The Pittsburgh Steelers expected to move on to the AFC Championship game. The media proclaimed a Pittsburgh win all week, but unfortunately for the Steelers, the Jacksonville Jaguars never got the memo. Instead of cooperating with the expectations of others, the Jaguars defied them to advance to next week’s conference championship game. Why? Because the Steelers defense failed to execute their game plan. Leonard Fournette had his way on the ground, scoring three touchdowns, while Blake Bortles made play after play on third down. The Jags took an early 21-0 lead and never trailed, despite the Steelers furious attempts to get back in the game. Sadly, the Steelers are going home because Keith Butler‘s defense failed to execute in critical moments. Half of the Steelers losses this season have come at the hands of the participants in next week’s AFC Championship game.
Pittsburgh Steelers Defense Failed To Execute In Loss To Jaguars
The Steelers loss to the Jaguars on Sunday was their most shocking playoff defeat since the 1994 AFC Championship game. The Steelers were so confident they’d beat the San Diego Chargers, that several players made a Super Bowl video prior to that game.
Thankfully, there were no videos this year. The only ones who believed that Jacksonville would beat the Steelers were the Jaguars themselves. Simply put, the Steelers defense was not prepared to play. They were bullied from from the opening kickoff to the final gun, and the Jaguars exposed their flaws.
The defensive strategy was to shutdown the run and force Bortles to beat them, but they couldn’t execute. Fournette had four carries for 13 yards and a touchdown on the Jaguars first drive. Bortles completed three of four passes for 53 yards. Fournette rushed for 34 yards on his next three carries, including an 18 yard touchdown which put Jacksonville up 14-0. All told, the Steelers defensive plan failed miserably. They gave up a total of 164 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Jacksonville’s running game allowed for Bortles to work efficiently and hit key passes that extend numerous drives.
Steelers Defense Failed to Get a Push up Front
The Jaguars offensive line changed tactics in their second meeting with the Steelers, who had no answers to combat the change. They aggressively maneuvered the Steelers defensive front the first time around, to clear out of the gaps. On Sunday, the Jaguars offensive fired off the snap and drove back the Steelers defensive front all day. Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, and Javon Hargrave got no push at all. The only stop they had for negative yards came on a bad center-quarterback exchange.
Heyward and Tuitt were frustrated all day. They couldn’t counter with anything to gain any kind of advantage, to be disruptive, or help the linebackers. The Steelers defensive front, which had played so well all season, picked the most inopportune time to play their worst game of the season. Heyward and Tuitt combined for just four tackles. The unit as a whole had only seven stops on the day, and in two games against Jacksonville, gave up 395 yards rushing.
Steelers Defense Isn’t the Same Without Ryan Shazier
Ryan Shazier is only one man, but nobody covers more ground than him. The Jaguars certainly benefited from his absence. Sean Spence and L.J. Fort were unable to make several plays on third down that Shazier routinely made. Three of those drives resulted in Jaguar touchdowns. One play that stands out was Fort missing a tackle on T.J. Yeldon with 7:49 left in the fourth quarter. It was third and five from the Jaguar 30 yard line. Yeldon caught a swing pass from Bortles and escaped from Fort, who dove at his ankles to bring him down.
Jacksonville would have had to punt if Fort makes that tackle. It would have taken a Jacksonville touchdown off the board. Instead, Yeldon took the ball 40 yards, down to the Pittsburgh 30 yard line. Shazier routinely makes that play, and many others that were missed, because of superior speed. The defense should have played better despite Shazier’s absence, but there is no denying he would have made a difference.
Last Word on The Steelers Defense
Feel free to blame this loss on Mike Tomlin or Todd Haley, but you’d be wrong. The Steelers put 42 points on the board against arguably the best defense in football. The Steelers defense failed to back up the offense. That should be more than enough points to beat any team. Unfortunately, the defense gave up 45 points to one of the worst offenses around. The blame for this loss rests squarely with the defense. The defensive line was pushed around all game, and never pressured Bortles. The linebackers missed tackles and never properly plugged their gaps, while the secondary gave up some big plays.
The outcome would have been much different if the defense could’ve gotten off the field on third down. Did Butler put the available talent in the best position to succeed? Was it the players themselves that failed to carry out their assignments? Heyward says the the blame for defense’s poor performance rests with the players.
Either way, the Steelers defense failed the team last Sunday. They looked unprepared and failed to adjust to how Jacksonville was attacking them. Now they have an entire off-season to figure out how to make it right.
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