Wild Card Round: Jacksonville Jaguars at Denver Broncos (Mile High Stadium), the bracket opens here. Kickoff: Sat December 27, 1997 at 4:00pm. Winner advances to the divisional round. Loser starts the offseason early.[1][2]
Wild card weekend is the most chaotic football the calendar produces. Jacksonville Jaguars at Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium is the kind of game that decides whether a season was a long buildup or a quick exit. These are the games where the second-tier playoff teams have to prove they belong. Most don't. The few who do define the rest of January.
The bracket has narrowed to the teams that survived the regular season. Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos are two of them; the rest of the league is in scouting mode for the offseason. What happens in Mile High Stadium shifts the rest of the tree: a road favorite winning rearranges seeding expectations; a home upset shows the bracket math underweights heart.
Jacksonville Jaguars versus Denver Broncos in the Wild Card Round. The teams who reach this round have already proven they survive a long schedule; the stats that matter most now are the ones that compress: scoring differential, red-zone efficiency, turnover margin. At this stage of the year, the simple math is that defenses tighten and the team that protects the ball wins more often than the team that scores the most. Whichever side of Jacksonville Jaguars-Denver Broncos cleans up the careless plays first usually walks out with the result. Conservative-game expectations should not surprise the reader; both staffs know exactly what worked all season and will lean hard on what travels. The early answer is the kicking game, where any swing of field position compounds.
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 11-5 | W2 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 11-5 | L1 |
| Tennessee Oilers | 8-8 | W1 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 7-9 | W3 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 6-9-1 | L1 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| New England Patriots | 10-6 | W1 |
| Miami Dolphins | 9-7 | L2 |
| New York Jets | 9-7 | L1 |
| Buffalo Bills | 6-10 | L3 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 3-13 | L1 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Chiefs | 13-3 | W6 |
| Denver Broncos | 12-4 | W1 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 8-8 | W2 |
| Oakland Raiders | 4-12 | L5 |
| San Diego Chargers | 4-12 | L8 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco 49ers | 13-3 | L1 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 7-9 | L1 |
| Carolina Panthers | 7-9 | L2 |
| New Orleans Saints | 6-10 | L1 |
| St. Louis Rams | 5-11 | W1 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Green Bay Packers | 13-3 | W5 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 10-6 | W1 |
| Detroit Lions | 9-7 | W2 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 9-7 | W1 |
| Chicago Bears | 4-12 | L1 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| New York Giants | 10-5-1 | W3 |
| Washington Redskins | 8-7-1 | W1 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 6-9-1 | L3 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 6-10 | L5 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 4-12 | -- |
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 07171717 |
| Denver Broncos | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 | 1421214242 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Broncos | Terrell Davis 2 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick) | 0-7 |
| Broncos | Rod Smith 43 yard pass from John Elway ( Jason Elam kick) | 0-14 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Broncos | Terrell Davis 5 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick) | 0-21 |
| Jaguars | Natrone Means 2 yard rush ( Mike Hollis kick) | 7-21 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Jaguars | Mike Hollis 38 yard field goal | 10-21 |
| Jaguars | Travis Davis 29 yard blocked punt return ( Mike Hollis kick) | 17-21 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Broncos | Derek Loville 25 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick) | 17-28 |
| Broncos | Derek Loville 8 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick) | 17-35 |
| Broncos | Vaughn Hebron 6 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick) | 17-42 |
Denver Broncos defeated Jacksonville Jaguars 42-17 at Mile High Stadium in the Wild Card Round. The final scoring play was Broncos: Vaughn Hebron 6 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick). The 25-point margin made it a one-sided afternoon. Top line of the day: John Elway: 223 pass yards on 16-of-24, 1 TD, 0 INT. Denver Broncos advance to the divisional round.[1][2]
Denver Broncos walked out of Mile High Stadium as the team that survived a Wild Card Round Jacksonville Jaguars will replay in its head for the entire offseason. The scoreboard says 42-17. This was a 25-point margin, which is unusual for this round of the postseason and tells a story about which staff out-prepared the other from the opening series. The final scoring play came from Broncos: Vaughn Hebron 6 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick). Whether it was the game-decider or just the period at the end of the sentence depends on what the camera caught earlier. Denver Broncos advance to the divisional round.
