by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
“It’s more than a memory,” said the last Jacksonville Jaguars player to have that particular memory. “It’s history. That’s more than a memory. It’s ‘history’ when you do something that’s really significant.”
It was the 1996 playoffs and the Jaguars were to play the same two teams they’ll play to open this season: Buffalo and Denver. Only wide receiver Jimmy Smith remains from that team that got into the playoffs only by what Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver called “a miracle.” Had Morten Anderson of Atlanta connected on a 30-yard field goal in the final regular-season game, the Jags would have stayed at home. Instead, his foot slipped on the damp turf and that 19-17 victory sent the second-year Jaguars into the playoffs.
“No one saw us coming until it was too late that year,” said Smith. “It was just our second year in the league! No one thought we could do it, but we did.
“We had a lot of guys off the street and a lot of guys other teams didn’t want. We were trying to find out our identity.”
It was one of the most remarkable back-to-back wins in National Football League history. The Jags first were double-digit underdogs to quarterback Jim Kelly and the Bills, then the same to quarterback John Elway and the Broncos. And they beat them both en route to the season’s ending loss in the conference championship game.
Only Smith remains as a player. And few remain elsewhere in the organization. The ownership group is intact but only the majority owners Weaver and his wife Delores are in the office.
Chief financial officer Bill Prescott, vice president Paul Vance, security director Skip Richardson, communications director Dan Edwards, play-by-play announcer Brian Sexton, video director Mike Perkins and trainer Mike Ryan are the only leftovers on the executive level. One more significant personage: Jaxson De Ville, the team’s mascot.
“It was a memory that you can’t replicate,” said Weaver. “To go to Buffalo and win was one thing, but the Denver trip was really a special memory.
“I thought the players were on a high. The team felt a sense of destiny. The newspaper columnist out there, Woody Paige, wrote a derogatory column about us as the ‘Jagwads.’ That really fired up the team.
“The game was terrific. We’d get ahead and Elway would bring them back. We won, and then we come home to a big welcoming crowd at the stadium, and the streets from the airport lined with people.
“I’ll never forget that.”
The Jaguars weren’t even an afterthought that year — after all, how can a team that’s one year old aspire to such heights?
“It took us a while to get sorted out that year,” said Smith. “We started bad (4-7.) I guess people looked at us for what we were — a second-year expansion team. But then we caught our stride and ran off five straight to make the playoffs.
“We started to believe that we could beat teams.”
Buffalo came first, just as they’ll come first Sunday when the Jags visit Ralph Wilson Stadium for a 1 p.m. start. Denver is next when the Jags open at home next Sunday.
In 1996, it was the Jaguar offense that did the work against Buffalo with Smith scoring the tying touchdown on a short Mark Brunell pass with 8:40 to go and kicker Mike Hollis winning it 30-27 with a 45-yard field goal with 3:07 left.
“I remember how loud it was up there during the game,” said Smith. “When the defense held at the end, I remember how quiet it was.”
The road next led to Denver on a cold day and the score was the same. Brunell-to-Smith again won it, this time a 16-yard score with 3:39 left that gave enough cushion to hold off a late Elway TD pass.
The welcoming crowd back home was so large that the stadium was opened — the airport couldn’t handle the number of people who were coming out to greet the team. The players were whisked to the stadium for a wild reception from an estimated 35,000.
“When we approached Jacksonville, the pilot announced what was going on,” said Edwards. “He flew over the stadium and dipped the wing so everyone could see the crowd. Everyone on the plane was stunned.
“It was a feeling of disbelief . . . that that many people would come out at 1 in the morning.”
The 1996 Jags’ run ended in the conference championship game on a frigid day in New England, where four turnovers and a high snap to the punter were the difference in a 20-6 loss to the Patriots.
“You can’t say that having the same teams on the schedule has any correlation, of course,” said Weaver. “But it’s nice to bring back the memories.
“What having these teams does mean is that we have two tough games to open the season. We’re going to find out how good we are.”