For the second time this year, the Jaguars beat the Steelers at Heinz Field. But this time, the stakes were a lot higher: the Jags will now move on to face the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
Recap
Huge plays
Less vital highlights
Final Score: Jaguars 45, Steelers 42
Jaguars 45, Steelers 42: JuJu Smith Schuster caught a four-yard touchdown pass with one second left on the clock. Hooray?
Jaguars 45, Steelers 35: The Steeler defense did its job, allowing Jacksonville only nine yards on three plays. Pittsburgh’s nonsense onside kick, however, left Josh Lambo with a 45-yard field goal attempt to make this a two-possession game. His kick effortlessly sailed through the upright to essentially doom the home team.
Jaguars 42, Steelers 35: Despite having enough timeouts to get the ball back with nearly two minutes on the clock after a three-and-out, Pittsburgh attempted an onside kick. It went about as poorly as it could have, drilling Tyler Matakevich after traveling only five yards downfield and giving Jacksonville the ball at the Steelers’ 34.
Jaguars 42, Steelers 35: The Steelers aren’t dead yet, and Ben Roethlisberger’s veteran tricks are the reason why. Roethlisberger’s first-and-goal scramble pushed him past the line of scrimmage, but rather than get tackled in bounds after a modest gain, he’d thrown a backward pass to Le’Veon Bell, who carried the ball the rest of the way into the end zone.
With 2:18 left, the Steelers trail by seven points — but they’ve got two timeouts and the two-minute warning with which to work. This game isn’t over.
Jaguars 42, Steelers 28: With the Jaguars facing third-and-five, Blake Bortles checked all the way down to tailback T.J. Yeldon...and would up with a 40-yard catch and run for his trouble. That put Jacksonville well into Pittsburgh territory, setting up a 14-yard play-action pass from Bortles to fullback (!) Tommy Bohanon for what may be the final nail in the Steelers’ coffin Sunday.
The colour guy on the Steelers Radio Network is just saying “Tommy Bohanon has six catches on the year” over and over.
— Colby Cosh (@colbycosh) January 14, 2018
Jaguars 35, Steelers 28: The Steelers can’t convert fourth-and-inches, but they’ve got a 100% touchdown rate on fourth-and-long. Roethlisberger escaped pressure on fourth-and-five before unleashing a lob to Antonio Brown that pushed Pittsburgh back within seven points of the Jaguars.
Jaguars 35, Steelers 21: Blake Bortles FINALLY completed a deep pass:
And one play later, Leonard Fournette scored his third touchdown of the day. That makes 14 points for the Jaguars in drives directly following Steeler failures on fourth-and-short.
Jaguars 28, Steelers 21: Pittsburgh’s comeback effort just got a little help from its special teams. Robert Golden got a hand on a Brad Nortman punt to give the Steelers the ball at the JAX 48.
But the Jaguar defense dashed those hopes nearly as quickly as they’d arisen. Facing another fourth-and-inches, Roethlisberger called an audible into a play-action pass that would fall incomplete. Despite the failure, it may have been the right call.
Yea Fouts, that was on Big Ben. He changed the play. I'm not sure he's wrong either. They were outnumbered in the box.
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) January 14, 2018
Third quarter: Jaguars 28, Steelers 21
Jaguars 28, Steelers 21: Pittsburgh looks a bit more fired up to start the third quarter. Maybe that’s because injured linebacker Ryan Shazier addressed the team at halftime.
Jaguars 28, Steelers 21: The Jags’ ensuing drive ended in a punt, but Blake Bortles continued to prove he’s more effective as a runner with a 16-yard scramble on third down. The highlight of his scamper? Calling T.J. Yeldon over to give up a first-down freeing block on Steeler safety Mike Mitchell.
Jaguars 28, Steelers 21: Leonard Fournette has returned to the game, earning his team’s first carry of the second half.
Jaguars 28, Steelers 21: Pittsburgh’s comeback just got 15 yards easier thanks to a questionable unsportsmanlike penalty on Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey was chasing down the tail end of a Le’Veon Bell screen pass when he appeared to hit Bell well after he’d stepped out of bounds.