Denver Broncos 42, Jacksonville Jaguars 17. Round: Wild Card Round. Attendance: 74481. Q1: 2 scoring plays. Q2: 2 scoring plays. Q3: 2 scoring plays. Q4: 3 scoring plays. Top performers:
- John Elway: 223 pass yards on 16-of-24, 1 TD, 0 INT
- Terrell Davis: 184 rush yards on 31 carries
- Rod Smith: 3 catches for 99 yards
Wild Card Round, played at Mile High Stadium. Final: Jacksonville Jaguars 17, Denver Broncos 42, with Denver Broncos taking the result by 25. **First quarter**
- Broncos: Terrell Davis 2 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick)
- Broncos: Rod Smith 43 yard pass from John Elway ( Jason Elam kick)
Second quarter
- Broncos: Terrell Davis 5 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick)
- Jaguars: Natrone Means 2 yard rush ( Mike Hollis kick)
Third quarter
- Jaguars: Mike Hollis 38 yard field goal
- Jaguars: Travis Davis 29 yard blocked punt return ( Mike Hollis kick)
Fourth quarter
- Broncos: Derek Loville 25 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick)
- Broncos: Derek Loville 8 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick)
- Broncos: Vaughn Hebron 6 yard rush ( Jason Elam kick)
Top performers
- John Elway: 223 pass yards on 16-of-24, 1 TD, 0 INT
- Terrell Davis: 184 rush yards on 31 carries
- Rod Smith: 3 catches for 99 yards
The 25-point margin says most of what needs saying about how the day went; the box score is the rest.
| Jaguars | Broncos | |
|---|---|---|
| Team totals | ||
| First Downs | 14 | 28 |
| Total Yards | 237 | 511 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 2 |
| Passing | ||
| Comp/Att | 18/32 | 16/24 |
| Pass yards | 203 | 223 |
| Pass TD | 0 | 1 |
| Interceptions | 1 | 0 |
| Sacks taken | 3 | 3 |
| Sack yards lost | 16 | 22 |
| Net pass yards | 187 | 201 |
| Rushing | ||
| Rushes | 14 | 49 |
| Rush yards | 50 | 310 |
| Rush TD | 1 | 5 |
| Discipline | ||
| Fumbles | 1 | 3 |
| Fumbles lost | 1 | 2 |
| Penalties | 9 | 9 |
| Penalty yards | 54 | 94 |
| Player | C/A | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JAX | |||||
| Mark Brunell | 18/32 | 203 | 0 | 1 | |
| DEN | |||||
| John Elway | 16/24 | 223 | 1 | 0 | |
| Player | Att | Yds | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JAX | ||||
| Natrone Means | 10 | 40 | 1 | 14 |
| James Stewart | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Mark Brunell | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| DEN | ||||
| Terrell Davis | 31 | 184 | 2 | 59 |
| Derek Loville | 11 | 103 | 2 | 44 |
| Vaughn Hebron | 6 | 23 | 1 | 6 |
| John Elway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | Rec | Yds | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JAX | ||||
| Jimmy Smith | 6 | 55 | 0 | 16 |
| Keenan McCardell | 6 | 55 | 0 | 20 |
| James Stewart | 3 | 46 | 0 | 26 |
| Damon Jones | 1 | 37 | 0 | 37 |
| Pete Mitchell | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Natrone Means | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| DEN | ||||
| Rod Smith | 3 | 99 | 1 | 43 |
| Ed McCaffrey | 2 | 33 | 0 | 25 |
| Willie Green | 2 | 32 | 0 | 22 |
| Shannon Sharpe | 2 | 29 | 0 | 23 |
| Terrell Davis | 4 | 11 | 0 | 6 |
| Derek Loville | 1 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Howard Griffith | 2 | 9 | 0 | 8 |
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