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DETAIL INFORMATION - thacozzman
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| Year/Season: |
1996-1997 |
| Date: |
12/28/1996 |
| League/Sport: |
NFL |
| Event: |
AFC Wild Card |
| Visitors: |
Jacksonville Jaguars |
| Home: |
Buffalo Bills |
| Location: |
Orchard Park, NY - Rich Stadium |
| Network: |
ABC |
| Length: |
|
| Commercials: |
All |
| Pregame: |
Complete |
| Halftime: |
Complete |
| Postgame: |
Complete |
| Type: |
Converted From VHS Master |
| Comments: |
JAGUARS 30 BILLS 27
The second year Jaguars won their first playoff game in team history as kicker Mike Hollis scored the winning 45-yard field goal with 3:07 left to play. The Bills scored first with quarterback Jim Kelly`s 7-yard touchdown pass to running back Thurman Thomas. However, Jacksonville tied the game after defensive end Clyde Simmons intercepted Kelly`s shovel pass and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown. For the rest of the game, the score see-sawed back and forth: Hollis and Bills kicker Steve Christie each scored 2 field goals, Thomas ran for a 2-yard touchdown, Jaguars running back Natrone Means ran for a 30-yard score, Buffalo cornerback Jeff Burris scored on a 38-yard interception return, and Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell threw a 2-yard touchdown to Jimmy Smith
Means and the Jaguars Leave the Bills Behind
By TIMOTHY W. SMITH
Published: December 29, 1996
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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y., Dec. 28— No way that the Jacksonville Jaguars were supposed to come into Buffalo`s impenetrable fortress and defeat the Bills. The Jaguars were an expansion team last season the playoff-tested Bills were 9-0 in the post-season at Rich Stadium and had a crowd of 70,213 pulling for them.
But the Jaguars played with the abandon and indomitable spirit that Buffalo center Kent Hull said was once his team`s hallmark and they stunned the Bills, 30-27, today in the National Football League`s first playoff game of the season.
``These guys believed,`` said Bruce Smith, the Bills` star defensive end. ``And when a team believes, they`re a dangerous team.``
The Jaguars must await the outcome of Sunday`s Pittsburgh-Indianapolis American Football Conference wild-card playoff game to determine where they will play in next week`s divisional round. If the Steelers win, the Jaguars will play at Denver. If the Colts win, Jacksonville will play at New England.
The Jaguars pounded the Bills behind running back Natrone Means, who rushed 31 times for a career-high 175 yards and 1 touchdown, and matched Buffalo score for score until kicker Mike Hollis`s 45-yard field-goal attempt clipped the right upright and bounced through to break a 27-27 tie and give Jacksonville a 30-27 lead with 3 minutes 7 seconds to play.
By that time, Bills quarterback Jim Kelly had been carted to the locker room, his face a clueless mask because of a concussion. Todd Collins came off the bench to try to salvage the Bills` hopes, but he couldn`t do it.
Kelly had been knocked out of the game on a hard hit by Jaguars safety Chris Hudson that forced the 36-year-old quarterback to fumble away the Bills` best opportunity to pull off the victory. The ball was recovered at the 42 by Jaguars cornerback Aaron Beasley with 7:13 remaining.
Kelly`s departure seemed to signal not only a loss of any hope that the Bills had to win this game, but it also seemed to herald the end of a glorious era that saw Buffalo make the playoffs in eight of the last nine years and go to an unprecedented four straight Super Bowls.
Knowing how resilient Buffalo has been in the past, though, no one was quite ready to toss dirt on its grave.
``They said Buffalo was done after they lost that second Super Bowl, but they went back to two more,`` said Jaguars defensive end Clyde Simmons, whose 20-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter was one of the first of several momentum swings in a game of emotional Ping-Pong.
Smith, who finished with just three tackles and no sacks, was drained and dejected after the loss. He was neutralized by the Jaguars` young tackle Tony Boselli and by his own indecision about how best to handle Jacksonville`s elusive quarterback Mark Brunell, who is a dangerous runner when he breaks out of the pocket. ``I should have just concentrated on getting to the quarterback first and worried about what would happen if he got outside later,`` Smith said.
