Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 Takeaways from Divisional Round win over Steelers
By Nick Sparrow
The Jacksonville Jaguars looked unbelievable as they upset the Pittsburgh Steelers and secured a trip to the AFC Championship Game.
Was anyone giving the Jacksonville Jaguars a real chance against the Pittsburgh Steelers? Whenever the Divisional Round matchup was set, there had to be questions about how Blake Bortles and the offense would be able to keep up, even with the Jags defense leading the way.
The answer to how they’d keep up is by setting the pace themselves. Jacksonville jumped out to a big lead in the first half, which was more than enough of a cushion to hold off the Steelers. Now they’ve advanced to the AFC Championship Game where they’ll face off with the New England Patriots.
But before that, let’s take a look at three big takeaways for the Jaguars from the win.
1. Ignore the Wild Card, this team can score
One of the biggest problems with picking the Jacksonville Jaguars to win Sunday’s game was that it was difficult to imagine them outscoring a team with an offense as explosive as Pittsburgh’s unless Ben Roethlisberger threw five interceptions again. Well, Big Ben and the Steelers scored 42 points and it still wasn’t enough to beat Jacksonville.
The Jaguars only scored 10 points in their Wild Card win over the Buffalo Bills last week and looked to be completely disjointed on offense but Sunday painted a wildly different picture.
2. We slept on Leonard Fournette
Leonard Fournette looked like a star earlier this season, scoring six touchdowns in his first six NFL games. However, Fournette missed three games and only scored three additional touchdowns after the first six weeks of the season and the hype around him died off a little.
That was clearly a dire mistake as Fournette exploded in the Divisional Round with 25 attempts for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Fournette proved on Sunday that he is able to carry the team’s offense as the Jaguars scored 45 points despite quarterback Blake Bortles only throwing a single touchdown. There seems to be no question that Fournette is the single most important player on Jacksonville’s offense.
3. Don’t assume the Patriots have this one in hand
With the 16-year dynasty that Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have built, it is sometimes easy to assume the Patriots are just going to cruise to victory every season. Certainly, New England will be favored next Sunday as they face this Jacksonville team in the AFC Championship. In many ways it feels like a match between David and Goliath; the Patriots have been winning since the turn of the 21st century, whereas the Jaguars are coming off of six straight losing seasons prior to the current one. However, don’t count out this Jaguars team just yet.
Historically, there are two ways to beat Brady. The first is to through different defensive looks at him. Play some man and switch into combo coverage during a drive. Brady is one of the best ever at reading opponent defenses so the better the defense is at switching things up the harder it will be for Brady to find his rhythm. The second is to hit Brady as often as possible.
Next: 2018 NFL Playoffs: Picks, predictions for Conference Championships
The last playoff game that New England lost was the 2015 AFC Championship Game against the Denver Broncos. The Broncos sacked Brady four times in that game, causing him to throw two interceptions. The Jaguars had the second-most sacks this season, averaging nearly 3.5 sacks per game. Jacksonville also proved able to win a shootout when they beat one of the most explosive offenses in football on Sunday in a game where 97 total points were scored.