I'm sure we're all amused by the Raven's loss, but....

This team had breakdowns against the run early in the season, too. Perhaps you forgot the Bears game, or perhaps the loss to the Jaguars as well. It wasn't the pursuit of some record that got them away from playing sound football. This group has been sloppy all season, and their defensive schemes seem to be designed around covering up one hole and hoping the opponent doesn't tear them up to badly in other areas. Tomlin's reaction to the Texans game is proof of that. Sure, they Texans ripped the Steelers up on the ground, but they were focused on taking away Hopkins and for all but one drive, they did it.

This is a flawed defense. The loss of Shazier hurts. Mitchell's terrible play at free safety hurts. Davis's struggles down the stretch hurt. Those flaws aren't going away, so the Steelers better keep lighting up the scoreboard. That's going to be tougher to do against Jacksonville than it would be against any other team in the AFC playoffs.

 

Two words: Garoppolo, 44 points.

 

That's three words.

Here's a better one that actually is only two words: one game.

 

Actually, it's two words and two digits

Also, over the last three games the Jaguars defense has given up an average of 22 pts
Over the same time frame, the Steelers defense has given up an average of 19 pts.

 

Early steuggles were all on Ben. I think the jags game was a wakeup game for him. The bears game was on everybody ...coaches, offense, defense, spteams. Playing down to competition.

 

My mistake. I tried taking your post seriously. You showed me the error of my ways with that new statistic. That's all inflated by that one ugly game. The Jaguars gave up 22 points total in the other two contests in that three-game stretch, only seven against the Texans and 15 against the Titans.

Why did you stop there? Because you wanted to avoid the 38 points the Ravens hung on the Steelers four weeks back.

The dishonest statistical games won't help the Steelers Jan. 14. The Jaguars still have the best defense in the AFC Playoffs.

 

I'm not upset to see the Ravens go for us more than anyone else. They are not a team I want to see in the playoffs. If they make it past the wildcard round and we have to play them that is not a good thing for us.

I'm not disagreeing with your point, of course you want the easy road and your opponent to get all the tough match ups. Unfortunately that isn't life. I'm just saying that match up watching gets you nowhere. You can't control who wins and loses so what's the point of worrying about it at all. You just expect to play the best cause usually that's who advances and get on with it. If an upset happens great but I'm not going to hold my breath that the Titans are going to knock off the Pats for us.

 

It’s the playoffs we have to be ready for anyone. We shouldn’t look for another team to beat other teams for us. Plus you never know the Bills might go in and beat Jacksonville because they have absolutely nothing to lose. It’s the first time since 1999 that they’ve made it to the playoffs. All the pressure for this game is on Jacksonville and they’ve looked bad in the last 3-4 games.

 

Whoa whoa whoa. Slow your roll, cowboy. The only reason I used the last three games was because the site I used to get the stats from ( https://www.teamrankings.com/) offers either a last three game total or a season total, and my point was (and still is) that the Jaguars have been trending downward lately while the Steelers have been trending upward. But if you want continue to fear the big bad Jaguars be my guest. I will not, and based on Ben's recent comments, neither will the Steelers.

 

I never suggested the Titans would knock off the Patriots. I suggested they could knock off the Jaguars. Given that they beat the Jaguars twice already this season, including Week 17, that is very realistic. Tennessee matches up extremely well with Jacksonville.

 

It isn't about fear. It's about intelligence. It's about understanding that strength of schedule doesn't matter. You want to puff your chest out and say the Steelers took on the toughest road possible. I want to say they won the Super Bowl.

And whether your claim regarding the source of your statistics is correct or not, you still intentionally used misleading numbers either for the sake of argument or to lie to yourself. The three-game sample over-inflates that one outlier against the 49ers, not to mention the Steelers' defensive outlier against the Texans. The simple fact remains, as I have maintained all along, the Jaguars are by far the best defense in the AFC playoffs. They even took away the run the first time against the Steelers, back when the run was a weak point for Jacksonville. That is something they addressed later by trading for Dareus.

