ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 5, 1997 TAG: 9701060113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DENVER
SOURCE: Associated Press
Second-year teams simply don't do this. They win a few games, lose more, then head home to watch the playoffs on television, dreaming of what might be someday.
Someday has arrived for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who next Sunday will play for a spot in the Super Bowl.
The Jaguars shocked the Denver Broncos 30-27 Saturday as Mark Brunell made like John Elway and Natrone Means did a superb imitation of, well, himself.
Brunell threw two touchdowns passes in a masterful performance that topped his effort in last weekend's 30-27 upset of the Buffalo Bills. Means rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown on top of his 175-yard performance a week ago.
The 35th game of the Jaguars' existence will be for the AFC championship, either at New England or Pittsburgh.
``Wow is right. We did what a lot of people thought was impossible,'' said Brunell, who led the league in yards passing this season. ``Winning a lot of big games means this team is blessed.''
And talented. And relentless. And united. And lucky.
They needed Atlanta's Morten Andersen - one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history - to miss a 30-yard field goal to get into the playoffs.
``People say we're lucky,'' defensive end Jeff Lageman said. ``But we knew at the end of the season we were one of the hottest teams in the league, and our performance speaks for itself.''
The Jaguars also have displayed incredible fortitude. They needed to win their last five games just to make the playoffs, and teams one year past their debut can't expect to do that. But the Jaguars did.
Nor are they supposed to hand the Bills their first playoff loss at Rich Stadium, then follow it by beating the Broncos - who were unbeaten at home this season.
``I don't know what that means,'' coach Tom Coughlin said when asked what an expansion team was doing in the AFC title game so soon. ``We're in our second year and we're playing the best football of our history right now, and that's where we are.''
The Broncos, whose 13-3 record was the best in the league, are going home shaking their heads in wonder. They were 12-1, then rested many regulars in the final three games. Maybe that was unwise, because they made the crucial mistakes Saturday.
``This is the most disappointed I've felt, but then this is now,'' said John Elway. ``We were third-and-long all the time and we played right into their hands.''
One of Denver's biggest goofs came when Keenan McCardell, a Pro Bowl receiver who was shut down for most of the game, got free behind Lionel Washington to haul in Brunell's pinpoint 37-yard pass to make it 20-12. The Jaguars mixed Means' running with short passes before Brunell spotted McCardell streaking to the end zone.
That play brought boos from the crowd of 75,678. It also brought no response from the Broncos, whose ineffectiveness was punctuated by having 12 men on the field for a Jacksonville punt near the end of the third quarter - Micheal Dean Perry slowly was strolling off the field when the kick came.
``They probably call that penalty one in a million. That's the way the day went,'' Perry said.
The penalty gave the Jaguars a critical first down, and they got another when James Stewart gained 25 yards with Brunell's short pass.
Mike Hollis' 22-yard field goal capped the 88-yard, 17-play, 81/2-minute drive and made it 23-12. It was the fifth straight series on which the Jaguars scored against the league's fourth-ranked defense.
Strangely, the Jaguars then tried a short kickoff and Denver started at its 43. Elway hit five passes in a 57-yard drive and Terrell Davis scored on a 2-yard run.
Davis, the AFC's leading rusher, also ran in for a two-point conversion, bringing Denver within three points. He finished with 91 yards.
Brunell used his feet to set up his third-and-five, 16-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Smith that clinched it. His 29-yard scramble on which four Broncos missed him was the most important play. He was 18-of-29 for 245 yards and also ran for 44.
``He remained poised the entire game,'' Smith said. ``Mark will be a household name.''
Elway didn't quit, of course, and he had all day to find Ed McCaffrey for a leaping 18-yard touchdown pass with 1:50 to go, making it 30-26. It was Elway's 25th completion in 38 attempts. He threw for 226 yards.
Jason Elam's extra point hit the left upright and went through.
Denver's only remaining hope was to recover an onside kick. But the ball went directly to Le'Shai Maston, and the Jaguars ran out the clock.
Davis' 47-yard first-quarter run set up Vaughn Hebron's 1-yard vault into the end zone and was the longest postseason run in Denver history. But Clyde Simmons blocked the extra point, Elam's first miss of the season, leaving the Broncos ahead 6-0.
Shannon Sharpe's 18-yard touchdown reception 33 seconds from the end of the opening quarter made it 12-0, but he dropped Elway's pass for a two-point conversion.
Jacksonville's first score came on a 50-yard drive leading to Hollis' 46-yard field goal.
Just as they did a week ago at Buffalo, the Jaguars kept coming. Aided by a controversial pass interference penalty on Tory James that gave them a first down, the Jaguars went 80 yards. They converted two third downs on passes of 20 yards to Means and 19 to Willie Jackson before Means ran left for an 8-yard score, making it 12-10.
They took the lead with two quick strikes - a 21-yard run by Means and a 44-yard pass to the wide-open Smith - that led to Hollis' 42-yarder with 10 seconds left in the half. The drive took 47 seconds.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell threw forby CNB245 yards and a pair of touchdowns in leading the Jaguars to a 30-27
upset of Denver and into the AFC championship game. 2. Denver
quarterback John Elway gets hauled down by Jaguars' defensive end
Tony Brackens in the second quarter. color. 3. Jacksonville
quarterback Mark Brunell celebrates after the Jaguars beat the
Broncos.