AFC Wild Card Game Day Newsletter 10 Jan 7th Bills_Digital | Page 61

CARD PLAYOFF GAME
JAGUARS HOST THE BUFFALO BILLS IN
FIRST HOME PLAYOFF GAME IN 18 YEARS
JACKSONVILLE – Where were you in 1999?
That’s a common question this week as the AFC
South division champion Jacksonville Jaguars
(10-6) prepare to host an AFC Wild Card Playoff
game against the Buffalo Bills (9-7).
The last Jags home playoff game? The AFC
Championship Game following the 1999 season.
Maybe you were at EverBank Field (then Alltel
Stadium) that day as the Jaguars lost to the
Titans. You could have watched it play out on
television like millions of others around the
country. Possibly you were too young to know
what was going on. Perhaps you were not even
born yet. It’s certainly possible that someone
you enjoyed that game with is no longer with
us.
Yes, the 1999 season was special in so many
ways for Jaguars fans. You see it in the history of
the team, the Pride of the Jaguars at EverBank
Field and so many other places around town.
Boselli, Brunell, Lageman, Smith, McCardell,
Brackens… those are a few names that will
always be close to Jaguars fans hearts from not
just that team, but all the early Jaguars teams
that saw immediate success after the birth of
th e franchise.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
Defense, run game and explosive plays… That’s
the key to the Jaguars’ success in the regular
season, and is again the formula for success in
the playoffs.
After the Jaguars allowed 44 points in San
Francisco in Week 16, they rebounded last week
with 15 points allowed to the Tennessee Titans
in Week 17. In key situations, they kept the
game within reach by forcing fi eld goals on short
fi elds, and scored for a league-leading eighth
time on defense with a fourth quarter fumble
return for a touchdown by Yannick Ngakoue.
This is a defensive group with skill and speed at
every level, and a swagger to back it up. They
will tell you before the game that they are good,
they will go play well, and then they will remind
you of how good they are after the game.
That might rub some people the wrong way,
but they do not care. That kind of swagger is
needed for a group trying to make an impact in
the postseason, but they must keep it in check.
The defense has drawn unsportsmanlike conduct
or personal foul penalties throughout the season
while being a little too aggressive or crossing the
line after the whistle.
For perspective, the Jaguars’ oldest player on
the roster – 12th year tight end Marcedes Lewis
– was 15 years old when the Jaguars played in
that AFC Championship Game. With intensity ramped up even more for the
playoffs, the Jaguars must match it with
intensity of their own while maintaining poise
in an environment they have never seen before.
Flip the calendar ahead 18 years… Bortles,
Fournette, Hurns, Campbell, Ngakoue, Ramsey,
Bouye have a chance to build this Jaguars
team’s legacy and move the franchise deep into
the postseason. Offensively, the Jaguars fi nished the year as the
best rushing team in football. Leonard Fournette
is the second Jaguars rookie to surpass 1,000
yards (Fred Taylor, 1998), and is among the