Pittsburgh Steelers fall to Jacksonville 45-42 in divisional round
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars faced off Sunday at Heinz Field. The game started ugly and got uglier from there for the Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers came into the game as the second seed in the AFC. The Jaguars entered as the third seed, and the game showed seeding does not matter.
Pittsburgh came out flat on defense and quickly found themselves down 7-0. Leonard Fournette punched it in for a touchdown on fourth down.
The Steelers came out throwing again as they did in week five and it went about as well as expected. The Jaguars defense held tough, and the Steelers punted.
The Steelers offense continued to struggle when Ben Roethlisberger was intercepted by Myles Jack. The turnover set up another Fournette touchdown to put the Steelers in a 14-0 hole.
The Jaguars continued to pour it on as they went up 21-0 on a T.J. Yeldon touchdown. The Steelers defense continued losing the battle at the line of scrimmage.
Pittsburgh finally put together a good drive scoring on a touchdown from Big Ben to Antonio Brown. This cut the deficit to 21-7.
Pittsburgh got a stop and the ball back with a chance to get it to 21-14 at halftime and get the ball back. This quickly changed on a strip sack and recovery for a touchdown to make it 28-7 Jags.
Pittsburgh did find a way to score before the half on a bomb to Martavis Bryant on fourth down. The Steelers cut the lead to 28-14 before the half and got the second half kickoff.
Pittsburgh came out of the gates storming down the field. Big Ben capped the drive with a touchdown pass to Le’Veon Bell to cut it to 28-21.
Pittsburgh’s defense got a stop, but the offense stalled. On third down, Ben’s first pass in 14 attempts fell incomplete, and the Steelers punted.
The Steelers defense held tight and forced punt of Jacksonville. Robert Golden blocked the punt, and the Steelers got the ball in Jags territory.
Pittsburgh could do nothing on offense. They went for it on fourth down, and the pass to Juju Smith-Schuster fell incomplete.
Pittsburgh’s defense then gave up a huge pass that got the Jaguar to the three-yard line, and Leonard Fournette punched his third touchdown in.
The Steelers came back with the ball and went for another fourth down. Big Ben rolled to his left and bombed deep to Antonio Brown for the touchdown to make it 35-28.
The Steelers defense could not hold tough, and the Jaguars scored again. With the score 42-28, the Steelers found themselves in a huge hole.
The Steelers came out and did not give up. Big Ben completed lateral to Bell to cut the lead back to 42-35 with little time left.
Pittsburgh then attempted an onside kick they did not recover. They held the Jaguars to fourth down, but the onside kick had them close to field goal range.
The Jaguars knocked it through to make the score 45-35 with 1:45 left. The Steelers kept fighting until they couldn’t any longer.
The game started bad and Pittsburgh could not recover. The offense did all they could but the defense could not get the big stops they needed.
The Pittsburgh Steelers season comes to an end at Heinz Field 45-42 after a garbage time TD to Juju. The road to the offseason begins with many questions to answer.
Next: Breaking down the Steelers 2018 draft options
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