But what the officials missed was Steeler wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster throwing Ramsey into Bell, effectively weaponizing the All-Pro defensive back and earning his team 15 cheap yards.
Bell would get his final say on the matter with an impressive bobbling catch in the end zone to finish his team’s 77-yard drive and make it 14 straight points for the Steelers.
Halftime: Jaguars 28, Steelers 14
Jaguars 28, Steelers 14: Pittsburgh is quickly reaching a point of no return, and head coach Mike Tomlin appreciates that. Facing fourth-and-11 from the JAX 36, the Steelers eschewed a field goal attempt and dialed up a deep ball instead.
It was a beauty. Martavis Bryant sprinted under a Roethlisberger rainbow to push his team back within 14 points late in the second quarter. Pittsburgh will get the ball to start the second half, which will give the home team a shot to pull within seven points after emerging from the locker room.
Jaguars 28, Steelers 7: We’ve come here today to mourn the Steelers’ fleeting moment of hope, which burned bright and quick before Yannick Ngakoue sacked Ben Roethlisberger and forced a fumble that bounced perfectly into Telvin Smith’s hands. 52 yards (and one taunting penalty) later, Jacksonville once again had a three-touchdown lead over its hosts.
Jaguars 21, Steelers 7: Leonard Fournette just limped off the field with what appears to be an ankle injury. If it’s serious, it’s terrible news for Jacksonville — Fournette has 12 carries for 82 yards and two touchdowns early in this game. He’ll be replaced by T.J. Yeldon.
Jaguars 21, Steelers 7: You can’t effectively cover Antonio Brown — a lesson A.J. Bouye just learned. Brown’s one-handed touchdown grab — the other was engaged with Bouye, who had him shaded like meatballs on spaghetti — gave the Steelers some new life at Heinz Field. It was the first touchdown pass the All-Pro cornerback allowed all season.
His second catch of the afternoon cut Jacksonville’s lead to 21-7 and capped six-play, 64-yard drive that should keep some fans from changing the channel.
Jaguars 21, Steelers 0: The Steelers are in some real trouble. Jacksonville just drove 75 yards to turn Pittsburgh’s turnover on downs into a T.J. Yeldon touchdown, pushing its lead to three possessions after fewer than 19 minutes of play. Blake Bortles has only completed one of his last six attempts, but he’s also rushed for 20 yards as the Jags have combined for three rushing touchdowns and a sterling 7.0 yards per touch.
First quarter: Jaguars 14, Steelers 0
Jaguars 14, Steelers 0: Pittsburgh faced fourth-and-inches at the Jacksonville 20. Then called a pitch for some reason.
Bell lost approximately five yards on the play and the Steelers’ longest drive of the day ended with zero points.
Jaguars 14, Steelers 0: The Jaguars just took a two-possession lead -- thanks to Myles Jack and Leonard Fournette. Jack made a tip-drill, toe-touching interception inside the Pittsburgh red zone to hand the ball back to the Jacksonville offense.
It only took one play for Fournette to capitalize, taking an off-tackle handoff 18 yards before curling inside the pylon for a touchdown.
The play was originally ruled down inside the one-yard line, but was later overturned on review. That gave Fournette four rushing touchdowns at Heinz Field this season — one more than Pittsburgh back Le’Veon Bell.
Jaguars 7, Steelers 0: Pittsburgh’s first drive ended with a three-and-out punt, but the Steelers still managed to get lucky. All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey appeared to inadvertently shove an official after an on-field scrum -- a mistake that could have led to a 15-yard penalty or even an ejection. Fortunately for Pouncey, the official shrugged off the encounter as playoff football, keeping his flags in his pocket.
Jaguars 7, Steelers 0: Doug Marrone isn’t messing around. After Blake Bortles completed his first three passes of the game to set Jacksonville up inside the Pittsburgh red zone, the Jaguar head coach rolled the dice with a fourth-and-goal run from the 1.
The gamble paid off. Leonard Fournette dove to the goal line to give the visiting underdogs an early lead — and send a message to the scores of Steeler fans at Heinz Field.
