Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson waves to the fans during the fourth quarter of Jacksonville’s 45-42 win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh on Sunday. (Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports)
PITTSBURGH — The talk among Jacksonville Jaguars players at their team breakfast Sunday was about what Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell tweeted Saturday night.
“Everybody saw it,” Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell said later Sunday. “In the morning at breakfast, everybody was kind of talking about it like, ‘Oh, okay.’… It awoken our competitive spirit that was already awoke. But it just kind of gave it a little extra.”
The New England Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans in convincing fashion Saturday night in the first AFC divisional round game. That prompted Bell, as the Steelers readied to host the Jaguars in the other AFC semifinal Sunday in a rematch of a regular season game lost by Pittsburgh, to look forward to a potential meeting with the Patriots in the AFC championship game in what would have been a rematch of another regular season game lost by Pittsburgh.
I love round 2’s…we’ll have two round 2’s in back to back weeks…
— Le'Veon Bell (@L_Bell26) January 14, 2018
It was noticed and noted by the Jaguars, who spoiled a Steelers-Patriots return engagement by winning, 45-42, Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field.
“Oh, yeah,” Campbell said in the Jaguars’ postgame locker room. “Bright and early. He said he wants to do Round 2, revenge game for this week and then next week … Two Round 2s. And honestly, my heart told me, ‘You’re gonna have to earn it because we won’t just give it to you. You’re gonna have to come out here and take it from us.’ We came out here and got an early lead. And we knew if we got an early lead, we could do some good things … A win is a win. No matter how you get it, we fought hard. This team has a lot of resolve, a lot of resiliency, a lot of passion.”
The Jaguars also had a lot to say late Sunday.
“For us, it wasn’t about getting into talking matches, trying to fight them, trying to do anything,” defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. “We’re just trying to let the clock run out and go home while they go home and prepare for New England that they’re about to play next week in Imaginary Land.”
[The Jaguars roasted the Steelers for looking ahead at rematch with the Patriots]
Jackson said he’d learned about Bell’s Twitter comment from Jaguars Coach Doug Marrone.
“Coach told us about it,” Jackson said. “I was asleep, man. I don’t even have a Twitter, to be honest with you. And I don’t really care about all that stuff. It’s one of those things where we don’t talk, man. Who cares what you’re gonna say? Who cares what you say you’re gonna do? Unless you can see the future, then I have an issue with that. Then I’m a little nervous. But if you can’t see in the future, then I don’t care because you’ve still got to see us as men. I’m a man. You’re a man. You’ve got to step up on that line and see who’s better. And today we were better.”
Indeed they were. Jacksonville’s defense, ranked second in the league during the regular season and coming off a dominant performance in a first-round playoff triumph over the Buffalo Bills, was carved up to some extent Sunday by Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He threw for 469 yards and five touchdowns, although some of that production came with the Steelers in pass-only mode and the Jaguars willing to give up yards in smaller portions at a time while protecting a lead.
But the Jaguars did what was necessary. They were much improved on offense, with rookie tailback Leonard Fournette rushing for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Beleaguered quarterback Blake Bortles threw for 214 yards and a touchdown without an interception. And the Jaguars led 21-0 and 28-7 in the first half, then had a reply whenever the Steelers drew close in the second half.
All teams like to play the disrespect card. In the Jaguars’ case, it’s far more valid than usual. This is a team that went 3-13 last season. When this season began, the Jaguars hadn’t won more than five games in a season since 2010. They hadn’t experienced a winning season since 2007.
Jackson, as he spoke in front of his locker at Heinz Field, noted the Jaguars’ minimal national exposure during the regular season.
“It feels awesome and a blessing to be able to bring people out here to do something, and do it,” Jackson said. “To be able to bring a product to this team and be stout on defense, just allow the defense to be great and do what I need to do to make that defense great, that’s what I feel proud about. This is an awesome feeling.
“We’re the last two teams in the AFC. We climbed from the bottom. We didn’t even have a game on TV all year. The NFL didn’t even give us a . . . chance. So it’s one of those things. We [defied] everybody’s logic. Everybody talked down on us. Nobody gave us a chance. And now look at us. We’re the top two teams in the AFC.”
Actually, someone gave the Jaguars a chance. Jackson said in July that the Jaguars would win the Super Bowl this season.
“People are looking now,” he said Sunday. “People are really raising eyebrows and saying, ‘This man is a philosopher.’ Is that what I am? Nostradamus? I can see the future, not Le’Veon.”
[Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin defends decision-making: ‘I’m comfortable with what we called.’]
Cornerback Jalen Ramsey took it a step further later Sunday night. After the team returned to Jacksonville, Ramsey told fans gathered at EverBank Field that the Jaguars are going to the Super Bowl and are going to win that thing (not in exactly those words).
The task will be enormous Sunday in Foxborough, of course. The Patriots will be playing in their seventh straight AFC championship game, their 12th with Bill Belichick as coach and Tom Brady at quarterback. That duo is seeking its eighth Super Bowl appearance and sixth Super Bowl triumph.
One thing going in the Jaguars’ favor? They have the Patriots’ Kryptonite, Tom Coughlin, as their front office football czar. Coughlin, as coach of the New York Giants, handed Belichick and Brady their two Super Bowl defeats. He and Marrone engineered the quick turnaround this season, and now the Jaguars are back in the AFC championship game for the first time since Coughlin, as their coach, took them there in the 1996 and ’99 seasons. They are seeking the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance.
Campbell said he watched the Patriots dismantle the Titans on Saturday night and understood — sort of — what Bell was thinking when he took to Twitter.
“It’s an emotional game,” Campbell said. “When you watch it and you watch that game — I watched it, too. At the end of the game, I was thinking like, ‘Wow. The Patriots are tough. They’re a really good team.’ Because I’ve got a lot of respect for Tennessee. We played them and lost to them twice. And I see what they can do and it’s like, ‘Wow. The Patriots just abused them.’
“But it was like, okay, if we get an opportunity, we’re gonna give it our best shot. That’s what I felt when I watched the game. But when you tweet it out, though, you’ve got to know that you’re gonna give a little more motivation. Not that we needed it. But at the end of the day, it just gives you a little more motivation.”
The Patriots are unlikely to provide the same sort of extra motivation for the Jaguars this week. Belichick’s teams are not exactly known for taking to social media to provide bulletin-board material for foes.
The Jaguars will be decided underdogs in Foxborough. They’re fine with that. At least they’re still playing.
“That’s okay,” Campbell said Sunday. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Read more on the NFL:
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NFL players react with shock to the Stefon Diggs TD that beat the Saints
What went wrong for the Saints on Stefon Diggs’s game-winning touchdown
Tom Brady looks like he has nothing but time as Patriots roll past Titans
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