It wasn’t pretty, but the Jaguars found a way to win.
They’re doing a lot of that these days.
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Jacksonville shook off a ragged day on offense and escaped Pittsburgh with a 20-10 win on a dreary Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium. It took every bit of resolve to overcome three turnovers in Steelers territory and hold off backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to get to a well-timed off week firmly in control of their playoff destiny.
It was ugly and gritty, but the Jaguars, who found myriad reasons to lose these types of games through the years, did enough to win another one. They’ve won five straight and lead the AFC South by three games.
A Trevor Lawrence 56-yard touchdown pass to Travis Etienne late in the third quarter was the lone trip to the end zone all day, as ball control and a big game by Brandon McManus got the Jaguars to the bye week in excellent position.
“It’s something that I told the team, the first half of the season, these first eight games, I think with all the travel, Thursday games and out of the hotels, different things like that, the guys have handled it extremely well,” coach Doug Pederson said. “Proud of the guys for doing that. Really proud to be 6-2 at the bye.”
Jacksonville (6-2) enters its bye week with one of its best records ever through eight games. The Jaguars also had a 6-2 mark in 1998 and were a franchise-best 7-1 after eight games in 1999. There’s quite a bit to address for Pederson and offensive coordinator Press Taylor during that time off.
“This honestly means nothing. It means we got a great start to the season, in a good position going forward,” Lawrence said. “We got a lot of big games ahead of us after this bye, lot of really good teams, too.”
The offense remains an issue. Sure, the conditions made any big day at the office less likely, but a less-than-crisp showing left plenty out on the field.
It took four McManus field goals (50, 51, 38 and 37 yards) and another superb showing by the defense to lift Jacksonville through a sloppy day in Pittsburgh. Steelers receiver George Pickens, who said earlier in the week that team had a “hope defense” against the pass, had Pittsburgh’s lone touchdown on a 22-yard catch. That was his only catch of the game.
Jacksonville’s “hope defense” limited the Steelers to 281 total yards. Josh Allen had two sacks to up his season total to eight, and Travon Walker added another. Andrew Wingard and Antonio Johnson had picks for the Jaguars.
“It’s a credit to them because the defense is, in my opinion, they’ve really kept the offense in these football games until the offense can kind of break out and score a touchdown,” Pederson said.
McManus’ fourth kick of the game with 4 minutes, 38 seconds to play gave Jacksonville a two-possession lead and just enough juice to get out of Pittsburgh (4-3) with a victory.
That’s what good teams figure out how to do, even when things are a struggle, which the offense did for nearly three quarters.
Turnovers a killer
Jacksonville should have been comfortably in front in the first half, but two red-zone turnovers nixed that. The Steelers recovered a fumble by Evan Engram on a shovel pass at the 29 to kill a deep Jacksonville drive. Engram got walloped by Kwon Alexander at the Pittsburgh 19 and the carom went 10 yards backwards. Anton Harrison had a line at falling on it but Cole Holcomb beat him to it. Pittsburgh went three-and-out on its drive, but it erased almost certain points from Jacksonville.
The bigger gaffe was a disastrous decision by Lawrence on the ensuing drive. Jacksonville made it down to the Steelers 6 and in position for no worse than a field goal. Lawrence forced a pass to Calvin Ridley into triple coverage and Damontae Kazee easily picked it off. That pass was reminiscent of end-zone throws by Lawrence last year against the Broncos in London and the Texans in Jacksonville that were intercepted. The Steelers had an excellent drive but had to settle for a 22-yard Chris Boswell field goal to get within 6-3.
“In that moment I tried to do too much,” Lawrence said.
Rookie running back Tank Bigsby coughed up the ball at the Pittsburgh 35 in the third quarter for Jacksonville’s third giveaway of the game. All three turnovers happened on the Steelers’ side of the field. Lawrence finish 25 of 32 for 292 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Etienne had 149 total yards on 27 touches.
Just enough offense
It was a nasty, sloppy field after steady rain in Pittsburgh, and the offense was certainly bothered by it. Turnovers ruined the best field position of the day for the Jaguars, but ball control got Jacksonville what it needed. The biggest play of the day came when Lawrence found Etienne down the sideline and put the throw just over a Steelers defender. Etienne nabbed it, took a slant angle to the center of the field and turned it into a 56-yard touchdown. He added a two-point conversion run for a 17-3 lead with 5:14 to go.
End of the half a boost for Jaguars
It was a sloppy game all around, but Jacksonville got a major boost to end the opening half. Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett went down awkwardly on a pass attempt and suffered a rib injury. That forced the Steelers to attempt a 55-yard field goal, which Boswell nailed. But Pittsburgh was called for an offensive offsides penalty and forced to re-kick it. Boswell missed a career-long 61-yarder wide right and the Jaguars went into half up 9-3. Pickett wouldn’t return after that, forcing backup Mitchell Trubisky to finish the game.
Dewey shines
Cornerback Tyson Campbell and safety Andre Cisco were both inactive with injuries, but the defense turned in another excellent day. Andrew Wingard got the start in place of Cisco and had a stellar all-around day. He likely saved a touchdown late in the second quarter when he smothered a Pickett pass to Connor Heyward at the Jacksonville 5 for no gain.
Heyward had an angle straight through the Jaguars defense had he eluded Wingard. Pittsburgh had to settle for a Boswell field goal. Wingard set Jacksonville up with essentially the game-preserving pick, intercepting Trubisky at the Steelers 41 with 10 minutes to go. The Jaguars bled the clock and used a McManus 37-yard kick to go in front by two possessions.
“Credit Mike Caldwell. Great game plans,” Pederson said. “The defensive coaches preparing their players. There’s a mindset over there now. There’s confidence over there.”