Chiefs vs Jaguars Game Day Newsletter 3Sept8Chiefs_Layout_JadDigitalMag | Page 31

Jaguars 28, Ravens 27
Date: August 31, 1997
Records entering game: Jaguars 0-0, Ravens 0-0
Site: : Memorial Stadium; Baltimore, Md.
Senior writer John Oehser’s “oral history” of 25
memorable games in Jaguars history highlights
a 28-27 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in
Week 1 of the 1997 regular season – a game in
which backup quarterback Rob Johnson led the
Jaguars to a dramatic victory
How It Happened
Call this the “Rob Johnson game.” With Jaguars
quarterback Mark Brunell out with a knee
injury sustained in the preseason – and with
expectations high following a trip to the AFC
Championship game the previous season –
Johnson made the lone start of his Jaguars
career in the 1997 regular-season opener and
turned in a memorable performance in a 28-27
victory over the Baltimore Ravens. Johnson, a
fourth-round selection from Southern California
in the 1995 NFL Draft, ran for one touchdown
and threw for two more – and the Jaguars
rallied from a late defi cit to beat their AFC
Central rivals. Johnson, after rushing for a
25-yard touchdown and throwing a 20-yard
touchdown pass to wide receiver Jimmy Smith,
sustained a high-ankle sprain late in the fi rst
half. He re-injured the ankle in the third quarter,
left briefl y again and was carted to the locker
room for X-rays. When they proved negative,
Johnson played through the injury in the fourth
quarter. His 28-yard touchdown pass to Smith
with 5:47 remaining in the fourth quarter
provided the winning points.
“We had a lot of confi dence in Rob, because Rob was one of those guys who had a
lot of confi dence in his arm. He wanted to throw the football. We wanted to make it
easy for him, too. We didn’t have to make it easy for him, because he had arm talent,
but me and Jimmy were like, ‘Let’s make this easy for him. Let’s get wide open and
make it real easy.’ If you watch that game, we were wide open. It happened because
of Rob, but we wanted to make it easy for him.”
– WR Keenan McCardell