Denver’s Reign Ends in a Driving Rain

After muddling through a rain-soaked second half, the Jacksonville Jaguar offense suddenly made some big plays Monday night.

The result was a 27-24 victory over the Denver Broncos that kept the Jaguars (12-1) in control of the race for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Mike Hollis kicked the game-winning 23-yard field goal as time expired.

Fred Taylor, who entered the game when James Stewart suffered a foot injury in the third quarter, had runs of 14 and seven yards to set up the field goal. Before those runs, Dale Carter was called for a 25-yard pass-interference penalty in single coverage on Jimmy Smith.

“There wasn’t a lot to it,” quarterback Mark Brunell said of the game-winning drive. “It said something about our offense. We just said to each other, ‘Let’s go win it. The defense has won enough games for us this year. Let’s get one for ourselves.’ ”

Minutes earlier, Taylor--sidelined most of the season with a hamstring injury--burst through the line for a 38-yard touchdown run to give the Jaguars a 24-17 lead.

But Denver (4-9), which had struggled just as mightily as Jacksonville in the driving rain, tied it when Brian Griese connected with tight end Byron Chamberlain for a 57-yard touchdown pass against the Jaguars’ prevent defense. Chamberlain caught the ball in front of Blaine McElmurry, then bounced off Fernando Bryant and rambled for the tying score with 1:47 left.

Before the the final three minutes, the steady rain was the story of the second half.

Jacksonville’s first six drives of the half resulted in three-and-outs, as Brunell had trouble handling the slippery ball.

Denver and Griese had barely more luck, producing a 40-yard field goal by Jason Elam for a 17-17 tie in the third quarter.

From there, the game turned into a defensive struggle, one in which Jacksonville held the field-position advantage and both teams seemed content to wait for the other to make a crucial mistake.

Instead, both teams came up with big plays for the exciting finish--the first being Taylor’s touchdown run with 2:35 left. Taylor finished with 74 yards in nine carries while Stewart had 79 yards and two touchdowns in 18 carries.

“It was good to see the old Fred,” Brunell said. “It wasn’t just for what it did for us tonight, not only for the touchdown, but for Fred too. It was a big confidence booster for him. It was great to see him when James came out. Fred’s incredible, a great athlete.”

The victory helped the Jaguars regain a one-game lead over Indianapolis in the race for home-field advantage through the playoffs and two-game advantage over Tennessee in the AFC Central.

The Broncos were less than convinced, however, of Jacksonville’s superiority.

“Is Jacksonville the best team in the league? No,” Bronco linebacker Bill Romanowski said. “But what they’re doing is finding a way to win--we used to do that. We need to find that again.”

The loss stripped away the final, minuscule chance the Broncos had of making the playoffs and assured the two-time Super Bowl champions of their first losing season since 1994.

Denver looked like a Super Bowl champion on its first two possessions, taking a 14-0 lead before Jacksonville had gotten a first down. Griese completed his first 11 passes to lead long drives that resulted in a 22-yard scoring pass to Rod Smith and Olandis Gary’s one-yard touchdown dive.