Week 14 of the 2001 NFL season finds the Jaguars playing in Cleveland. Here's what happened in past year's week-14 games. They're ranked in the order of their prominence in Jaguars history.
Jaguars 27, Broncos 24 (12-13-99)
The Jaguars clinched a playoff spot with a league-best 12-1 record and 10-game winning streak, but not without a game-winning, 23-yard Mike Hollis field goal with no time left on the clock.
Denver quarterback Brian Griese led the visiting Broncos to a 14-0 lead with touchdown drives of 80 and 77 yards, then rallied the Broncos to a 24-24 tie with 1:43 to play in the game, when Griese found tight end Byron Chamberlain for a 57-yard touchdown pass.
A pass-interference penalty helped the Jaguars drive from their 27-yard line to the Denver five, from where Hollis kicked the game-winner.
It was a win that did not especially impress the Monday Night Football audience. James Stewart and Fred Taylor rushed for 79 and 74 yards respectively, but Mark Brunell completed just 11 of 25 passes for only 115 yards and no touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars' top-ranked defense crumbled a bit, allowing the Broncos 358 yards and a five-minute, time-of-possession advantage.
With the win, the Jaguars assumed the highest all-time winning percentage of the NFL's 31 teams.
Jaguars 30, Bengals 27 (12-1-96)
The Jaguars' slim playoff hopes were on the line on a rainy day in Jacksonville.
Carl Pickens' eight-yard touchdown catch put the Bengals ahead, 17-13, midway through the second quarter. Then, after two Mike Hollis field goals, Doug Pelfrey's field goal put the Bengals back in the lead, 20-19, with 4:42 to play in the third quarter.
That's when Mark Brunell engineered what would be another in a series of late-game, late-season heroics, which he had begun the previous week in Baltimore. Brunell found Keenan McCardell for a 48-yard touchdown pass that put the Jaguars in the lead to stay. Brunell added a two-point pass to Willie Jackson, and Hollis capped a 74-yard drive with a field goal that put the game out of reach.
It was the Jaguars' first back-to-back wins of the season, led by Hollis' team-record field goals, and Jimmy Smith's seven catches for a career-high 162 yards receiving.
Cornerback Mickey Washington opened the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown return of Clyde Simmons' block of a Pelfrey field goal attempt.
Jaguars 29, Ravens 27 (11-30-97)
Baltimore jumped out to a 14-3 lead at Alltel Stadium, but despite having a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, Mark Brunell didn't falter.
He completed 25 of 40 passes for 317 yards and a touchdown. It marked the ninth time in his career he had thrown for 300 yards.
With the Jaguars leading 16-14 following the second of Mike Hollis' four field goals, Brunell found rookie tight end Damon Jones with a 26-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter.
Ravens starting quarterback Vinny Testaverde was forced to the sideline by injury, and Eric Zeier rallied the Ravens to within a two-point conversion of overtime. Zeier was tackled short of the goal line on a quarterback draw.
The win marked the first time ever the Jaguars won despite a negative turnover ratio (minus one).
Jaguars 37, Lions 22 (12-6-98)
No Mark Brunell, no problem.
In previous seasons, that would've been a problem, but in 1998 the Jaguars found another star for their offense, running back Fred Taylor.
Brunell suffered a severe high-ankle sprain when he was tackled low by defensive end Robert Porcher as Brunell was attempting a pass in the Jaguars' first offensive possession of the game. Brunell was replaced by Jamie Martin, who immediately completed a 67-yard touchdown pass to Keenan McCardell.
However, it was Taylor who was the game's star. Taylor gained 183 yards on 32 carries and scored two touchdowns, giving the Jaguars more than 11 minutes of possession advantage.
The Jaguars went out to a 24-6 lead in the second quarter at Alltel Stadium, when Martin found Jimmy Smith with an 11-yard touchdown pass, but the Lions cut their deficit to 24-13 by halftime when Charlie Batch completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to rookie Germane Crowell.
Taylor put the game out of reach with an 11-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. His yards rushing and rushing attempts were each team records, and he became the first Jaguars player to ever rush for a thousand yards in a season. His total yards (1,348) was also a team mark.
At 10-3, the Jaguars were on the verge of clinching their first-ever division title.
Broncos 31, Jaguars 23 (12-3-95)
The Broncos kept trying to shake the expansion Jaguars, but the inaugural-season team always managed to close the gap.
John Elway's third touchdown pass gave the Broncos a 21-3 lead in the second quarter at Mile High Stadium, but Jimmy Smith scored on the return of a blocked punt, with only eight seconds remaining in the first half.
Denver widened its lead to 28-10 in the third quarter, but Smith scored on the ensuing kickoff, on a play that had Desmond Howard throw across the field to Smith, a la the "Music City Miracle."
Following a Jason Elam field goal, Smith then scored on a 14-yard pass from Steve Beuerlein, who was replacing an injured Brunell (hamstring). That meant Smith had scored in three different ways, and the first two were the Jaguars' first-ever special teams touchdowns.
The Jaguars scored in every quarter for the first time that season, but couldn't help but fall to 3-10.
Jaguars 48, Browns 0 (12-3-00)
The Jaguars (6-7) overwhelmed an under-manned, over-matched Cleveland (3-11) team that posted just two first downs, 53 total net yards and minus-nine yards passing. Meanwhile, the Jaguars rung up 28 first downs, 449 total net yards and 244 rushing yards.
Fred Taylor ran wild, gaining 181 yards and scoring three touchdowns before retiring to the bench in the third quarter. Taylor went over 1,000 yards in a season for the second time in his career, wide receiver Jimmy Smith reached the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth consecutive season, and Mark Brunell cracked the 3,000-yard mark for the fourth time in five seasons.
