JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — His numbers were modest, but that didn't matter in the least to Chad Owens yesterday.

Never mind that the former University of Hawai'i wide receiver, in just his second regular-season NFL game, played only one snap on offense and returned four punts for a mere 30 yards in the Jacksonville Jaguars' 24-17 victory over Dallas.

After everything Owens endured since his disastrous NFL debut last September, just the fact that he was back with the Jaguars and returning punts at all felt like a monumental achievement.

"I felt blessed just to be out there," Owens said after the Jaguars' season-opening win at Alltel Stadium. "It was my second regular-season start, and it was definitely a lot better than my first."

Anything would have been better than Owens' first real game a year ago in Indianapolis, when he mishandled three punts in a Jacksonville loss. Two days later, that ugly display caused him to be cut and relegated to the Jaguars' practice squad for the rest of the year.

Owens' future with Jacksonville appeared even more tenuous in the offseason, when he turned down the Jaguars' offer to play in NFL Europe before watching them use a second-round draft pick on UCLA return ace Maurice Jones-Drew.

But another terrific preseason coupled with the retirement of Jaguars all-time leading receiver Jimmy Smith sealed Owens' spot on the regular-season roster.

Yesterday was Owens' first chance to justify that decision to Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio and his staff, and from that perspective, the day was a success.

"(Owens) was solid, and you can tell he's going to get even better,'' special teams coordinator Pete Rodriguez said, noting his 13-yard return in the first quarter.

Owens remains far down the depth chart at receiver, a fact that was obvious against the Cowboys when his only snap on offense came as a decoy on a running play.

But Owens kept Dallas' coverage unit busy with a variety of moves. On two of his returns, Owens appeared to be just one missed tackle away from a big runback.

"I was close, man, I was close,'' Owens said, smiling but shaking his head in dismay. "The more the return unit plays together and the more we get (a) feel for each other and for how I play, we're going to start making it happen because we have a great group.''

Owens was disappointed only because Cowboys punter Mat McBriar, a former teammate at Hawai'i, consistently gave him lots of open field and big-play opportunities that went for naught.

"I actually did have quite a bit of room to run catching the ball because McBriar out-kicked his coverage every time," Owens said. "I knew he had a strong leg. I wish I could have taken more advantage of it."

Owens also was upset when the sideline judge — incorrectly, in Owens' mind — ruled him out of bounds at the end of a 62-yard McBriar punt early in the fourth quarter.

"I wasn't out," Owens said. "The ref took that away from me, which hurt because that was about to be a really big return. I don't know what he was looking at, because what he called wasn't what happened."

Despite that misstep, Owens had little reason to complain.

"It's a great feeling," he said. "I'm happy to still be part of this team, we won a big game, and now I have a chance to grow as a player in this league. Things couldn't have worked out any better for me."

Bart Hubbuch is a sports writer for The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union.