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Post Steelers vs. Jaguars thoughts

5 min read
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Jacksonville had 41 yards of offense in the first quarter of Sunday’s 30-9 win at Heinz Field over the Steelers. The Jaguars had 99 yards in the second quarter and no yards in the third quarter and yet led the Steelers 20-9.

That’s what happens when your quarterback throws two interceptions that are returned for touchdowns.

The pick sixes were two of five interceptions thrown by Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday in perhaps the worst game of his career.

But this isn’t about what Roethlisberger did do in this game. It’s about what he was unable to accomplish, that being putting the ball in the end zone.

The Steelers forced Jacksonville to a three-and-out on its first possession and quickly moved the ball to the Jaguars 11 before Ben Roethlisberger threw a third-down incompletion to Martavis Bryant and they kicked a field goal.

It was no big deal at the time since the Steelers had grabbed a lead, much as they had the week before in Baltimore.

When Roethlisberger threw his first interception later in the quarter, however, with the Steelers driving, it became one. Jalen Ramsey made a great play on a pass that was slightly underthrown to tight end Vance McDonald when Roethlisberger had to get rid of the ball with pressure in his face.

And the Jaguars made the Steelers pay, going 47 yards for a go-ahead score.

Two third quarter interceptions that were returned for touchdowns killed the Steelers in this game.

But once again, it was a red zone failure that hurt them.

Pittsburgh drove the length of the field on the opening possession of the second half only to settle for a 20-yard field goal.

On first-and-goal from the 5, Roethlisberger threw an incompletion to JuJu Smith-Schuster. He then completed a 3-yard shovel pass to Le’Vone Bell before changing the play at the line of scrimmage and checking into a pass that fell incomplete to Antonio Brown on third down.

The Steelers had the Jaguars on the ropes a bit on that possession and let them off.

They went to a no-huddle and Bell touched the ball five times on a 14-play drive, two passes and three runs.

For the game, Bell had 25 touches, but just 15 of them were rushes.

This came just one week after Bell had 39 touches – including 35 runs – in a win at Baltimore.

The Steelers ran the ball down opponents throats in the second half of last season, limiting Roethlisberger to no more than 36 passes in any game.

Last week should have been a reminder of that winning formula. But they shouldn’t have needed a reminder of that against a Jacksonville team that came into this game allowing 165 yards rushing per game.

@ The Steelers are now 8-7 since the start of the 2010 season the week after playing Baltimore.

Lest you think they are the only team that has a letdown after playing their bitter rival, even with Baltimore’s win in Oakland Sunday, the Ravens are 7-8 in that same time period after playing the Steelers.

@ Blame the defense all you want for this loss. Sure, it couldn’t get the ball back from Jacksvonille to start the fourth quarter. And sure, it gave up a 90-yard run with two-minutes remaining and 231 yards rushing for the game.

But the defense gave up 17 points, the same amount it allowed in regulation in a loss three weeks ago at Chicago.

That should be good enough to win any NFL game.

@ Roethlisberger has been taking Wednesdays off to rehab this season.

I’m thinking that just might be part of the problem with his timing with every receiver not named Antonio Brown.

JuJu Smith Schuster, Justin Hunter and Vance McDonald are new players on this team. Martavis Bryant missed the entire 2016 season.

@ That said, Roethlisberger was way too reliant on Brown in this game, forcing the ball to him time and again.

I get that he trusts Brown more than any other receiver. But when he’s drawing triple coverage, logic insists the ball go elsewhere.

Maybe offensive coordinator Todd Haley should insist on that, as well.

@ The Jaguars ran three offensive plays for no yards in the third quarter and scored 13 points.

@ Nose tackle Javon Hargrave led the Steelers with 10 tackles.

I’ve been doing this a long time and can’t remember any instance where a Pittsburgh nose tackle had 10 tackles.

What confounded me, though, was what was essentially a three-man line the Steelers used a couple of times on third-and-shorts. The Jaguars were content to run the ball all day long.

Blake Bortles dropped back to pass twice in the second half. He threw one incompletion and was sacked on the other attempt.

@ This game reminded me a lot of the one against Miami last season.

Roethlisberger didn’t play well. Got hurt. Threw some interceptions. The defense got gashed on the ground.

But the two teams met again in the playoffs and it was a completely different game.

That’s the NFL.

The Jaguars have a pretty good defense, especially in the secondary. And they can run the ball. Given the schedule they have remaining, they could be a playoff team in the AFC, just as Miami was last season.

@ The Steelers had just five penalties for 37 yards but one was a holding penalty that negated a Roethlisberger TD pass to Brown with 3:37 remaining and the Steelers trailing 23-9.

If that score had counted it would have been 23-16 and all of a sudden, the game is back in play.

The Steelers have had some very ill-timed penalties this season, but that might have been the biggest.

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