The Steelers will play host to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at Heinz Field. Here are five things to know about the AFC South team coming off a heart-breaking overtime loss in New York.
1. Blake Bortles is up and down — The Jaguars are 2-2, and their season has gone up and down as their quarterback has. In their Week 3 blowout win against Baltimore in London, he threw four touchdown passes and looked like the franchise quarterback Jacksonville has been hoping he could be. In a 23-20 overtime loss against the Jets Sunday, he did this...
Bat it in the air.
— New York Jets (@nyjets) October 1, 2017
Then pick it.@KonyEaly94 does it all. #JAXvsNYJ pic.twitter.com/qPubo3eVxh
...and finished with just 140 yards on 15 of 35 passing. The Steelers will be looking to seize on that inconsistency, especially after forcing veteran Joe Flacco into some critical mistakes in Week 4.
2. The offense goes through Leonard Fournette — The fourth overall pick in the draft in April has been getting a lot of touches. In Week 4, he led the Jaguars in both rushing and receiving, and he added this touchdown to open the scoring.
It's a Leonard @_fournette TD catch!@Jaguars take the lead. #JAXvsNYJ pic.twitter.com/bCYas0aaMX
— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2017
He is still waiting for a true breakout game — he hasn’t posted a yards per carry average better than 4.0 in any game yet. But it’s clear Jacksonville wants to get him rolling and build the offense around him, so the Steelers will have to be sharper than they were in Week 3, when the Chicago Bears rode workhorse Jordan Howard to an overtime victory.
3. Receivers still dangerous — The Jaguars’ air corps was devastated when Allen Robinson, the Penn State product, went down with a torn ACL in Week 1. But Allen Hurns has been a 1,000-yard receiver in the past, and fourth-year guy Marquise Lee has had his moments, putting up 76 yards and in Week 2 against Tennessee and 65 yards in Week 3 against the Ravens before a quiet performance against the Jets. Overall, the group should be easier to deal with sans Robinson, but the Steelers would be wise not to sleep on those guys either.
4. The defense is opportunistic ... — Despite the loss to the Jets, the Jacksonville defense continued its success in generating turnovers, intercepting McCown and taking this fumble recovery 81 yards for a touchdown while trailing, 20-10, in the fourth quarter.
Don't 👏 count 👏 us 👏 out 👏@MylesJack scoops it up and takes it 81 yards for the TD.#JAXvsNYJ pic.twitter.com/Tgq0Oza5wr
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 1, 2017
For the season, the Jaguars are plus-six in turnover margin, which puts them among the league leaders. So the Steelers should be wary of make any of the game-changing mistakes that can give this team life.
5. ... but vulnerable to the run — In their two losses, the Jaguars have given up a ton of yards on the ground. In Week 2, Derrick Henry’s 92 yards on just 14 carries led a 179-yard attack for the Titans. And things went even worse against the Jets, as Bilal Powell ran roughshod for 163 yards and a touchdown to lead New York to 256 yards and eight yards per carry on the ground. Le’Veon Bell is likely looking forward to that matchup after building some momentum with 144 yards Sunday against the Ravens.
Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter, @fugimaster24.
First Published: October 2, 2017, 4:00 p.m.