Jaguars Gear Themselves for Playoffs

Jacksonville looked ahead to putting together another playoff run. Oakland stewed over a bitter ending to an awful season.

Behind two touchdown passes from Mark Brunell, the Jaguars defeated the Raiders, 20-9, Sunday for their seventh win in their last eight December games.

“We’re going into an upswing, and hopefully that helps us in the next round,” running back Natrone Means said as the Jaguars headed to the playoffs for the second time in their three-year existence.

Jacksonville (11-5) goes on to Denver for a first-round game Saturday--a rematch of last season’s divisional playoff in which the Jaguars shocked the Broncos during a run that carried them to the AFC championship game.

“We’re in different situations than last year, but I think with what happened, we have a measure of confidence, and sometimes that’s all you need,” Brunell said. “We’ve done it before. We’ve made the plays to win those types of games and we’ve got every reason to believe we can do it again.”

Brunell had threw for scoring plays of 35 yards to Keenan McCardell and 26 yards to Damon Jones, and Mike Hollis kicked two fourth-quarter field goals. Jeff George threw a two-yard touchdown to Rickey Dudley and Cole Ford kicked a 33-yard field goal for Oakland.

The Raiders (4-12), playing before a half-empty Oakland Coliseum, concluded their worst season since going 1-13 in 1962, the year before Al Davis took charge. Tim Brown had a record-breaking day, but it couldn’t take the sting out of the Raiders’ disappointing season.

Brown’s 14 catches for 164 yards were the most receptions in a game in club history. He also tied Detroit’s Herman Moore for the most catches (104) in the NFL this season and overtook Fred Biletnikoff as the Raider leader in career receptions (599).