The Pittsburg Steelers look to run the ball with Le’Veon Bell against the Jacksonville Jaguars as he is continuing to find his stride coming off his camp holdout this year. Even in early season form, Bell is one of the toughest running backs to tackle in the National Football League. The pressure to stop him is going to be squarely on the young defensive standout, linebacker Myles Jack. Through 4 weeks, Jack is leading the team in tackles with 33 and he has 1 sack to his name as well. In order for the Jags to have a chance at beating the potent offense of the Steelers, Jack and the interior line of the Jags defense will have to shut down the running game of the Steelers. Jacksonville will have to force QB Ben Roethlisberger to throw the Steelers way to a victory. Normally, I would never say your chance is better to beat the Steelers with Big Ben back there throwing the ball 40 or 50 times a game, but this year, the Steelers just don’t seem to be on the same page in the passing game. Through four weeks Pittsburg’s number 1 target WR Antonio Brown only has 1 touchdown. Roethlisberger is sporting a 90.7 quarterback rating, not his best numbers by far. I am not suggesting Big Ben is slipping, but by forcing the ball into his hands and then letting defensive ends Calais Campbell and Dante Fowler Jr. loose on the edges to get pressure, you can force him to throw into bad spots and let the decent secondary led by the hard-hitting safety Barry Church to get some real chances at takeaways.
To beat the Steelers and take a big step to separating themselves in the division, the Jaguars defense will have to show up and make some big plays. Limit the time on the field for Ben Roethlisberger and don’t let him find a rhythm with his offense and the Jags have a very real shot at taking home the W.
Jags @ Steelers: 10/8 1pm ET
Prediction: Jags 26, Steelers 21