On a rainy Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, the Jacksonville Jaguars played an overall sloppy game but prevailed and found themselves with their fifth straight win in a row. The Jaguars had extra motivation after George Pickens of the Steelers said in an interview earlier this week, “It’s (Jacksonville) kind of a hope defense for sure.”
Jacksonville’s defense proves yet again why it’s one of the best in the NFL as they limited the Steelers offense to 10 points, 261 yards of offense, and they had two interceptions. Steelers second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett got injured in the first half and was replaced by Mitchell Tribusky for the remainder of the game. Pittsburgh went three-and-out and punted on their first four drives of the game before they finally got a field goal before halftime.
The Jaguars offense was sloppy for the majority of the afternoon but scored the ball when it mattered the most. Jacksonville’s offense had three turnovers including a fumble by both Evan Engram and Tank Bigsby and a very bad interception by Trevor Lawrence in the red zone in the first half. Despite two first-half turnovers, the Jaguars offense was able to connect on three field goals and went into the halftime locker room up 9-3.
The second half was very physical by both teams but the better team finished the game on the winning side. Trevor Lawrence hit Travis Etienne for a 56-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter; Etienne has now scored in four consecutive games. Next, George Pickens got loose on his only catch of the day for 22 yards, and took it the house for a touchdown.
Jacksonville’s defense didn’t let up after that touchdown as they created two interceptions, one by Andrew Wingard and one for the rookie Antonio Johnson. Jacksonville closed out the game with a 20-10 win and improved to 6-2 on the season.
Linebacker Josh Allen had another dominant game as he had two tackles for loss, two sacks, and now has nine total on the season so far. Darious Williams played another fantastic game in the absence of Tyson Campbell, having three passes defended as he leads the NFL in that category.
Trevor Lawrence completed 24-of-32 passes for 294 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and had a quarterback rating (QBR) of 70.9. Travis Etienne is proving yet again why he is one of the best backs in the NFL as he had 27 touches for 149 yards from scrimmage and a reception touchdown. Evan Engram led all wideouts with 10 receptions for 88 yards, and Calvin Ridley played well as he had six catches for 83 yards.
With Kansas City’s loss to the Broncos, the Jaguars now have the longest active win streak in the NFL (5) and are the only undefeated team on the road. Jacksonville will head into this bye week with a lot of momentum and looking to rest up as they prepare for the back half of the season.