• Despite an announced crowd of 59,396, there seemed to be a lot more empty teal seats in Alltel Stadium than that.
• In an effort to avoid a Cleveland-style bottle-chucking debacle, Alltel’s announcer issued a strong warning before the game. Anyone caught throwing bottles or other debris on the field would be escorted from the stadium, possibly prosecuted and could lose future game privileges. Police presence was more pervasive as armed officers stood near many of the tunnels. A few fans found out; four drunks in the South end zone were ejected in the fourth quarter.
• Concession stands quit selling beer after the third quarter and most took the moment to simply close up.
• City Council members in their skybox included Matt Carlucci and Warren Alvarez.
• Jaguar quarterback Mark Brunell spent most of the game running away from Chiefs defenders and he may have ended up with tired feet; he showed up at his post-game press conference barefooted.
• Jags’ defensive back Jason Craft suffered a “neck burner” which looked a lot worse when he came down after intercepting a pass. The game was stop for almost 10 minutes while doctors from both teams attended to him. It looked a lot worse than it turned out to be, but after the game he said, “I don’t remember a thing. I’m just starting to clear my head.”
• The Jags are working on a marketing plan for the new year. Renewals won’t be the prime target, as most season ticket holders have at least a year to go on their packages. They’ll be after new buyers.
• Visiting: Kansas City broadcaster Len Dawson, once the team’s Super Bowl quarterback. He was with pal Deron Cherry, the Jag co-owner who also played for the Chiefs and who still lives in Kansas City.
• The stadium clean-up crews were on duty early today with just over 24 hours to get ready for Tuesday’s Gator Bowl game. The field won’t require much work: the centerpiece of Sunday‘s Jaguar logo will be changed to a Toyota Gator Bowl logo. The end zones both wore “Jacksonville” instead of one having “Jaguars”, so they won’t be touched.