in and fumbled the ball a lot. Now he's more of a sound quarterback."

OLD NEMESIS: Dating back to the Jaguars' inaugural season, the Ravens are 0-10 against Jacksonville, which includes two defeats in '95 when the Ravens were the old Cleveland Browns.

Much of the hype in Baltimore for this game has centered on Baltimore needing to snap that streak. It's a psychological hurdle with which the Jaguars are familiar with from a different perspective after going 0-3 last season against the Tennessee Titans.

"It's always going to be in the back of our minds that, 'Hey, this is the team that beat us three times last season,' " said wide receiver Jimmy Smith. "No matter what you do or what you say, that's going to stick in the back of your mind. It's going to have an effect on you. I think the Ravens are in a similar situation with us."