Jags badder than Bengals, yet still under Roger's radar

When uber-good guy Fred Taylor, more Mr. Rogers than Mr. Wint, was cited by police for disorderly conduct outside a Miami bar recently, it was a clear signal the apocalypse is upon us.

Somehow, the Jaguars' troubles remain clouded down in Jacksonville. (Getty Images)

Taylor is the longtime runner for the Jacksonville Jaguars and also one of the classiest people in all of sports. Taylor getting cited is like Cinderella being busted in a prostitution sting.

Damn. Fred Taylor ...

What's next? Mickey and Minnie get divorce lawyers?

Then again maybe we shouldn't be shocked. Taylor is a Jaguar, after all, and the Jaguars are to generating arrests what Saudi Arabia is to generating crude.

Taylor is only the tip of the arrest warrant iceberg for the Jaguars. From late 2006 until early January 2008, there were 10 Jaguars players facing some sort of criminal charge, according to the Florida Times-Union. The site Profootballtalk.com, which tracks player arrests, says 10 Jacksonville players have been arrested since February 2007.

Few franchises can boast that kind of batting average and familiarity with the penal system. Apparently none of these guys saw The Shawshank Redemption. Otherwise they'd stay as far away from the cops as possible.

Some of these crimes aren't minor misdemeanors. Several are severely ugly, thug-life crimes such as possession of firearms and ecstasy while committing a felony or possession of cocaine.

Eventually these arrests will impact the team in some dramatic ways. It'll happen. It'll show up on the field. All of this ugliness will cost them wins. You can count on it.

The Jaguars are a legitimate choice to beat Indianapolis or New England for a Super Bowl appearance, but these arrests are making it difficult to pick them for anything other than stars of The Longest Yard 3.

Make no mistake. I'm a huge fan of the franchise. Wayne Weaver, the team's owner, is a good man. The coach of the Jaguars, Jack Del Rio, is a highly underrated coach and James Harris, the general manager, is a legend in the sport.

No matter the decency of those men, there remains a startling disconnect, a disconnect the size of Atlantic Beach, in fact, since there is little question the Jaguars have become one of the more embarrassing franchises in all of professional sports. It hurts to write that, but it's true. It's absolutely true.

The interesting thing is, where's the commissioner? Why isn't he giving the Jaguars their due colonoscopy when he was so quick to probe the Cincinnati Bengals?

Where in the hell is Roger Goodell?

Please, go ahead and flame my e-mail box, Jaguars fans, with your insults. No amount of message board thug-ism can change the facts that your team has replaced Cincinnati as the sports thug capital of the free world.

No one can show me a sports franchise in the past several years that's had both the large numbers of arrests and, in many cases, a shocking lack of respect for rules and the law as the Jaguars.

Interestingly, while the team's small-market stature has injured it in terms of ticket sales, it has helped the Jaguars bury the multitude of troubles. If these numerous arrests had happened in New York, it'd be World War III. Since many of the arrests are happening near the quiet beaches of North Florida, no one seems to care. Not even the commissioner.

Can you imagine what people would be saying if all of this occurred in Cincinnati?

Just examine the facts:

• In July, wide receiver Matt Jones was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance -- and that substance wasn't a Miller Lite.

• In June, safety Gerald Sensabaugh offered an apology for his second arrest in 14 months. Chris Henry subsequently called him a novice.

• In January, defensive end Brent Hawkins was charged with drunken driving. This seems to be a common problem with Jaguars players who, for whatever reason, hate taxi cabs.

• In December 2007, offensive lineman Stocker McDougle was charged with felony battery of a person over the age of 65. Please tell me he didn't beat up Joe Paterno.

• Richard Collier and rookie Justin Durant were arrested on the same day in November 2007 in unrelated incidents. Think about that for a second. Two players arrested in one day. I'm not sure if even the Bengals pulled off that trick.

• Khalif Barnes crashed his car into a tree in October 2007 and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. It was his second car-related offense in less than a year. Before the tree carelessly hit his car, Barnes was charged with drunken driving. Again, fellas, cabs. They're yellow, have four wheels, you pay the dude to take you somewhere even if you're drunk.

• Then there's the bizarre Dennis Northcutt situation. Northcutt is accused in a lawsuit by his pregnant ex-girlfriend of scheming to have her beat up, thus harming the unborn child. The accusation was denied by Northcutt's agent, who said it was a shakedown attempt by the woman. But if true -- and that's a huge if -- it would be reminiscent of Rae Carruth, who is currently jailed for conspiring to have his pregnant girlfriend murdered.

There are others. Too many others. Some of the arrestees are no longer with the team and that's a good thing. But why are so many Jaguars getting arrested is the larger question?

The sad news of Collier, who was shot outside an apartment building early Tuesday, has hit the Jaguars as well. The shooting may in no way be Collier's fault. However, the tragedy serves to only reinforce the notion that the Jaguars are a deeply troubled franchise.

Here's the interesting kicker: The Jaguars have so many player arrests now, even ex-Jaguars are being inducted into the Hoosegow Hall of Fame. Jimmy Smith, the best wide receiver in team history, was charged with driving under the influence this past weekend.

Smith and Taylor, two of the top three or four players in team history, found themselves in trouble with the law. On the same weekend.

They're no longer the Jaguars, they're the Jag-bars.

Because it seems so many of them are close to ending up behind prison walls.