Jaguars Dominate Steelers

JT: The little yellow towels couldn’t save Tomlin’s crew

Jacksonville is really a philanthropic football team. They like to give back. They like to help the less fortunate and this was more than evident when JAX decided, while in scoring position, to turn the ball over not once, not twice, but three times. THREE TURNOVERS in scoring position. That’s, at the very least, 9 points, at most 21, and most likely 17 points that the Jaguars offense decided to gift the Pittsburgh Steelers this past Sunday at Acrimonious Stadium…No, Acrid-smelling stadium…Ummm, Acri-I’m-not-so-sure it was a good investment putting your name on a stadium that might just have whinier fans than the Buffalo Bills. My god Pittsburgh. You have a storied franchise. You have umpteen Super Bowl titles. You are known for steel grit and hard hitting power. The steel curtain defense originated in the black and gold for chrissakes. Suck it up during these not so dominating years and stop with the whiney tweets. Your social media breakdowns are not only unappealing but frankly not worthy of such a great franchise with such rich history. Not to mention the obvious, which is that the Jaguars own the Steelers and always have since their Duuuval inception. JAX has knocked them out of the playoffs and beaten them twice in Pittsburgh in the same season on two separate occasions. Jacksonville not only owns the overall head-to-head record against Pittsburgh, but JAX owns them in the Steelers own home, which should always and forever be known as Three Rivers. I am Acri-sure of that.

What a great and yet crappy game in PA. We all thought after the Calvin Ridley trade (one year ago this week) that the Jaguars offense would be carrying all the water. They would be outscoring other offenses, in shoot outs, to win their 2023 games. Little did anyone know that the Jaguars defense is all growns up and they’re all growns up and they’re all growns up (Who said it and where? Don’t let me down L. Fitz. In an earlier column I told you to stop reading and go watch it now). Oh my goodness, Dewey Wingard #42. The teal and white blur that devastated Pittsburgh ball carriers. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to see when watching the game on TV. A Steelers player looked like he might break one for some serious yardage, when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the punishing safety DEWEY WINGARD would speed, literally like a prop car from The Fast and the Furious (quote attributed to the great Ari Gold from Entourage. Whatever happened to Jeremy Piven?) into view and de-cleat, Madden style, the guy toting the rock. He was a force. He was beastmode. He was him. He was Dewey freakin’ Wingard. What a phenomenal player to have in your back pocket to step in for an injured Andre Cisco. So glad we signed him to a multi-year deal. His attitude is phenomenal and infectious. All of that to say Dewey dominated, and his domination was topped off by an INT. Every time the Jags offense would dip into their feels and decide to knock out some philanthropy hours by handing Pittsburgh a turnover on a silver platter, the Jags defense would be called upon to buckle down, knuckle up and hold the Black and Gold to only 10 total points. That was an exhausting task. So much so, even Dewey had to wipe the sweat from his brow after his interception. The fans at Three Rivers were extremely accommodating to lend him one of those little yellow towels to help him out. It was fire, Evan Engram, you need to go and watch it, sir. Total fire. I wish somehow we could have Cisco, Jenkins, and Dewey on the field, all the time. Can Dewey rush the QB off the edge? Has anyone tested this? oh, Mike Caldwell, I think I have a great idea.

All of the above to say our defense makes our team, and keeps our offense in games long enough to win. Evan Engram, whom I met earlier this past week, had himself a day with 10 receptions. I will forgive his fumble in the red zone for two reasons. 1) Jacksonville won the game 2) Pittsburgh did not win the game. That aside, what a game for the newly re-signed tight end. With the selection of Brenton Strange in the most recent draft, and the fact that the Jags kept Luke Farrell, I was led to believe that Eazy E. was gonna get tagged and then released next year. My how happy I am to have been misled. Not only is he a top three tight end in the NFL (Tay Tay, Engram, Kittle) but he is sincerely one of the nicest and most genuine football players I have ever had a chance to talk with. Just a very nice guy who doesn’t fake his interest in people when speaking to them. Happy to have you for the long term E.E.

Now for some bad. Trevor made some mental mistakes, see the interception in the endzone. He made up for it though by dropping some dimes to all receivers, tight ends, and let’s not forget running backs. Trevor’s touchdown pass to Travis Etiendzone was a thing of beauty. The Pitt defender was more worried about C-Rid, and thus took one forward step too many, allowing ETN to get wide open behind him with nothing but green between himself and pay dirt. Speaking of Travis Etienne. He was abused by Jacksonville. I’m hoping it was only because he now has two weeks to heal. Tony Boselli summed it up best saying that they ran him ragged and basically told him to go sit in a hot tub for the next two weeks and heal up. Everyone is talking about ETNs over-usage. If he keeps up his current touch rate he will set NFL records well into the 400s for the entire season. This is unsustainable for one of the best running backs in the league. It’s unsustainable for anyone. So why are we killing ETN? Well the short of it is because we can’t draft worth crap. Last year we drafted Snoop Conner (bust). This year we drafted Turnover Tank out of Auburn. Tank Bigsby was supposed to be the next coming of ETN. He was supposed to be the “two” in a one-two punch backfield for JAX. Instead, he’s had costly turnovers. Not to mention the fact that he’s let passes go right through his hands when targeted. Is it too late to get James Robinson back? Why are we not playing JaMycal Hasty or D’Ernest Johnson? It is true, Jacksonville takes too long to admit when they made a bad draft choice. Tank needs to take a seat, the NFL is obviously more difficult than an Auburn running game.

I’m very excited, as we all are, that the Jags have the current longest winning streak in the NFL and enter their bye week at 6-2 (btw, JaguarsTalk called this midseason record). The JAX defense might be the very best defense in the entirety of the league. They are not only shutting down opponent’s offenses but the JAX D is doing it when the Jags offense is fighting against them. With teams like SanFranciso and the newly reborn Bengals and Ravens on the menu, the Jags offense needs to stop turning it over and start putting tuddies on the board. Once T-Law and the boys get their ish together, there is no limit. Now just imagine the following:

1)We trade for a veteran edge (the deadline is tomorrow) - Chase or Sweat from Washington, or maybe Hunter from Minnesota.

2)DaVon Hamilton (I know he was activated this past week), Walker Little, Zay Jones, Cisco, Tyson Campbell and all the other gimpy Jags heal up by the time San Fran comes to the Bold Coast. We’d have more of a push up the middle, meaning JA becomes even more sacktastic. Also, with our best O-lineman back, the protection will be much better. Finally, big play Zay will not only grab some amazing and opportune passes, but he’ll open up C-Rid for the big downfield, burner plays we know he can make.

3) See 1 & 2.

That’s all we are going to give you guys today. I hope you like and share. Oh, sorry. Speaking of hope, the Pittsburgh Steelers very talented wide receiver, George Pickens, stated that the Jaguars defense was a “hope defense.” I think #2, Rayshawn Jenkins, summed it up best when he said (and I may be paraphrasing), “We were hoping they were going to come in here and put up a better fight.” Couldn’t have put it better myself Rayshawn. Well said. Oh, and as for George Pickens, he had ONE catch. ONE. And he was being guarded by a back-up CB. I “hope” he has a little yellow towel into which he can cry. Happy Victory Monday. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.