The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the hottest teams in the NFL going
into Week 11. Now they’ll try to exorcise their demons against Jacksonville.
Heading into the 2018 season, this matchup was going to be
one of the marquee matchups of the season. The Steelers looked better on paper
in 2017, but in two matchups at Heinz Field, the Jaguars pounded the Steelers,
the latter of the games ending the Steelers’ quest for their seventh Super
Bowl.
What was once set to be the Sunday Night Football game of
Week 11 has now turned into a lackluster 1:00 P.M. kickoff. After their slow
start, the Steelers are the AFC’s second seed at 6-2-1. The Jaguars on the other
hand are 3-6 and in last place in the AFC South.
While the Jaguars don’t look to be a playoff team in 2018,
this is a game the Steelers need to win for multiple reasons. There are some
players they’ll need to gameplan against in order to secure the victory.
LEONARD FOURNETTE
Leonard Fournette has missed a good chunk of the 2018
season. He seems to be healthy now and the Jaguars will rely on him for a
steady and balanced offense.
His performance in 2018, when he has played, has been a bit
lacking. On 44 total carries, he’s only averaging 2.8 yards-per-carry. Last
week in Indianapolis, he carried the ball 24 times for only 53 yards.
Why is he such a threat then? Go look at the two matchups
with the Steelers in 2017. He carried the ball a total of 53 times for 290
yards and five touchdowns. Three of those touchdowns were in the Divisional
Playoff game at Heinz Field.
Now, this Jaguars offensive line doesn’t look the same and
lost their center this past week. With the way Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt
are playing, the Jaguars may not be able to get the run game going with
Fournette.
However, Fournette didn’t forget about his two massive games
in Pittsburgh last year. He’ll look to dominate again.
JALEN RAMSEY
In 2017, Jalen Ramsey established himself as one of the top
cornerbacks in the game. 2018 on the other hand has been a different story.
Ramsey was quite confident of himself this past offseason.
He went on social media and many interviews pretty much critiquing every
quarterback in the NFL and even claimed that he could play in the National
Hockey League. He had some choice words for Steelers’ quarterback Ben
Roethlisberger:
Big Ben [Roethlisberger], I think he’s decent at best… It’s
not Big Ben, it’s [Antonio Brown]. Big Ben slings the ball a lot of the time.
He just slings it, and his receivers go get it. He has a strong arm, but he
ain’t all that. I played him twice last year, and he really disappointed me.
He’ll be in the Hall of Fame and all that.
With how competitive Big Ben is, you know there’s got to be
a part of him that wants to have another repeat performance of what he did to
Carolina last week. Just to stick to Ramsey.
Ramsey is still a good corner that should be respected when
throwing the ball in his direction. It could be the Jaguars’ defensive scheme
that teams have figured out, but Ramsey doesn’t seem to be having the same kind
of impact he had a season ago. He’ll be matched up with Antonio Brown, so we’ll
see how this plays out on Sunday afternoon.
TELVIN SMITH
Just like Carolina had a stud at inside linebacker last week
with Luke Kuechly, Jacksonville has one with Telvin Smith.
Smith is the Jaguars’ leading tackler and it’s not close. He
has a total of 73 tackles (55 solo), while the second-highest on the team is
Myles Jack with 55 total tackles (38 solo).
James Conner averaged 5 yards-per-carry against Carolina’s
impressive front-seven, so if Conner continues his impressive play, he’ll have
to get the better of matchups against these very good inside linebackers.
Smith leads the charge for Jacksonville’s front-seven and
could make the Steelers one-dimensional if they can contain the Steeler run
game with James Conner.
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