TODAY’S GAMES

Jacksonville (11-5) at Denver (12-4)

* The facts: 1 p.m., Mile High Stadium, Channel 7.

* Head to head: Did not play each other this season.

* Storyline: A year ago, it was the Broncos who gagged in the Mile High thin air. In one of the greatest upsets in NFL playoff history, the Jaguars, more than 10-point underdogs, overcame a 12-0 deficit and scored on six consecutive possessions to topple Denver, 30-27.

The setback devastated the Broncos and the city, which loses its perspective during the football season.

Denver, undefeated at home this year as it was a year ago before folding in the playoffs, squandered the opportunity to win the AFC West title and gain the home-field edge again with losses to Kansas City, Pittsburgh and San Francisco down the stretch. Jacksonville, in position to win the AFC Central title, lost to Cincinnati, thereby losing a divisional tiebreaker with the champion Steelers.

The Broncos have won 25 of 32 regular-season games under Coach Mike Shanahan the last two years, but since Dan Reeves’ departure in 1992, Denver has not won a playoff game.

* Keys to the game: The Broncos, 16th in stopping the run and considered small along the defensive line, have to put the brakes on the Jaguars’ big brutes, Natrone Means and backup James Stewart, who combined for almost 1,400 yards. At the same time they will have to track quarterback Mark Brunell, who plays behind one of the biggest offensive lines in the league and who has begun running more in recent weeks as his injured knee gains strength.

Jacksonville’s defense, hit early this season with injuries along the defensive line, catches a break in that Terrell Davis has a bum shoulder. Jacksonville’s run defense ranks 13th, but Davis will be getting his first contact since he was knocked out against San Francisco, and look what happened to the Broncos when they tried keeping up with the 49ers without him.

If the game becomes a shootout, John Elway will be taking on the NFL’s 24th-ranked pass defense, while Brunell will be matched against the fifth-ranked pass defense.

* Now you know: Denver cornerback Tyrone Braxton has raised Jacksonville’s ire with accusations that Randy Edsall, coach of Jacksonville’s defensive backs, became intoxicated at the team hotel at the Pro Bowl last year, and taunted Braxton about the Jaguars’ upset victory.

“He kept getting drunk, talking about, ‘Oh, yeah, no one ever gave us a shot, how great did we play?’ . . . It was kind of crazy. The season was over and I was kind of over it by then, but then he brought it up.”

Edsall declined comment, but Jaguar Coach Tom Coughlin said, “I question the need for this type of rhetoric at this time.”

* They said it: “If we play the kind of game we’re capable of playing, there isn’t a team out there that can beat us,” said Denver tight end Shannon Sharpe. Except maybe Jacksonville.

The line: Broncos by 7 1/2.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BRONCO LOG (12-4)

Kansas City: W 19-3

At Seattle: W 35-14

St. Louis: W 35-14

Cincinnati: W 38-20

At Atlanta: W 29-21

New England: W 34-13

At Oakland: L 28-25

St Buffalo: W 23-20 OT

Seattle: W 30-27

Carolina: W 34-0

At Kansas City: L 24-22

Oakland: W 31-3

At San Diego: W 38-28

At Pittsburgh: L 35-24

At San Francisco: L 34-17

San Diego: W 38-3

JAGUAR LOG (11-5)

At Baltimore: W 28-27

N.Y. Giants: W 40-13

Pittsburgh: W 30-21

At Washington: L 24-12

Cincinnati: W 21-13

Philadelphia: W 38-21

At Dallas: L 26-22

At Pittsburgh: L 23-17 OT

At Tennessee: W 30-24

Kansas City: W 24-10

Tennessee: W 17-9

At Cincinnati: L 31-26

Baltimore: W 29-27

New England: L 26-20

At Buffalo: W 20-14

At Oakland: W 20-9