The last time the hosted the was the first time
Freddie Freeman Jersey people outside of Jacksonville took this team seriously. And that's fair; the Jags had won just 11 times in ' first three seasons and in 2016 alone had been outscored by 82 points. So yes, folks remained suspicious. Thumping the , 44-7, in Week 3 was nice but history suggested it wasn't nece sarily indicative of the changing of fates. But then, two weeks later, the Jaguars went to Pittsburgh and shellacked the Steelers, 30-9. That shellacking included forcing into five interceptions -- including two pick-sixes -- and watching rookie running back rumble for 181 yards, the cherry on top coming with le s than two minutes to the go and game already decided: UNTOUCHED! goes NINETY yards to the HOUSE! NFL (@NFL) Three and a half months later, the Jaguars are back. And for all that's changed in that time a lot hasn't. Jacksonville entered Week 6 with the 's most dominant defense (first) and a middle-of-the-road offense (16th), according to . Ahead of the divisional rematch, the Jags' offense and defense rank ... . The Steelers, meanwhile, were sixth in offense and fourth in defense back in Week 6 and are now No. 3 in offense and No. 9 in defense. Numbers aside, the point remains unchanged: The Steelers are diverse enough to win in different ways. But the Jags will only go as far as their defense takes them. How to Watch Who: Jaguars vs. Steelers Where:Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania When:Sunday, Jan. 14, 1:05 p.m. ET TV:CBS Streaming: CBS All Acce sBlake Bortles will need to have the game of his lifeYour first reaction to this might be to point to Bortles' stat line from the Week 5 matchup. He attempted a whopping 14 pa ses, completed just eight of them for 95 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed once for nine yards.AND THE JAGUARS STILL WON BY THREE TOUCHDOWNS.Of course, a big reason for that final score was Roethlisberger's five picks, two of which directly resulted in 14 points. To put Big Ben's afternoon in
Scott Kazmir Jersey perspective, 36 percent of his interceptions on the season came in that game against the Jaguars. There are two ways to look at this: 1) Roethlisberger, a future Hall of Famer, had one of the worst outings of his career and it's not likely to ever happen again, or 2) Hey, dummy, you think the Jaguars' defense has something to do with that? The answer is probably somewhere in the middle, perhaps even leaning towards the Jags' dominant defense. But unle s we can put them down for 14 more points, we should recalibrate our expectations for the offense. Which brings us back to Bortles. Against the in the wild-card round, Bortles looked equal parts nervous and lost. The nervousne s is understandable; it was his first playoff game and the Jags' first time in the postseason since the 2007 season. But it's incomprehensible how a former first-round pick making his 49th consecutive start could so badly mi s wide-open receivers. That was
Hank Aaron Jersey a recurring theme in the first half and it wasn't until Bortles started running the ball did he show anything resembling confidence. When it was over, his rushing stats -- 10 carries, 88 yards -- were better than his pa sing stats -- 12 of 23 for 87 yards with a touchdown. Working from the a sumption that Roethlisberger won't gift wrap five interceptions again on Sunday, the Jaguars offense will have to have more balance against a very good Steelers defense. Opponents have regularly had eight defenders near the line of scrimmage to slow the Jags' rushing attack, which starts with Fournette, and the results show that it's working. Jacksonville averaged 103.4 rushing yards per game in its last three games, down from their season-long average of 141.4. Being predictable is about the worst thing you can say about an offense and that, in a word, defines the Jaguars. Exacerbating matters: Mi sed blocks from the offensive line and mi sed reads from Fournette. But even when everything works and Fournette looks like the guy who treaded the Steelers' defense back in October, the Jaguars aren't winning in January without some help from their quarterback. Before the faced the Jaguars in November, Cincy linebacker : "I think the film tells for itself that obviously Fournette can beat you and I'm not sure Blake can beat us. We want to put it in his hands and have him beat us, if he can." To Bortles' credit, that's exactly what he did, in part because Fournette didn't play for disciplinary reasons. Still, Bortles completed 24 of 38 pa ses for 259 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions, kicked three field goals and added a 63-yard punt return to cap off the 23-7 win. But if Jacksonville can get its running game going early, Bortles will have chances to
Tyler Flowers Jersey make the throws we all know he can make. We saw it against the Bills and we'll undoubtedly see it Sunday too: 3 biggest pa s plays for the vs BUF... Seems to be a bit of a trend! Use play action to open up the middle of the field!! Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) In fact, Bortles ranks eighth in the NFL in pa ser rating (106.
when throwing out of play action, according to Pro Football Focus. He's better than , and , which is the equivalent of a flashing neon sign shouting "THROW MORE PLAY-ACTION PASSES." Of course, that's contingent on running-game succe s, which, as Burfict noted two months ago, is the defense's No. 1 focus.It's a vicious cycle. But Pittsburgh's pa s defense is susceptible to the big play. The that over the past nine games, the Steelers have allowed 12 pa ses of at least 40 yards, 22 pa ses of at least 30 yards and 27 pa ses of at least 25 yards. And after leading the league in the fewest big plays allowed from Weeks 1-7, they're last in the league since. The Steelers have been against opponents' No. 1 receivers, really good against No. 2 receivers and tight ends, and among the league's worst against No. 3 receivers and running backs. If Bortles gets comfortable and plays more like he did against the Bengals than the Bills, that could mean a big afternoon
Dansby Swanson Jersey for , and perhaps even Fournette who isn't known for his receiving skills though he did have 36 catches for 302 yards and a touchdown during the regular season. So we come back to this question one last time: Is Blake Bortles up to the task? "If his confidence isn't rattled by what's gone on in the past, I don't think something like his performance against the Bills gonna rattle him," coach Doug Marrone told reporters Monday. "You know what I'm saying? I think he's gonna come and just try to work because his one characteristic is his toughne s. That's his greatest characteristic, to me, when people ask me. It's like, 'Hey, what do you like about him?' I say, 'He's tough, both mentally and physically.'" The Roethlisberger Redemption Tour starts SundayNot long after Ben Roethlisberger went 33 of 55
