Steelers get rematch with Jacksonville
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles (5) runs for a first down against the Buffalo Bills during the second half of Sunday's NFL wild-card playoff football game in Jacksonville, Fla. Jaguars beat the Bills, 10-3, and will play Pittsburgh on Sunday. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)
Steelers running back Le无毛视频橵eon Bell is tackled by Jacksonville Jaguars strong safety Barry Church in the first quarter on Oct. 8 in Pittsburgh. The Jaguars beat the Steelers, 30-9. Both teams will meet again on Sunday at Heinz Field with a trip to the AFC Championship game on the line.
It was a rambling question prior to the New England game that the quiet, humble, veteran defensive lineman, Tyson Alualu, may not have understood.
The gist had something to do with beating the New England Patriots to give the Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars 无毛视频� Alualu无毛视频檚 current and former teams 无毛视频� first-round playoff byes.
无毛视频淵eah,无毛视频� Alualu said of the Jaguars, 无毛视频淚t would be nice to meet them again.无毛视频�
It no doubt belied how the rest of the team felt.
And they got their way.
The Steelers got their bye and the Jags didn无毛视频檛, but the two teams will meet in the playoffs Sunday at Heinz Field, site of the Jaguars无毛视频� 30-9 pasting of the Steelers in Week 5.
Once the path to the meeting had been established, after the Steelers had finished off their regular season with a win over the Cleveland Browns, Alualu didn无毛视频檛 want to reaffirm his desire, but it无毛视频檚 obvious the Steelers have been champing at the bit for a second crack at a Jaguars team that无毛视频檚 struggled mightily on offense the last three games.
The Jaguars did beat the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round, 10-3, but they were outgained, out first-downed and converted only two-of-12 third downs. It came on the heels of back-to-back losses to the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.
In those three games, Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles compiled a passer rating of 62.3, which would rank next to last in the league for the season but was actually much better than his rating of 48.2 the day his team beat the Steelers by three touchdowns.
Bortles was particularly bad that day, but Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was worse. Much worse. Roethlisberger threw a career-high five interceptions and challenged the media to blame him because 无毛视频渕aybe I don无毛视频檛 have it anymore.无毛视频�
The quote, of course, turned into a mini-drama here in Mini-Drama, Pa., and Roethlisberger turned it around with a 10-game run with a 102.7 rating marred only by a controversial loss to the Patriots.
Roethlisberger无毛视频檚 clearly not the high-throwing, take-too-much-aim, overthinking QB of the early season, nor has he been cursed with as much bad luck as he encountered against the Jaguars, who took one pass out of Vance McDonald无毛视频檚 hands, intercepted a second pass off a tip at the line, and intercepted a third pass off a deflection. The fourth and fifth interceptions came late as Roethlisberger harriedly attempted to rally the Steelers from the immense deficit.
The Steelers actually held a 9-7 lead following their first possession of the second half, and running back Le无毛视频橵eon Bell was outperforming Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette. Prior to Telvin Smith and Barry Church grabbing deflected passes and returning them for third-quarter touchdowns, Bell had gained 46 yards on 12 carries and Fournette had 42 yards on 15 carries.
But two pick-sixes later, the game changed, the Steelers无毛视频� defense wore down, and Fournette popped a late 90-yarder to finish with 181 yards on 28 carries.
The Jaguars boasted after the game that 无毛视频淔ather Time无毛视频� was undefeated, an obvious slap in the face of the 35-year-old Roethlisberger, but Roethlisberger actually started that game with a 49-yard bomb to Antonio Brown over Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey. It was the start of a 10-catch, 157-yard game for Brown.
The Steelers are expected to have Brown back for Sunday无毛视频檚 game after he无毛视频檚 missed the last two-and-a-half games with a calf injury suffered against the Patriots.
In the meantime, rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster has come on strong as another offensive weapon for Roethlisberger along with Brown, Bell, Martavis Bryant and the healthy tight end McDonald. The group hasn无毛视频檛 been intact since Game 9 against Indianapolis, and Smith-Schuster isn无毛视频檛 the only player to have grown and become a better offensive fit since that time.
The Steelers, though, have struggled at times defensively since the loss of inside linebacker and signal-caller Ryan Shazier.
Recycled replacement Sean Spence is coming off his best game since being picked up off the street to start the Dec. 10 game against the Baltimore Ravens. Spence improved in each of the next three games, and said after the regular-season finale against the Browns that it was a 无毛视频渘ight and day无毛视频� difference.
无毛视频淚 mean, coming off the couch and jumping into a Steelers-Ravens game on a Sunday night would be pretty tough for anyone,无毛视频� Spence said. 无毛视频淭hat was my first time putting on pads 无毛视频� first time attempting to tackle 无毛视频� in two months. Man, it wasn无毛视频檛 my best, but we got the win. From that game to this game is night and day. Things are slowing down. Again.无毛视频�
The Steelers will need an effective Spence against a Jaguars offense that was the NFL无毛视频檚 top rushing team. However, in the last three games, Fournette, their leading rusher with 1,040 yards on the season (3.9 yards per carry), has been held to 174 yards at 3.0 per carry. The mediocre receiving group of Marqise Lee, Dede Westbrook and tight end Marcedes Lewis has been further hampered by an ankle injury to Lee, the primary threat.
