Jaguars-Bills '96 Wild Card with Steve Palazzolo

Steve Palazzolo (Check The Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson) and host Thomas Emerick are pondering a modern comp for Natrone Means. They revisit the 1996 AFC Wild Card matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills, a game that marks the Jags' arrival and a shifting NFL landscape in the mid-1990s. Also Steve is now in the Remember That Game four-timers club!

The ’96 Jaguars rebound from a 4–7 start, surge through December, and carry that confidence into Rich Stadium against a Bills (AFC) dynasty that just didn't lose at Rich Stadium and a nucleus still intact with Bruce Smith, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and the K-Gun. What follows is a collision of influential styles. Really fun convo!

Remember That Game is a podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey and chart the path of the zeitgeist. Check out Steve’s show Check The Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson at The 33rd Team.

Episode threads:

We weave these in with key moments from the game, along with lead-up and aftermath.

• ‘25 Jags bounce back midseason and red-hot thru December, get you nostalgic for ‘96? How did that roster get so good so quick, and what clicked for Brunell and Co. to rally from 4-7?
• How you became a Jaguars fan up in New England the dual rise of these teams in ‘96.
• Is the Week 17 Morten Andersen miss the most shocking way a team has ever clinched a playoff spot? And would that have seemed too unlikely and dramatic even for a 90s Disney sports flick?
• Best home playoff record all-time is the Bills at Rich Stadium entering ‘96. Nucleus is still intact and we see it early with Kelly-to-Thomas for the opening score. But an aging nucleus. How intimidating were the Bills to you at that point? How well did that Jacksonville roster stack up? Confident about Boselli vs. Bruce?
• What went right for the ‘95 expansion squads that didn’t for Browns in ‘99 or Texans in ‘02? How much the fast ascent of the Jags and Panthers is owed to better decisions, and how much is it owed to better environment. If the NFL adds two expansion teams someday, should the league find ways to make more quality veterans available to expansion teams, and also afford more cap flexibility to help them lift off? What would be your approach?
• Is it over without that Clyde Simmons pick-six stabilizing things early? Your “it’s so over/we’re so back” journey during the game and where you watched.
• Teal having a moment in 95 with the expansion Jags and Charlotte Hornets. GOAT jerseys? And is the mid-90s NFL aesthetic broadly superior to the ensuing decades?
• Is there a modern Natrone Means comp? Is that kind of big bruising RB critical to playoff success? Not that these guys comp to Means specifically, but is there wisdom to feeding like a Pacheco or a Shonn Greene that suddenly becomes super valuable in January. Is there something real to that, in the ‘90s and or 2020s?
• Players on the ‘96 Jags that need more Hall of Fame love. And how much of Coughlin’s case should come from his Jacksonville years. Kevin Gilbride, the K-Gun, and this game as a collision of styles that influenced the modern game.
• The level of control at the line that Brunell and especially Kelly have in adjusting to defenses (along with WRs Smith/McCardell/Reed/Early on sight adjustments and option routes), it seems in recent years that playcallers have taken more control back. Would it help offenses in 2026 to put more pre- and post-snap control back on the QB’s plate?
• Is what the Bills did with 4 consecutive SB appearances less likely to happen again than a first Super Bowl threepeat? Is that an underrated accomplishment?
• Jags knock off Bills and Broncos back-to-back. Patriots eject the Steelers. And there’s no Cowboys or Niners on the other side of the bracket in CC. We get fresh faces in the Super Bowl. Did that make the ‘96 postseason more exhilarating and how did it change the way you thought about the NFL?

HOST

Remember That Game creator and producer Thomas Emerick

Guest

Check the Mic co-host Steve Palazzolo (Check The Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson)

SPONSORS

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