1997 Jacksonville Jaguars season

1997 Jacksonville Jaguars season
Head Coach	Tom Coughlin
Home Field	TIAA Bank Field
Results
Record	11–5
Place	2nd AFC Central
Playoff Finish	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Broncos) 42–17
Uniform
File:AFCS-1997-Uniform-JAX.PNG
Timeline
Previous season	Next season
1996	1998

The 1997Jacksonville Jaguars season was the franchise's 3rd season in the National Football League and the 3rd under head coach Tom Coughlin. The teams won 11 games and made the playoffs as a wild card team, but lost their first game to the Denver Broncos.

The team also made a couple of changes to the uniforms. They change the numbers to new font style numbers and added black side panels to the uniforms. During the offseason, the team had changed the font style numbers on the jerseys with the skinnier style with a black drop shadow in the back of the numbers but during the team 1997 preseason games there were several complaints that the announcers and the viewers had a hard time recognizing the numbers on the players. So the team decided to make the jersey numbers wider and removed the drop shadow numbers by the beginning of the regular season

Offseason

Draft

Main article: 1997 NFL Draft

1997 Jacksonville Jaguars draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	21	Renaldo Wynn	Defensive tackle	Notre Dame
2	50	Mike Logan	Cornerback	West Virginia
3	79	James Hamilton	Linebacker	North Carolina
4	114	Seth Payne	Defensive tackle	Cornell
5	147	Damon Jones	Tight end	Southern Illinois
6	184	Daimon Shelton	Running back	Sacramento State
7	221	Jon Hesse	Linebacker	Nebraska
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1997 Jacksonville Jaguars staff
	Front office Chairman/President/Chief Executive Officer – Wayne Weaver Senior Vice President of Football Operations – Michael Huyghue Director of College Scouting – Rick Reiprish Director of Pro Personnel – Ron Hill Assistant Director of Pro Personnel – Fran Foley College Scout – Louis Clark College Scout – Rick Mueller Head coaches Head Coach – Tom Coughlin Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Chris Palmer Running Backs – Jerald Ingram Wide Receivers – Pete Carmichael Tight Ends – John Alexander Offensive Line – Mike Maser			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Dick Jauron Defensive Line – John Pease Inside Linebackers – Steve Szabo Outside Linebackers – Lucious Selmon Secondary – Randy Edsall Special teams coaches Special Teams Coordinator – Larry Pasquale Assistant Special Teams – Joe Baker Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Jerry Palmieri Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Jeff Hurd

