While the Steelers offense managed to score six touchdowns, that wasn't enough in their 45-42 loss to the Jaguars. We will be doing an in-depth study of all the things that went wrong on defense later in the week, but now we focus on two moments when the offense had fourth-and-short situations and failed to convert in Jaguars territory.
The first opportunity came in the first quarter when the Steelers were already down 14-0 and feeling the pressure mount. After the Jaguars called a timeout because they only had 10 players on the field, the Steelers took fullback Roosevelt Nix off the field and set up for a pitch play to Marcus Gilbert's side.
The Jaguars were ready and two of their most prominent players, Jalen Ramsey and Calais Campbell, set the edge and took away any chance for Le'Veon Bell to convert. Campbell not only prevents Gilbert from pulling and getting to the outside, but also occupies David DeCastro. That prevents Bell from ever turning up to avoid Ramsey, who beat Vance McDonald on the edge:
The distance was less than a yard, yet the Steelers tried a pitch play that put Bell six yards behind the line of scrimmage in an effort to negate the Jaguars' defense that had stacked the interior of the Steelers' front. Their alignment was what gave Mike Tomlin confidence that a pitch play might succeed out to the edge.
"I felt comfortable with that," Tomlin said of the failed pitch. "They packed the As and the Bs. Obviously wasn't comfortable with the result. We didn't execute well enough and they did, and I guess you got to acknowledge that. They won the moments whether it was fourth down plays or conversion by them in some sort of form or fashion on offense."
All season this Jaguars' defense has had pride in its ability to flow to the ball and win at the point of attack and that fourth down showed yet another example of it being able to dominate in the moments that matter.
"This is just our defense," third-year defensive end Dante Fowler said after the game. Fowler only finished the game with a single tackle, but he was part of a defensive front that created opportunities for the Jaguars to score and limited the Steelers' explosive offense.
"I have seen it all year. We make plays in critical moments, and we have guys that can do it. Not just the defensive line. We have corners, we have safeties, we have linebackers. We have guys who can fly to the ball. We just have a quad."
TAP FOR BOXSCORE, PLAY-BY-PLAY, HIGHLIGHTSThose corners and safeties came up big in other moments, including the next stop on fourth down that came in the fourth quarter. The Steelers again went with a single back look with Bell by himself in the backfield and tried using play action to open up more passing options for Ben Roethlisberger.
The Steelers' offensive line manages to provide Roethlisberger with a pocket and time to read the field, but the play ends with an incomplete pass when Roethlisberger overlooks an open Eli Rogers in an attempt to go to JuJu Smith-Schuster on a crossing pattern as he was being draped by Pro Bowl cornerback, A.J. Bouye:
Bouye does get a solid hold and pull of Smith-Schuster's jersey on the play, but stayed in the rookie receiver's pocket long enough to break the pass up and force the turnover on downs. While the play was there to be made this instance, the Steelers chose to pass up on the opportunity to convert a fourth and short with arguably the best running back in the NFL, Bell, running behind Nix.
They also chose to pass on a sneak with Roethlisberger behind his Pro Bowl center, Maurkice Pouncey. While the first instance made sense as the Jaguars stacked the interior of the Steelers' formation, Pouncey had nobody in front of him on the second failed attempt and could've made for an easier conversion.
Tomlin answered the question as to why the Steelers never tried using the quarterback sneak against the Jaguars.
"They are very good at stopping it," Tomlin said of the Jaguars. "I stand by the calls we made. We just did not execute them. We wouldn't be having these conversations had we executed those plays and such is life. So, I'm not looking to convince you or change your mind. I'm just telling you we were comfortable with the calls that were made, and they stood up in those moments better than we did."
The Steelers' offense performed drastically better than their previous outing against the Jaguars when they only mustered three field goals. Their 42 points via Roethlisberger's efforts was the second highest point total the Jaguars had allowed all season.
But in a game decided by a field goal, a single yard was the distance that stopped the Steelers from advancing on two drives that had them in Jaguars' territory. Success in either situation might have changed the game entirely.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Jaguars, Heinz Field, Jan. 14, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS