The Pittsburgh Steelers advanced to 10-0 after taking down the Jaguars in Week 11. Here are my takeaways from the game.
After coming off a blowout win against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 10, many though the Pittsburgh Steelers could struggle a bit against the Jacksonville Jaguars this week. Historically, Mike Tomlin is just 4-4 against the Jaguars and Ben Roethlisberger is 5-5 all-time against Jacksonville.
While the Steelers struggled on offense early after stalling for no points on each of their first two drives, they kicked things into gear before the half. In the second quarter, Pittsburgh scored 17 unanswered points to go into the half with a 17-0 lead. The offense would once agains struggle in the third quarter as multiple drives stalled for no points, but it didn’t matter.
Pittsburgh’s defense was so good in this contest that Jacksonville could barely move the ball. When it seemed like they were starting to gain some steam, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds showed up with some timely interceptions. Eventually, the Steelers hammered the Jaguars in a 27-3 victory. Here are my four biggest takeaways from the game:
Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t sharp early on
As has been the case in several games this season, Ben Roethlisberger just was not sharp to begin this contest. On his first two drives, Big Ben missed receivers on third downs. The first was a routing slant in which he overthrew Diontae Johnson, and his second pass – intended for tight end Eric Ebron – should have been picked off and possibly taken the other way for a touchdown.
Eventually, Ben got the ball rolling – scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter alone – however, it’s a bit concerning that even against one of the league’s worst defenses that he had such a slow start in this contest.
Roethlisberger has been terrific in the second half of games this year, but he won’t be able to afford to play this way if they match up against a good AFC team in the playoffs this year. Let’s hope he can start a little stronger moving forward.