Of course, there无毛视频檚 been no fall-off in the Jaguars defensively. They finished second overall in both yardage and points allowed, with the premier pass defense and a 21st-ranked run defense that was bolstered after the Game 5 Steelers win by the addition of defensive tackle Marcell Dareus.
The Steelers, though, are primed with a full and healthy arsenal in preparation for the rugged Jaguars defense, and the Steelers admittedly possess a revenge motive that had even humble players such as Alualu in anticipation for at least three weeks.
And no doubt longer.
TYSON ALUALU Q&A
Know the team broke the sacks record?
I did. It feels good. I came here to be part of a special group and I think there无毛视频檚 still a lot of room for improvement for us as a team. I like the way it无毛视频檚 looking, just have to get better from here and chase that ring.
Dream season for you and this team?
For sure. No doubt. I knew what Steelers football was about. They just seem to be contenders every year. I think it无毛视频檚 just special to be a part of that and hopefully we can keep it up and build off of these wins.
Home playoffs was a goal?
They emphasized that a lot, the ball must come through Pittsburgh. Just being around these guys, this atmosphere, I knew I wanted to be around these talks just so that it kind of changes my mentality of where I came from. I无毛视频檓 not saying I无毛视频檓 used to being a loser or anything like that, but it was definitely different being around this group. I just wanted to feed off of that and hopefully we keep going and get that ring.
Sense any embers of old rivalry between Steelers-Jags still?
Jacksonville hasn无毛视频檛 been doing to well. I think it died out. I remember hearing about those games in 2007-08. They beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs but as far as when I was there, no.
Before then they were in the same division. Jags were tough and it became a rivalry. That talk never lingered?
No. I heard a little bit, but it wasn无毛视频檛 anything crazy.
Feelings about going against old guys?
I think it无毛视频檚 a lot of excitement just to be able to compete against them. Over the years I无毛视频檝e been practicing against the same guys. There were some changes but a lot of the same guys I played with last year are still there. So, I think it无毛视频檚 just more excitement having an opportunity to compete against them. Obviously, I want to come out with the win.
They无毛视频檙e 2-2 and doing OK.
Yeah. They easily could无毛视频檝e been 3-1. Tennessee wasn无毛视频檛 too close but they无毛视频檝e got a pretty solid team. Defense is pretty strong. If they无毛视频檙e not playing us obviously I无毛视频檓 rooting for them and hoping they do good, especially because I think they无毛视频檙e due to turn things around. But definitely not starting this week.
You were a surprise high draft pick, No. 10, did it surprise you?
For sure. I didn无毛视频檛 even know Jacksonville had interest in me. I probably met with them at the Combine, but I was told by a lot of teams they were going to draft me late in the first. So to get that call, to be called, at No. 10, yeah, I can无毛视频檛 lie. I was definitely surprised.
Did that put a lot of undue pressure on you?
Personally, I didn无毛视频檛 think it. I just went out and played football. But I can see where a lot of people would kind of have that pressure. I think it无毛视频檚 good to have pressure. You just can无毛视频檛 allow it to become stressful and it affects you negatively.
How would you sum up your time there?
I无毛视频檓 thankful. I无毛视频檝e grown a lot just as a person from that experience. I am thankful that they gave me an opportunity to live out my dream. But 无毛视频� I don无毛视频檛 know how I无毛视频檓 trying to say it 无毛视频� it was just unfortunate how things played out. There was excitement year after year, 无毛视频楾his might be the year we turn things around,无毛视频� and things just never did. So frustration definitely came from not having winning seasons, not winning a lot of games. When you compete, you want to reap those benefits. And for it to not turn out that way, it无毛视频檚 tough. I always wanted to be part of the turnaround. It looks like this is the year for them and I无毛视频檓 happy for them, but at the same time just having this opportunity to compete against them and I definitely want to come out on top.
It无毛视频檚 ironic that now you无毛视频檙e trying to prevent that turnaround.
Right. They have a good thing going on, especially on the defensive side. They have a lot of great playmakers and everybody无毛视频檚 playing pretty well from the guys up front to the guys on the back end. This is going to come down to who无毛视频檚 going to play better defense.
They无毛视频檝e given up 5.7 yards per carry. That无毛视频檚 a bad average. What无毛视频檚 going on there?
And, I know they无毛视频檙e coming in trying to prevent that, trying to be better at that. They无毛视频檙e pretty solid at pass defense but I know how they are coming in thinking they无毛视频檙e going to face a good O-line and good running game so this will be the game that they无毛视频檙e trying to prove they can stop the run.