Roster

1997 Jacksonville Jaguars roster
	Quarterbacks  8 Mark Brunell 11 Rob Johnson Running backs 49 Ty Hallock FB 20 Natrone Means 39 Chris Parker 31 Daimon Shelton FB 33 James Stewart Wide receivers 84 Reggie Barlow 80 Willie Jackson 87 Keenan McCardell 81 Will Moore 82 Jimmy Smith Tight ends 86 Derek Brown 85 Rich Griffith 83 Pete Mitchell		Offensive linemen 71 Tony Boselli T 63 Michael Cheever C 62 Ben Coleman G 73 Brian DeMarco T 67 Jeff Novak G 72 Leon Searcy T 76 Rich Tylski G 79 Dave Widell C Defensive linemen 90 Tony Brackens DE 92 Don Davey DT 64 John Jurkovic DT 56 Jeff Lageman DE 91 Seth Payne DT 94 Kelvin Pritchett DT 96 Clyde Simmons DE 99 Joel Smeenge DE 97 Renaldo Wynn DE		Linebackers 52 Brant Boyer 51 Kevin Hardy 57 Jeff Kopp 50 Eddie Robinson 58 Bryan Schwartz Defensive backs 21 Aaron Beasley CB 45 Travis Davis S 27 Deon Figures CB 28 Dana Hall S 37 Chris Hudson S 41 Dave Thomas CB Special teams  4 Bryan Barker P  1 Mike Hollis K		Reserve lists Practice squad -- Curtis Anderson WR Rookies in italics Active, Inactive, Practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	TV Time(ET)	TV Announcers	Attendance
1	August 31, 1997	at Baltimore Ravens	W 28–27	NBC 4:00pm	Tom Hammond & Jim Kelly	61,018
2	September 7, 1997	New York Giants	W 40–13	FOX 4:00pm	Kevin Harlan & Jerry Glanville	70,581
3	Bye
4	September 22, 1997	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 30–21	ABC 9:00pm	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford & Dan Dierdorf	73,016
5	September 28, 1997	at Washington Redskins	L 24–12	NBC 1:00pm	Tom Hammond, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	74,421
6	October 5, 1997	Cincinnati Bengals	W 21–13	NBC 1:00pm	Dan Hicks & Beasley Reece	67,128
7	October 12, 1997	Philadelphia Eagles	W 38–21	FOX 1:00pm	Thom Brennaman & Ron Pitts	69,150
8	October 19, 1997	at Dallas Cowboys	L 26–22	NBC 1:00pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	64,464
9	October 26, 1997	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 23–17 (OT)	NBC 4:00pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	57,011
10	November 2, 1997	at Tennessee Oilers	W 30–24	NBC 4:00pm	Joel Meyers & Beasley Reece	27,208
11	November 9, 1997	Kansas City Chiefs	W 24–10	NBC 1:00pm	Dan Hicks & Jim Kelly	70,444
12	November 16, 1997	Tennessee Oilers	W 17–9	NBC 1:00pm	Don Criqui & Jim Mora	70,070
13	November 23, 1997	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 31–26	NBC 4:00pm	Charlie Jones & Bob Trumpy	55,158
14	November 30, 1997	Baltimore Ravens	W 29–27	NBC 1:00pm	Joel Meyers & Beasley Reece	63,712
15	December 7, 1997	New England Patriots	L 26–20	NBC 1:00pm	Tom Hammond & Randy Cross	73,446
16	December 14, 1997	at Buffalo Bills	W 20–14	NBC 1:00pm	Joel Meyers, Paul Maguire & Jim Kelly	41,231
17	December 21, 1997	at Oakland Raiders	W 20–9	NBC 4:00pm	Joel Meyers & Jim Kelly	40,032

Standings

AFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Pittsburgh Steelers	11	5	0	.688	372	307
Jacksonville Jaguars	11	5	0	.688	394	318
Tennessee Oilers	8	8	0	.500	333	310
Cincinnati Bengals	7	9	0	.438	355	405
Baltimore Ravens	6	9	1	.406	326	345

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
Wildcard	December 27, 1997	at Denver Broncos (4)	L 42–17	74,481

AFC Wild Card Game vs Denver Broncos

AFC Wild Card game: Jacksonville Jaguars at Denver Broncos – Game summary 1 2 3 4 Total Jaguars 0 7 10 0 17 Broncos 14 7 0 21 42 at Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado Date: December 27, 1997 Game time: 2:00 p.m. MST

After upsetting the Broncos in the playoffs in the previous year, the Jaguars fell short in the re-match. John Elway lead the Broncos to a 42-17 win over the visiting Jaguars, throwing for 223 yards and a touchdown. Mark Brunell was 18 for 32 for 203 yards, but had no touchdowns on top of an interception. Similar to the year before when the Broncos could not stop Natrone Means and the Jaguars running game, the Jaguars struggled all game to contain the Broncos running attack. Terrell Davis carried 31 times for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Nonetheless, the game was close throughout, as the Broncos led by only 21-17 late in the 3rd. But the Broncos would score 21 unanswered points in the 4th quarter, ending the Jaguars season.

Awards and records

• Mike Hollis, franchise record (tied), most field goals in one game, 5 field goals (November 30, 1997)
• Mike Hollis, franchise record (tied), most field goals in one season, 31 field goals (November 30, 1997)
• Mike Hollis, franchise record, most field goals in one season (tied), 31 field goals
• Mike Hollis, franchise record, most points in one season, 134 points
• James Stewart, franchise record, most touchdowns in one game, 5 touchdowns (October 12, 1997)
• James Stewart, franchise record, most points in one game, 30 points (October 12, 1997)

External links

• Jaguars on Pro Football Reference
• Jaguars Schedule on jt-sw.com