Elway Keeps Denver in Hunt : AFC: Broncos’ 31-23 victory over Jacksonville leaves them tied with the Colts and Dolphins in wild-card race.

On a day when Denver’s special teams were anything but special, John Elway continued to show why he certainly is.

Elway compensated for a poor special teams showing with four touchdown passes Sunday as the Broncos improved their playoff hopes with a 31-23 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Denver (7-6) is tied with Indianapolis and Miami for the final two AFC wild-card slots.

“This offense gets better and better every week,” said Elway, who has three four-touchdown games and one five-touchdown game in his career. “The offensive line and the talent we have at the skill positions really make us tough. You look forward to what you can do on offense.”

The offense was impressive, and the defense improved from last week’s 42-33 loss to Houston, but the Broncos got into trouble on special teams.

The Jaguar offense managed only one touchdown but scored on a blocked punt and a 94-yard kickoff return to make things interesting.

After Elway found Mike Pritchard on a 45-yard pass to give Denver a 28-10 lead with 14 seconds left in the third quarter, Jacksonville (3-10) fooled everybody on the ensuing kickoff.

Desmond Howard caught the ball at the six-yard line and ran nine yards before throwing across the field to Jimmy Smith, who found room along the left sideline and outran everyone to the end zone.

“The play was called, and we planned it for the right situation,” Jaguar Coach Tom Coughlin said. “We knew Smith would have to dodge at least one guy and he did. He made a nice run into the end zone.”

Jacksonville failed on a two-point conversion attempt, and Jason Elam’s 38-yard field goal put the Broncos up, 31-16, with 10:41 left in the game.

Jacksonville came right back with a seven-play, 76-yard scoring drive as Beuerlein, who completed 15 of 28 passes for 198 yards, connected with Smith on a 14-yard touchdown pass play with 6:31 left.

Mickey Washington then gave the Jaguars a chance to tie the score when he stripped Bronco tight end Jerry Evans on the second play of Denver’s next drive.

But with the ball at Denver’s 31, Jacksonville went backward. Back-to-back penalties forced the Jaguars into a third and 18, and Glenn Cadrez came through with sacks on third and fourth down to end the threat.

“Everyone looked at each other in the huddle with this eye like, ‘Let’s tighten up. Let’s be tough. Let’s sell out our bodies,’ ” Cadrez said. “I really felt that throughout the whole huddle. Everyone was pretty focused in saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to stop them.’ ”

Denver did, and Jacksonville never got the ball back as Elway and company ran out the clock to improve to 6-1 at home. The Broncos have a home game next week before traveling to Oakland and Kansas City.