Steelers @ Jaguars

[SD2042]

The Battle of the Clones

http://news.steelers.com/article/96975/

Series History

Series History: Series began in 1995
Overall: Jacksonville leads 12-8
At Pittsburgh: Series tied 5-5
At Jacksonville: Jacksonville leads 7-3
Neutral Sites: n/a
Last Regular-Season Meeting: Dec. 16, 2007 (in Pittsburgh)
Jacksonville 27, Pittsburgh 21
Postseason Series: Jacksonville leads 1-0
(postseason record included in overall series record)
The teams will battle for the 21st time as Pittsburgh trails the series 12-8 (including playoffs)...the Steelers look to snap a four game losing streak to the Jaguars in the series after dropping four games over the past three seasons, including the AFC Wild Card Game, 31-29, on Jan. 5, 2008...the Jaguars also defeated the Steelers in Week 15, 27-22, at Heinz Field...Pittsburgh and Jacksonville used to play twice a year as they were both members of the AFC Central division before 2001...the Steelers had won three straight in the series before a 23-17 overtime setback to the Jaguars in 2005 at Heinz Field...Pittsburgh is 3-7 all-time on the road against Jacksonville, but had won two straight (2002, 2004) prior to a 9-0 setback on Monday Night Football on Sept. 9, 2006...the past six games have been decided by a total of 27 points and three of them have been decided in the final minute of the game...these two teams have met twice previously on Sunday Night, with each earning a victory on the oppositions’ turf...the Jaguars defeated Pittsburgh 34-24 at Three Rivers Stadium on Nov. 19, 2000, and Pittsburgh defeated Jacksonville 17-16 on Dec. 5, 2004 at Alltel Stadium on a 37-yard field goal by K Jeff Reed with only 18 seconds left to play.


http://news.steelers.com/article/96999/

STEELERS ILB LAWRENCE TIMMONS VS. JAGUARS QB DAVID GARRARD: Last week, the Houston Texans had the Jaguars on the ropes, but after a Matt Schaub touchdown pass put the Texans ahead 24-20 with 7:06 remaining, Garrard brought the Jaguars back, mostly with his legs. He scrambled for two first downs, then broke a tackle and scored from 5 yards out with 1:48 to play. He gained 13 yards on third-and-10, then picked up 9 more a few plays later on fourth-and-8. Don’t forget, it was Garrard’s 32-yard run on a fourth-and-2 in overtime that got the Jaguars in position for the field goal in overtime that eliminated the Steelers from the playoffs in 2007. "Thank God we have a quarterback like David who can do it with his arms and legs," said Fred Taylor. The Steelers now have someone on their sub-package defense who can be used to neutralize Garrard’s running, and his name is Lawrence Timmons. A linebacker who can cover, rush, run and hit, Timmons would be an ideal spy on Garrard.

STEELERS RB MEWELDE MOORE VS. JAGUARS MLB MIKE PETERSON: With Willie Parker out for at least this game with a knee injury, with Rashard Mendenhall on injured reserve, with Carey Davis nursing an ankle injury, the Steelers have two healthy running backs – Mewelde Moore and Gary Russell – plus the team added Najeh Davenport early in the week. Davenport did not attend a training camp after being released by the Steelers after the draft, and Russell was brought up from the team’s practice squad. Moore is neither as big as Russell nor as fast as Parker, but he is a better receiver than either of them and he has some starting experience with the Minnesota Vikings. What Moore showed in overtime against the Ravens would be enough for me to make him the starter on Sunday night against the Jaguars, because he’s a fine receiver, a willing blocker and he doesn’t tippy-toe around when running the ball. The Steelers have to be able to run the ball to have a chance to win any game they play, and it looks like it will have to be Moore, with Russell as a complement, trying to get it done against the Jaguars.

STEELERS QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER VS. JAGUARS CB RASHEAN MATHIS: The Jaguars built a 21-7 lead against the Steelers in that Wild Card Game in January, and it was Mathis’ interception and 63-yard return for a touchdown that gave Jacksonville its first lead. Mathis is one of the top big-play cornerbacks in the NFL, and he does have a knack for scoring touchdowns against the Steelers, with two in the past four meetings. Roethlisberger can expect to be under pressure on Sunday night, but even with that being careless with the football could prove to be deadly. Throwing the ball away, or taking a sack, or doing both often, is better than giving Mathis an opportunity to make a game-changing play. In two games against the Jaguars last season, Roethlisberger passed for 479 yards and five touchdowns, which proves there are plays to be made in the passing attack. But a poorly timed turnover can negate a whole bunch of positive plays and turn the momentum of the entire game.

STEELERS KICK COVERAGE VS. JAGUARS KR BRIAN WITHERSPOON: Speaking of momentum-changing plays, the Steelers took the opening kickoff in that playoff game against the Jaguars and drove 80 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Maurice Jones-Drew returned it 96 yards to the Steelers 2-yard line. That short touchdown, and then Mathis’ interception return for a touchdown gave the Jaguars a 14-7 lead and completely erased any positive that came from the opening drive. Jacksonville has been using Witherspoon, a rookie from Stillman College as its primary kick returner so far this season, and he has shown himself to be good at it. He’s averaging 15.8 yards (No. 3 in the AFC) on punt returns and 29.7 yards on kickoff returns (No. 4 in the AFC).

[Anklebreaker702]

Steelers may be too injured to win this game. If they can pull of this victory with all the injuries they have it would speak volumes for what we can do once we get healthy & finally learn how to protect Big Ben

[Anklebreaker702]

Maaaaaaaaaaan this board is always dead

[el loco]

^^^^ Yeah, but with you here it does add another poster, so thanks for showing up. I saw the experts on espn this morning. Ditka, TJ, KJ, Berman, and Chris Carter. All of them picked the Jaguars over us. I think we might suck it up and play some ball and pull out the win against these guys. Our defense has been solid, so if we can get anything from the offense, I like our chances in this one.

[el loco]

It would be a good place to learn how to do some things. I should make some attempts myself. It would be pretty cool if we could find someone to do one of those fancy game threads like they do on the basketball boards. I couldn't do it, I am lucky if I figure out easier things like how to post a picture or a link. I knew how to do the link then they changed the board up. I imagine it is still the same though.

[SD2042]

The game was pretty good last night. Sure the Steelers are banged up, but they managed to pull out a win. Hines Ward catchin the last TD for the Steelers to get the lead and Aaron Smith blocking David Garrard's pass to stop the Jags flat on 4 and 10. Now the Steelers hit the bye week and will return to action in to weeks.

Also good to see another poster here. Thx anklebreaker.

[el loco]

Yeah, it was a pretty nice win. I thought on the opening drive after Big Ben gave up 6 on that interception, that it was going to be a long night. But the rest of the half we moved the ball well on offense, so I felt pretty good about the outcome. It turned out to be a lot closer than what I would have liked to have seen, but all through it I felt pretty good about us taking the game from them. It was a good win and momentum builder for the team heading into the bye week.