Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 Takeaways vs. Jaguars in Week 5
3. Run Defense Still an Issue
The final numbers may actually look worse than the team’s defensive performance on Sunday. However, let’s not sugarcoat what happened on Sunday afternoon. And one need only look back a few weeks to see what the Jacksonville Jaguars had in mind
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Two weeks ago, we saw the Chicago Bears roll up 222 yards on the ground against Keith Butler’s defensive unit. Thanks mainly to the combination of Jordan Howard and rookie Tarik Cohen, John Fox’s club stayed persistent when it came to their rushing attack and Pittsburgh simply had no answers. That afternoon, the Bears totaled 38 running plays to gain those yards. However, the main consensus was that Howard and Cohen were able to enjoy such success due to the fact that starting defensive end Stephon Tuitt and right outside linebacker T.J. Watt were sidelined for the game.
That wasn’t the case against the Jaguars. And we’ll omit rookie running back Leonard Fournette’s 90-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter of the team’s 30-9 win. Jacksonville still rolled up 141 yards rushing on 36 attempts. All told, Fournette finished the game with 181 yards and two scores on 28 carries. Marrone’s squad ran only 53 offensive plays against Butler’s defense but 37 were on the ground. And once again forget Fournette for a moment. Veteran backup Chris Ivory gained 41 yards on eight attempts in the team’s lopsided win.
With Tuitt, Javon Hargrave and Cameron Heyward up front and inside linebackers Ryan Shazier and Vince Williams in the starting lineup, stopping the run didn’t figure to be a problem this season.
Next: No. 2