• The team’s second last-minute win left the coaches and players as exhausted emotionally as well as physically. Coach Jack Del Rio commented that “we keep cardiologists busy in this town” and his players were draped over chairs in the locker room after the game. The Broncos outgained the Jags, 356 yards to 187, and had the ball over 14 minutes longer, but got only two field goals.
• Defensive lineman Marcus Stroud said he was about three feet from the last minute fumble that cost Denver a chance to win the game “but I might as well have been a few miles because of all the people who jumped on that pile.” Before the fumble, did he think the team was beaten? “You have to play until it’s all zeros (on the clock,)” he said.
• Game balls will be handed out this morning and one almost sure recipient will be punter Chris Hanson, who kept Denver starting from deep in their end. He had four kicks downed inside the 20.
• Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was pretty tight-lipped after the game, spending just a few moments with reporters in the post-game press conference. When asked why he didn’t attempt a field goal on third down — when Quentin Griffin fumbled — Shanahan said he was just trying to get a few extra yards and run the clock down.
• Maybe a television blackout really does affect ticket sales. On Thursday, the team had sold about 50,000 tickets, well under the 59,000 needed to have the game on local television. Wherever they came from, they certainly did and team announced that 69,127 tickets were sold and the crowd looked like it certainly could have been that many.
• A large contingent of National Football League operatives were at the game to study stadium operations and parking. They fanned out before the game and through halftime to study the operation, then huddled around a media lunchroom table around a large map to go over what they had found. The league’s main man for the Super Bowl planning, Jim Steeg, was a late arrival. Had to pick up his wife, who was on a flight that arrived at noon.
• The halftime show was done by Jacksonville’s PRI and owner Randy Goodwin said it was the most difficult he’s produced. “We had 300 volunteers and they were from a lot of different organizations,” he said. “They didn’t know each other, so they had to work extra hard.” The cast practiced for 3 1/2 hours Saturday afternoon to put on the extravaganza, which included numerous acts and characters including 14-foot tall puppets.
• The Winn-Dixie signs finally got pasted to the back of each scoreboard after an off-season of the old, tattered signs being displayed. Cute slogan: “Super Team, Super City, Super Market.”
• The Super Bowl Host Committee was back in the press box with Peterbrooke chocolate to go with media kits for the visiting media. They brought a chocolate fountain to a preseason game but dropped the idea when they had trouble getting it into the stadium. The security force thought it might be a terrorist weapon, and it took a lot of convincing to let them pass it through.
• Big traffic problems before the game in some areas. There was the usual first-game problem of first-time ticket buyers who didn’t realize that there’s no unreserved parking in the immediate stadium area, and who had to be stopped and turned around. Also, a traffic light was out of synch on Atlantic Boulevard and it was almost an hour and a half from the beach to the stadium.
• Fans enjoying a cold beer might have noticed a fresher taste. The local Budweiser plant spent Saturday evening and early Sunday morning brewing a special batch that was delivered to Alltel Stadium just before game time so fans could enjoy day-fresh beer.
• If it looks like there’s a lot more hair poking out from the player’s helmets, it’s the latest style trend in the NFL. Several Jags players are sporting the longer locks, including Marcus Stroud, Juan Bolden, Rashean Mathis, Akin Ayodele and Tommy Hendricks, the self-proclaimed leader of the Sampson look. Hendrick says the look is growing in popularity among the players even with some of the nicknames he’s hearing. He says he’s most often called ‘Predator’ after the character in the movie of the same name.
• Because of the demolition at the old Crawdaddy’s restaurant on the Southbank, the water taxi no longer stops there to pick-up passengers. The stop has moved to The Chart House restaurant.
• There’s a water taxi docked at Metro Park selling hot dogs, soda and beer for fans coming and going by water.
• Game day giveaway: foam “We’re No. 1” fingers.
• Strong northeast winds grounded Jaxson de Ville’s pregame activities. The Jags mascot had planned to joined several other skydivers in a pregame jump into the stadium carrying a large American flag but the show was scrubbed. Not scrubbed: a flyover by a bat-like B-2 bomber.
• Jaxson was in good form as he stalked the small flock of pigeons who are a staple at games. The pigeons huddled together on the field and, during a timeout, the Jaxson tried to sneak up on them in a cat-like crawl. No luck; the pigeons could see the big head coming.
• Next week: the Jags travel to Nashville for a 1 p.m. game with the Tennessee Titans. It opens an important two-week stretch (Indianapolis comes to Jacksonville on Oct. 3) because both opponents are also in the AFC Central Division, which Jacksonville leads.
— by Fred Seely
and Jeff Brooks