 

I know you didn't, I'm saying that. It's a catch 22 either way. If Titans knock off Jags, we have to play the Chiefs who are no walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination and the Pats get a layup against the Titans who have no shot in Gillette. I would rather the Pats play the Chiefs who beat them in New England. I think we can beat the Jags at home this time around, not going to be easy but doable.

 

Correction: Bills not Titans

 

I wish... but with my luck, it would end up like the AFC Championship vs. Chargers in January of '95. We all knew the Steelers were gonna win that game.

 

As bad as it was, I think the Steelers would of got murdered by the 49ers too in that Super Bowl.

They had nothing on that offense that compared to Steve Young and Jerry Rice.

But, I don't think they would of got murdered like the Chargers did.

 

Actually no, it's not about puffing up my chest, or about misleading or about lying to anyone, including myself. The fact is the Jaguars defence has been trending downward lately, as evidenced by the stats and the results. Examples:

Takeaways per game: 2017 average = 2.1. Last three games = 1
Sacks per game: 2017 average = 3.4 Last three games=2.7
Pts per game 2017 average = 16.8 Last three games= 22

See the trend? Their splash plays have decreased and as a result their points per game has gone up.

Bottom line is you can choose to interpret those stats as meaningful or not. It's up to you. I honestly don't care. I'm just on here to have some friendly banter about football with other Steelers fans. No need to get accusatory. You do you, and I'll do me.

Peace out.

 

Pretty sure jimmy garopalo carved up that jag defense 2 weeks ago.....we wont get beat a 2nd time by the jags...they were still sneaking up on people in October....

 

Texans and titans...you act like they shut down two offensive powerhouses

 

We'll take Jacksonville apart like a used toy. No worries at all there. It comes down to this: Play anyone else at home and we are Super Bowl bound. Play New England at New England and we're back on the golf course.

 

Alot has changed since then. Their run statistics in that game are greatly exaggerated by a 90yard run in garbage time. Ben was a shell of himself. juju wasn't JUJU ,we gave up on the run and went pass heavy way too soon I believe the score was like 12-9 or 9-6 or something like that. That game was a serious wake up call for us and we have been getting better each week. Tough game for sure but would much rather see KC take on ne. They have a lot of playmakers and the ability to mix the run and pass,play mistake free and do damage on STs as well with Hill. ne seems to be weak defensively on 3rd down so KC can extend drives and keep Marsha a spectator by staying ahead of the sticks with the run/pass options. Smith can extend drives with his legs and Kelce can be a handful too. If anyone can take them out its KC they have experience playing up there and aren't intimidated.

 

Totally agree. Jax’s defense can be had. They’ve given up 44 to the 9ers, 24 to a weak Seattle offense, and 27 to a weak Arizona offense with Blaine Gabbert at QB. We can’t read too much into one football game that took place in October.

While KC’s defense is weaker, their offense is far superior to Jacksonville’s (and they have playoff experience as well). Smith>>>Bortles, Kelce/Hill/Hunt > any weapons that the Jags have. I’m not saying it will be easy, but the tougher game is KC any way you carve it up. Plus, KC has played NE well so why not send them there and give the Pats all they can handle before the AFCCG?

This Jacksonville team just reeks of Miami last year. Smack us early in the season, then get wrecked in Pittsburgh in the playoffs.

 

Ben wasn't in sync with his guys earlier this year, that is not on him though. It's not like it was the same lineup as last year and they were all in camp day 1.

It just took time for them to gel.

 

I don't know that Jax took away the run in the game this year. It was more like our gameplan was to abandon the run and try to beat them with the pass. I'm still puzzled by that gameplan to be honest.

And Dareus isn't playing much since being traded is he? Thought I read that somewhere, but not sure.

With a healthy Oline with healthy Vance and Hubbard as an extra TE, we should be able to run on the Jags pretty effectively.