Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 Key players to beating Steelers in Divisional Round

JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 07: Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone watches the action in the second half of the AFC Wild Card Round game against the Buffalo Bills at EverBank Field on January 7, 2018 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /

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JACKSONVILLE, FL – JANUARY 07: Blake Bortles #5 of the Jacksonville Jaguars runs with the football in the second half of the AFC Wild Card Round game against the Buffalo Bills at EverBank Field on January 7, 2018 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /

1. Blake Bortles

Despite all the grief that he has been getting in the press lately, Blake Bortles is the engine that makes the Jaguars run. That is the nature of the quarterback position, and he has handled it in stride. Although the win last Sunday was not a sexy one, he got the job done. In doing so, he led Jacksonville to their first playoff win since January 5, 2008. In that contest, the Jaguars led by David Garrard beat the Steelers 31-29.

On the season, Bortles has thrown for 3,687 yards, 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. His best game of the 2017 season came against the Houston Texans on Dec. 17. In that contest, he went 21-of-29 on the day, throwing for 326 yards and three touchdowns.

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There has been stretches throughout the course of the season where Bortles has looked great and times where he has looked not-so-great. This Jaguar team needs a great Blake Bortles to show up on Saturday. Last weekend, we saw Bortles the Game Manager. This weekend, the Jaguars would like to see Blake Bortles the Game Changer. He needs to be able to open up the offense if the Jaguars want to win this game.

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