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鈥橵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 鈥� Alualu蘑菇视频 current and former teams 鈥� first-round playoff byes.
鈥淵eah,鈥� Alualu said of the Jaguars, 鈥淚t would be nice to meet them again.鈥�
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鈥檛, but the two teams will meet in the playoffs Sunday at Heinz Field, site of the Jaguars鈥� 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鈥檛 want to reaffirm his desire, but it蘑菇视频 obvious the Steelers have been champing at the bit for a second crack at a Jaguars team that蘑菇视频 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 鈥渕aybe I don鈥檛 have it anymore.鈥�
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蘑菇视频 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蘑菇视频 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鈥橵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鈥� 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 鈥淔ather Time鈥� 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蘑菇视频 game after he蘑菇视频 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鈥檛 been intact since Game 9 against Indianapolis, and Smith-Schuster isn鈥檛 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 鈥渘ight and day鈥� difference.
鈥淚 mean, coming off the couch and jumping into a Steelers-Ravens game on a Sunday night would be pretty tough for anyone,鈥� Spence said. 鈥淭hat was my first time putting on pads 鈥� first time attempting to tackle 鈥� in two months. Man, it wasn鈥檛 my best, but we got the win. From that game to this game is night and day. Things are slowing down. Again.鈥�
The Steelers will need an effective Spence against a Jaguars offense that was the NFL蘑菇视频 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蘑菇视频 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蘑菇视频 still a lot of room for improvement for us as a team. I like the way it蘑菇视频 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蘑菇视频 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鈥檓 not saying I鈥檓 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 anything crazy.
Feelings about going against old guys?
I think it蘑菇视频 a lot of excitement just to be able to compete against them. Over the years I鈥檝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蘑菇视频 just more excitement having an opportunity to compete against them. Obviously, I want to come out with the win.
They鈥檙e 2-2 and doing OK.
Yeah. They easily could鈥檝e been 3-1. Tennessee wasn鈥檛 too close but they鈥檝e got a pretty solid team. Defense is pretty strong. If they鈥檙e not playing us obviously I鈥檓 rooting for them and hoping they do good, especially because I think they鈥檙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鈥檛 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鈥檛 lie. I was definitely surprised.
Did that put a lot of undue pressure on you?
Personally, I didn鈥檛 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蘑菇视频 good to have pressure. You just can鈥檛 allow it to become stressful and it affects you negatively.
How would you sum up your time there?
I鈥檓 thankful. I鈥檝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 鈥� I don鈥檛 know how I鈥檓 trying to say it 鈥� it was just unfortunate how things played out. There was excitement year after year, 鈥楾his might be the year we turn things around,鈥� 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蘑菇视频 tough. I always wanted to be part of the turnaround. It looks like this is the year for them and I鈥檓 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蘑菇视频 ironic that now you鈥檙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蘑菇视频 playing pretty well from the guys up front to the guys on the back end. This is going to come down to who蘑菇视频 going to play better defense.
They鈥檝e given up 5.7 yards per carry. That蘑菇视频 a bad average. What蘑菇视频 going on there?
And, I know they鈥檙e coming in trying to prevent that, trying to be better at that. They鈥檙e pretty solid at pass defense but I know how they are coming in thinking they鈥檙e going to face a good O-line and good running game so this will be the game that they鈥檙e trying to prove they can stop the run.