Second Year’s The Charm Jaguars Top Denver To Continue Upset Run; Packers Beat 49ers

The Jacksonville Jaguars, a second-year team, pulled off the biggest playoff upset in 28 years Saturday when they beat the Denver Broncos 30-27.

Green Bay, the other favorite, had few problems in the NFC game, routing San Francisco 35-14.

Jacksonville, which upset Buffalo last week and went into the game at Mile High Stadium as a two-touchdown underdog, overcame a 12-0 first-period deficit as Mark Brunell threw for two touchdowns and Natrone Means rushed for 140 yards and two scores.

Jacksonville’s victory may have been the biggest upset since the New York Jets, 19-point underdogs, beat the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in the 1969 Super Bowl. Quarterback Joe Namath “guaranteed” a victory before the game and the Jets came through.

For Denver, it was a frustrating end to a season in which it lost only one game that meant anything. The final two losses in a 13-3 season came after the Broncos had clinched the home-field playoff advantage.

The Jaguars move on to the AFC title game to play the winner of today’s game between Pittsburgh and New England at Foxboro, Mass. The other expansion team, the Carolina Panthers, also remain alive. The Panthers play host to defending champion Dallas today.

The Dallas-Carolina game has been overshadowed by a woman’s allegations that Michael Irvin and Erik Williams of the Cowboys forced her to have sex at gunpoint.

But Williams and Irvin will play and Dom Capers, who earned coach of the year honors for leading the Panthers to the NFC West title in just their second season, thinks the Dallas problems may help them.

“Sometimes things like that can unify a team for a common purpose,” Capers says.

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