Smith did not believe that he and his teammates took the Jaguars lightly.
``I think the fact that they are in the playoffs gives them credibility to say they`re a good team,`` Smith said. ``They made some big plays on offense and defense and we didn`t make many big plays. They were able to move the ball up and down the field on us.``
He was not ready to bring the curtain down on the Bills.
``I wouldn`t say we`re running out of time,`` he said. ``With free agency there are opportunities for us to get help where help is needed.``
The Jacksonville players were euphoric. After many of his teammates had dressed and boarded the team bus, the Jaguars defensive tackle John Jurkovic, a free agent from Green Bay who once called Lambeau Field home and knows about hallowed ground, stood in the tunnel at Rich Stadium, finishing a sandwich and gazing at the field.
``I just want to look at it one more time,`` Jurkovic said as he looked wistfully at the turf where the Jaguars had accomplished their amazing feat.
Kevin Hardy, the Jaguars` superb rookie linebacker, said many of his teammates were peeved at the belief that they had stumbled into the playoffs and would make a hasty exit.
``I was watching TV yesterday,`` Hardy said, ``and I heard Steve Tasker say that they didn`t know anything about us, because we hadn`t played on television that much and as far as he was concerned we could have played on the other side of the world. That`s the kind of stuff that motivates you. That makes you want to keep fighting.``
And they fought to the end.
Brunell, who completed 18 of 33 for 239 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, got off to a dreadful start. He was nearly sacked for a safety by Buffalo`s Jim Jeffcoat on Jacksonville`s first possession. The Jaguars were forced to punt, and after the Bills took over at Jacksonville`s 43, they marched downfield and scored on a 7-yard pass from Kelly to Thurman Thomas.
When Simmons intercepted a shovel pass intended for Thomas and returned it 20 yards to help tie the score at 7-7, he set into motion the back-and-forth nature of the game. The Bills answered with a 10-play, 68-yard drive, capped by a 2-yard run by Thomas that made it 14-7.
But in a sign of what was to come, Means burst through a tiny opening at the line of scrimmage on a first-and-5 play from the Jaguars` 33 and raced 62 yards before he was dragged down by safety Kent Schulz at the Bills` 5. Jacksonville had to settle for a field goal that narrowed the Bills` lead to 14-10 in the first, but that run established the tone for the Jaguars` rushing attack.
``We had the hats on him, but we couldn`t bring him down,`` said Bills linebacker Chris Spielman, who was brought in from Detroit as a free agent this season to help Buffalo shore up its run defense. ``This guy was just breaking tackles. But this was as poorly as we`ve tackled all season.``
At no point was that more of a problem for the Bills than when Spielman and Smith had Means nailed behind the line of scrimmage, but he managed to break free and scoot down the right side for a 30-yard touchdown run that gave the Jaguars a 17-14 lead in the second. On the play before that, tight end Pete Mitchell broke several tackles over the course of a 47-yard pass play.
Means, who anchored the San Diego Chargers` rushing attack during their run to the Super Bowl two seasons ago, softened up the Bills` secondary and allowed the Jaguars` receivers to flourish. Keenan McCardell had 4 catches for 76 yards and Jimmy Smith had 5 catches for 58 yards.
``People talk about Buffalo being in the playoffs all those years and winning all those games here,`` Smith said, ``but when you have a bunch of hungry guys on the other side you`re in for a dogfight.``
Photos: Natrone Means breaking open a run against the Bills yesterday. Means rushed for 175 yards in the second-year team`s first playoff victory. (Associated Press) (pg. 1) Buffalo`s Jim Kelly being carted off the field yesterday after he was tackled in the fourth. (Reuters) (pg. 3) |
| Format: |
DVD-R |
| # of discs/tapes: |
4 |
| Format Comments: |
Mike Patrick and Joe Theisman call the game for ABC Wild Card Saturday. |
| Grade: |
8.5 |
| Own/Want: |
Own |
| Email: |
Email thacozzman |
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