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Who were the '97-'98 Denver Broncos' biggest rival?


Championshiporbust

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I would have to say the Jaguars. It started with that 1996 playoff loss. The next year, Denver put a 42-17 whooping on them in the Wild Card Game (even though the Jags got within 21-17 going into the fourth quarter).

Then, in week 8 of the 1998 season, both teams met in a key AFC showdown. The Broncos were 7-0 and coming off a bye week. The Jags started 5-0 before losing to the Bills in Week 7 17-16 (the game where Flutie ran for a TD with 18 seconds left).

From what I remember, that JAX-DEN matchup had a fair amount of hype (it was a 4:15 start. It probably was the national game that afternoon).

The first quarter was fairly uneventful (a 3-3 tie). However, Denver broke it open in the second quarter, and they went into halftime up 27-10 (capped off by a Jason Elam record-tying 63-yard FG).

The Broncos only scored ten more points in the second half, but that was all they needed, and they went on to win 37-24.

Denver went on to win it all, and the Jags won their first division title that year before losing to the Jets in the divisional round.

BTW, these teams would meet the next year on MNF in a pretty meaningless game (for Denver, who was 4-8). However, the Brian Griese and Olandis Gary-led Broncos were up 14-0 in the second quarter on a 22-yard pass from Griese to Rod Smith and a Gary TD run. Then, late in the game, Griese hit TE Byron Chamberlain for a TD with 1:43 left to tie it at 24, but the Jags were able to survive after Mike Hollis kicked the winning FG at the gun for a 27-24 win. That would be the last time these two organizations would meet until Week 2 of the 2004 season.

Edited by 7DnBrnc53
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I think the team that really gave them a kick in the butt were the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jags were a second-year expansion team that came into Denver and embarrassed them in the '96-'97 playoffs. Little did we know at the time that this would mark the end of an era. Gone were the old Broncos with the big D on their helmet that couldn't win the big one.

Their first playoff game in '97 was a triumphant revenge win over the same Jaguars. In the '98 regular season, they beat the Jaguars in a much closer game (34-27), and would have faced them in the playoffs again if not for the Jets.

After Elway retired and the Broncos slumped, Jacksonville went on to have one of their greatest seasons (14-2).

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Their main rival was integrity. They had none.

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Consider Mark Schlereth, who spent six seasons as a Denver Broncos offensive lineman, protecting quarterback John Elway en route to two Super Bowl victories. In a 1998 playoff game at Kansas City, Schlereth and his fellow linemen coated their arms and the backs of their jerseys in Vaseline. The Chiefs' defenders couldn't grab onto the slimy Broncos and quickly complained to officials. It was quite a scene, Schlereth recalls, as officials used towels on the sidelines to wipe down the oily visitors in a game Denver would ultimately win, 14-10, on its way to a Super Bowl triumph.

"Did I grease up my jersey, and use sticky substances on my gloves? You're damn right," Schlereth said recently. "What you call cheating is a fine line. It's an interesting line. What we did, in the locker room, is called being creative. Certain cheating is snickered at, or applauded."

Source

 

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In December 2001, the Broncos were fined $968,000 and lost a third-round pick in the 2002 draft for violations reportedly relating to $29 million in deferred payments to quarterback John Elway and running back Terrell Davis.

On Thursday, the league announced that the Broncos have been fined $950,000 and will lose a third-round selection in next year's draft for circumventing the salary cap between 1996 and '98

Source

Should have stripped them of the championships iyam.

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16 hours ago, 7DnBrnc53 said:

The Reddit post is a Broncos' fan's opinion and has no real supporting facts. Any links in there to his sources are 404'd. There is one source that works, OTC. Here's an excerpt from the first paragraph that was omitted.

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But this was still the earliest days of the salary cap and certain teams in the NFL were always finding ways to try to cheat the salary cap. Some violated the spirit of the CBA (I think every early CBA seemed to have some type of prior Dallas Cowboys loophole closed), but the Broncos remain were found in violation of the salary cap and were fined years later for these violations.

The MileHighReport, again another opinion piece not backed up by facts. The last sentence, "Now go away haters, wallow in your own team's deflated ego;)", screams non-biased.

From PFT:

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The Broncos claimed at the time that no competitive advantage was gained from the violations; the league did not directly address that topic in announcing the settlement of a proceeding brought by the NFL’s Management Council against the Broncos.

 

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On 6/10/2021 at 7:57 PM, kingseanjohn said:

The MileHighReport, again another opinion piece not backed up by facts. The last sentence, "Now go away haters, wallow in your own team's deflated ego;)", screams non-biased.

Fine. Believe what you want to. The Broncos didn't cheat, but whatever keeps you up at night.

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50 minutes ago, 7DnBrnc53 said:

Fine. Believe what you want to. The Broncos didn't cheat, but whatever keeps you up at night.

"Did I grease up my jersey, and use sticky substances on my gloves? You're damn right," Schlereth said recently. "What you call cheating is a fine line. It's an interesting line. What we did, in the locker room, is called being creative. Certain cheating is snickered at, or applauded."

I'll leave it at that. We're obviously going to have to agree to disagree despite what a Broncos player, who played in those games, has said on record.

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1 minute ago, Championshiporbust said:

Yes they were. Was the 49ers and Packers. 

The 1997 Packers wanted to face the Cowboys in the playoffs to get back to the Super Bowl. 

I have no doubt the Packers viewed us that way. Brett said so himself, that he hated that for years he could never beat us. 

But from the Cowboys POV, it was the NFCE + 9ers + Steelers. Never the Packers. 

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As many others noted, it was Jacksonville. But it goes further than just what's mentioned.

Heading up to the playoff matchup after the '96 season, Denver largely treated the Jaguars like they were a joke of a team that didn't belong on the same field as the Broncos. Woody Paige's Jagwads article actually kinda spurred the game and fallout from that towards a rivalry. That loss became a national embarrassment because of how flippant and dismissive everyone in Denver had been about having to play the Jaguars, and it fueled the matchups over the next two years having a bigger feel than they might have had, had the first matchup just been a normal run of the mill playoff loss.

 

That article was such a big deal that last year, Paige said that the fallout from it still follows him around 23 years after he wrote it.

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The Broncos cheated their ***** off. Like 100% provable with investigation (costing them the pick) and testimony (Schlereth) .

  • The 2003 Panthers were found guilty of numerous steroid abuses so good on the good guys (Patriots) for beating them.
  • The Patriots routinely beat step-on-the-field-to-redirect-Jacoby-Jones Tomlin as well.

The Patriots violated a memo. It was an in-season memo that had no actual standing other than the commissioner playing god.

  • Oh yeah, the Patriots did get caught red handed violating an actual legit rule once... filming the Bengals for a documentary thing last year and they lost a pick.

 

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The 49ers cheated their ***** off too with salary cap shenanigans and destroying headsets (Walsh)

He would script the first 15 plays and then break the headsets so the other coach could not communicate.

  • if the 49ers are broken then the other team had to turn theirs off

Jerry Rice even admitted to being a cheater on live TV when he though Brady was a cheater due to NFL propaganda.

 

For some reason complete losers have to still hold a Patriots grudge to this day.

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