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Jacksonville-Pittsburgh…Keys to Victory

Well, for the second time in three weeks, the Jaguars will be playing in the NFL’s best game as they will travel to icy Heinz Filed to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is expected to be a smash mouth type of game, but I think the Steelers might try to air it out more than expected, but we will see. I’ve already given you guys a preview, and Tim has told you about the defense, but here is what I feel will be the Keys to Victory to beating a very tough and physical Steelers’ team.

Keys to Victory on Offense

Mo-Jo must run consistently- The Jags have been effective running the ball this season, but in a magnitude of ways. There have been games where they have pounded the ball for 4 or 5 yards consistently and there have been times where they have been stifled for a portion of the game and then hit a huge run to bolster up their stats. Fred Taylor has done the prior through most of the season, pounding the ball for 6 or7 yards consistently and always moving the pile for just enough yards. He has had some big runs (like last week’s 80 yarder against the Panthers) but he has been a consistent threat running it. Maurice Jones-Drew on the other hand has been keyed by opponents and has had a hard time running consistently unless he sprung it for a big gain (i.e the Texans). Taylor has had 3 100 yard rushing games in a row and the Steelers will likely be keying on him now. That means that Mo-Jo must sneak under the radar for a big game. He has to finish runs with authority, hit the hole hard and look more like the Mo-Jo from late last season. If he does this, the Jags can wrack up 150 or possibly 2000 rushing yards.

Keep stepping up receivers- David Garrard has been great all season long but now he is starting to put up even bigger numbers because guys like Reggie Williams and even Matt Jones are stepping up (both had TDs last week). The Steelers have a very physical secondary, so the Jags must be the more aggressive team on the outside. It will be cold, the hits will hurt a lot more, but this group of receivers must be willing to go over the middle and make big plays. The ball will be harder to catch too, but they must be consistent and make big catches when necessary.

Hold on to the ball- A key to any game, but more so here. Again, it will be cold and it will be harder to hold on to the football. However, the Jaguars must keep that ball in their hands and not give the Steelers the ball. It will difficult to score on them anyways so you cant just hand them the ball and make life easy,

Convert in the red-zone- This has been a problem all year. It will tough to make FGs with the drastic wind change through the game. More importantly, if you march the ball 70 yards downfield, you want seven points, not three. FGs hurt teams, but TDs are demoralizing. The Jaguars need to strike when they are close in and must capitalize on every opportunity

Keys to Victory on Defense

Make Pittsburgh one-dimensional- This is a well balanced team that can pound the ball or hit the big play on the ground. They can dink and dunk your or go for the long ball over the middle…basically, the Steelers can score in a variety of ways. In order to have a successful day on defense, the Jags must make the Steelers one-dimensional, similar to what they did to the Panthers last week. Make them predictable and force them into throwing the ball. This will take a lot of pressure off of the secondary.

Don’t let them dictate the game, don’t let them convert- If the Steelers start pounding the ball and controlling the clock, you fall into their trap. The Jaguars want to be the one’s controlling the clock, so get them off of the field early. The most important thing will be to not let them convert on third down. Indy killed the Jags with this a few weeks ago, and it was demoralizing. You want to not give these guys any extra momentum, and letting them stay on the field will do that.

Don’t let Holmes beat you- As much as I hate seeing teams dink and dunk on the Jags, I’d rather that than the Steelers hit Holmes over the middle for big plays. We can give up three points easier than seven, and keeping the Steelers to field-goals is a lot better.

Overall, this is a huge game for both team’s and will determine playoff positioning. Both squads will try to establish the run, but you will see some plays in the air as well, or at least some attempts. Right now, I give the edge to the Steelers, because they aren’t as banged up as the Jags and Jacksonville’s defense has a lot to prove. If they can come out there and look like 06’s defense than I give the Jags the victory. Until then however, I like the Steelers 21-17.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2007 at 9:21 am and is filed under Jaguars' Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.