Jaguars’ Taylor looks to heat up

Jacksonville’s running back has been a nemesis in recent games against the Steelers.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Running back Fred Taylor tends to heat up when the temperature cools down. Right now, he could use a cold front in Jacksonville.

Taylor has 213 yards rushing in four games and is averaging 3.6 yards a carry, well off the career-best 5.4 yards he averaged last season.

His slow start could be attributed to having three new starters along the offensive line or facing defenses that have stacked the line of scrimmage in hopes of forcing quarterback David Garrard to beat them with a lackluster receiving corps and no legitimate deep threat.

Or it could be the weather.

“I tend to pick up as it gets cooler,” Taylor said. “Hopefully it’s cool enough because the past four weeks I haven’t done a whole lot. I’d like to get on my horse and start getting away with things.”

Taylor figures tonight would be the perfect time to get going, when the Jaguars (2-2) and Steelers (3-1) meet for the third time in 10 games.

He’s had two of his best games against Pittsburgh — 234 yards in 2000 and 147 last season — and needs just 72 yards to reach 11,000 for his career.

Taylor hasn’t been able to pinpoint a reason for his early-season sluggishness. He calls it a coincidence. But after 11 years, wouldn’t it be more like a trend?

Either way, he knows what to expect from the Steelers, one of the best teams in the league against the run. Although Taylor gouged them last December, Troy Polamalu, James Harrison and Co. stuffed Taylor and backfield mate Maurice Jones-Drew in the postseason rematch.

Taylor ran 16 times for 48 yards and a touchdown in the 31-29 victory, the franchise’s first playoff win in eight years.

Polamalu blitzed early and often, hitting Taylor and Jones-Drew in the backfield and disrupting Garrard’s timing on passing plays. It worked, and had Garrard not gotten loose on a fourth-and-2 play late in the fourth period, the Steelers probably would have won.

Nonetheless, Pittsburgh might have designed the blueprint for shutting down Jacksonville’s vaunted running attack. Taylor and Jones-Drew were pretty much stuffed the following week at New England and stymied in three of four games this season.

“If people want to give us credit for that, we’ll take it,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “You can’t hold those guys down too long. Those are two great backs. We have a great deal of respect for them. ... They’re going through an adjustment period.

“It appears they come through the other side. We have to be prepared to stop them and expect them to be at their best this weekend.”

The Jaguars expect the same from the Steelers, even though they lost guard Kendall Simmons and first-round draft pick Rashard Mendenhall to season-ending injuries in a physical game against Baltimore on Monday night.

“They’re not going to roll over and let us beat up on them,” Jacksonville defensive end Paul Spicer said.

Making matters worse, Pittsburgh won’t have running back Willie Parker (knee), nose tackle Casey Hampton (groin) and defensive end Brett Keisel (calf) for the second straight game.