Before the game
The Jacksonville Jaguars weren’t supposed to be here. The perennial AFC South bottom-dwellers — and frequent roast recipient on NBC’s The Good Place — were pegged for another middling season despite a leveled-up defense thanks to uneven quarterback play and a decade’s worth of disappointment.
But somewhere along the way, Blake Bortles played just well enough to keep his Jaguars alive, and a talented roster took care of the rest. Defensive Player of the Year candidates Calais Campbell and Jalen Ramsey terrorized quarterbacks to make Jacksonville a team no opponent was comfortable facing. The Jags finished the season first in the league in defensive efficiency and second in total defense and sacks per game en route to its first division title of the millennium.
It’ll still take some time to shake off the musty smell of mediocrity that had settled over northern Florida. One massive shot of fresh air may come Sunday afternoon. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been a top-five team all season, a reigning member of the AFC’s old-guard elite. Finding a way to topple them at Heinz Field amid a sea of Terrible Towels would go a long way toward proving Jacksonville’s legitimacy.
That’s easier said than done. The only team in the league to record more sacks than the Jaguars was the Steelers, who have used a litany of high-value draft picks to rebuild the Steel Curtain defense that put the franchise on the map so many years ago. Cameron Heyward, Vince Williams, T.J. Watt, and Bud Dupree have helped build a pressure-creating front seven that’s been deep enough to cover for the loss of Pro Bowl linebacker Ryan Shazier.
And while the Pittsburgh defense stacks up favorable with the Jaguars’ unit, the Steelers offense is a skyscraper compared to Bortles’ split-level ranch home near the rendering plant. Two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger is surrounded by weapons, including All-Pros Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. Add in weapons like Martavis Bryant and JuJu Smith-Schuster and it’s easy to see why Pittsburgh is a significant home favorite to advance to the AFC title game.
Pregame reading
Brown suffered a torn calf muscle in Week 15 against the New England Patriots, when his leg got awkwardly bent while he tried to make a touchdown catch. It initially had the looks of a season-ending injury when Brown spent several minutes on the turf, but the Steelers avoided a worst-case scenario. Brown missed the final two weeks of the regular season, but the bye week gave him extra time to rest.
“Usually in situations like that when we’re up in the two minute, with the corners we play 10 yards off, if not more,” Ramsey said. “Two plays before that, with Peterman we played the same coverage, we played off and he threw that quick hitch to A.J. [Bouye]’s side. They line up in the same formation, just flipped on my side so I figured they were running the same route. I took a read step and as soon as he threw it, I broke on it.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had their health issues in the past when it mattered the most. Bell’s postseason career is the perfect example of some of their issues.
2014: Bell injures knee in Week 17 misses Wild Card Game.
2015: Bell injures knee midway through the season, season over.
2016: Bell injures groin in the AFC Championship Game, does not return.
- Ben Roethlisberger said he wanted to play the Jaguars again after a 30-9 spanking earlier in the season. Jacksonville welcomes it.
After the Jaguars dismissed the Bills from the playoffs, cornerback A.J. Bouye had this to say about Roethlisberger’s “wish”.
“Be careful what you wish or. This is what he wanted. This is what he’s going to get.”
Shots fired, bulletin board material posted, whatever else you want to call the two players’ interactions through the media. However, as much as I don’t blame the Jaguars for taking offense to Roethlisberger’s comment, his comments were based more on his own individual desire for redemption, not solely directed towards the Jaguars’ defense.
You have to mix in some deep shots as well, early in the game. The Jaguars should have their full array of healthy wide receivers on Sunday, so test a sketchy Steelers secondary down the field early on. I understand why the Jaguars did what they did against the Bills, going for shorter passes and screens to combat a loaded box and catch them looking in the backfield, but you also have to try to back them off early in the game. Bortles hasn’t exactly instilled confidence passing the ball the past few weeks, but you’ve got to do better in the passing game if you want to win.
Great win to day! And 64, you goin have to come harder than some weak racist slurs. I’m proud of my African heritage, as are 70% of the other Black players in this league. #Iaintjonathanmartin!
— YANNICK NGAKOUE! (@YannGetSacks91) January 8, 2018
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