MVN - Most Valuable Network

Jaguars ride legs of Garrard to sloppy Wild Card win in Pittsburgh

On a night where the Pittsburgh Steelers were intent on stopping the Jaguars rushing offense, it was ironic that it came down to a critical running play on a fourth and two to seal a come from behind win for Jacksonville.

With the game on the line, the Jaguars faced a critical fourth down play just outside of field goal range.  On a called quarterback draw, David Garrard not only scrambled into field goal range, but ran himself right into the eternal highlight reel of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

In 1996, a young Mark Brunell made a similar run to sustain a drive in Denver that ultimately ended in a Jaguars victory.  That scramble created the legend of Mark Brunell for Jaguar fans, and endeared him to the city of Jacksonville.  With the game on the line and the Jaguars a play away from seeing all of their hopes evaporate into thin air, David Garrard may have carved his own legend by putting the team on his back and scrambling for nearly thirty yards.

It was a particularly long day for the normally efficient David Garrard.  Two critical interceptions allowed the Steelers to close an 18 point deficit, and eventually take a lead in the game briefly. 

During the week leading up to the game, the talk from the Steelers centered on stopping the Jaguars second rated rushing attack.  After being gashed for more than 200 yards rushing in week fifteen, Pittsburgh felt that they needed to exact some revenge by shutting down the Jaguars running game.  They did a solid job of containing Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew, holding them to 77 yards combined.    But, they couldn’t keep the running game out of the end zone, and both Taylor and Jones-Drew had touchdowns.

The Jaguars defense, which surrendered more than 100 yards rushing to Willie Parker in the first meeting this year, held the Steelers to 43 yards rushing on the night, forcing Pittsburgh to be one-dimensional.   Ben Roethlisberger responded with 337 yards passing and 2 touchdowns.   The Jaguars put constant pressure on Roethlisberger, and forced him into making key mistakes that helped to build their lead, including one Rashean Mathis interception that was returned 63 yards for a touchdown. 

In the end, Roethlisberger’s four turnovers (three interceptions and one fumble) created too big of a deficit to overcome.   Pittsburgh’s quarterback faced constant pressure throughout the night, and was sacked six times.

The Jaguars had to rely on the legs of David Garrard, and he responded by being the leading rusher of the night.  But, it all came down to the one carry for 32 yards that got the team into field goal range with time running out.  At that point, the Jaguars were reeling as Pittsburgh had taken a lead and clearly had momentum on their side.  When Garrard cleared the first down, and continued on for another 30 yards beyond that point, it was the final blow.  After forcing Pittsburgh to burn their timeouts, Josh Scobee stepped in and delivered a chip shot field goal to put the Jags ahead.

While the Steelers were able to shut down the rushing game, they were not able to stop Maurice Jones-Drew as a kick returner or receiver.  Drew came up just shy of returning a kick for a touchdown, being tackled at the 2 yard line.  He also had a 43  yard touchdown reception, which was the longest grab of the night.  When the dust settled on the game, Jones-Drew had compiled 168 total yards from scrimmage, and two touchdowns. 

One unsung hero in the game was rookie defensive tackle, Derek Landri.  When John Henderson went down with a hamstring strain, Landri and Grady Jackson were forced into heavier rotation to fill the void.  Landri responded with a sack, a fumble recover, and an interception.  He also was the source of constant harrassment in the backfield, giving Roethlisberger and the Steelers running back a consistent obstacle to overcome. 

Another rookie that redeemed himself was punter, Adam Podlesh.  It was on the same field in week fifteen where Podlesh had what could be considered one of the worst performances of his career.  This time around, his four punts averaged 50 yards, allowing Podlesh to remove the goat tag that had been dogging him since the Steelers and Jags met previously.

Now, with the first post-season win of the Del Rio era, the Jaguars must wait for the outcome of the Tennessee/San Diego game to determine where they will be playing.  If San Diego wins, the Jaguars will be playing in New England on Saturday night.  If Tennessee upsets the Chargers, the Jaguars head to Indianapolis to face the defending Super Bowl champions and division rivals.

With the path to the Super Bowl potentially putting the Jaguars in a situation where they must beat each of the three previous Super Bowl champions, getting the first win creates the type of momentum that the Jaguars need in a season that is turning out to be a special one.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 at 11:49 pm 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.