Don't look now, but Blake Bortles is 1-0 in his playoff career. Bortles gained more rushing yards than passing yards in their Wild Card win over the Bills, and the Jaguars only scored 10 points, but all that matters is that the Jaguars are moving on to the Divisional Round for the first time since 2007.
They'll travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers for the second time in the past four months after beating them 30-9 during the regular season. Pittsburgh has only lost one game since that home loss against Jacksonville, and they'll be looking for revenge and a ticket to the AFC Championship Game this weekend.
Steelers Offense vs Jaguars Defense
The Steelers were forced to play without Antonio Brown for the final two games of the regular season after he suffered a partially torn calf muscle in their loss to the Patriots. He will reportedly be back for this game, but he'll face one of his toughest challenges of the year against Jalen Ramsey and the rest of this Jaguars defense.
With that difficult matchup in the passing game, Pittsburgh may be wise to lean on Le'Veon Bell and the running game this weekend. The Jaguars' run defense has outperformed their season-long stats since the acquisition of Marcell Dareus, but running the ball is the best way to move up and down the field against Jacksonville.
Bell is perfectly capable of carrying the load after gaining 1,946 yards from scrimmage this season, and a strong running game could set up some deep shots for Ben Roethlisberger in the play-action passing game.
Jaguars Offense vs Steelers Defense
Blake Bortles needs to improve his performance in the Wild Card round if they have any chance of moving on to the AFC Championship Game.
Bortles passed for just 87 yards last weekend averaging an ugly 3.78 yards per attempt in the Jaguars' win over the Bills. While he did rush for 88 yards, he needs to be much more efficient and accurate in the passing game to move the ball against Pittsburgh's top-ten defense.
Using Bortles' legs with the zone read could open up the running game for Leonard Fournette, who averaged just 2.71 yards per carry last week against a Buffalo run defense that ranked near the bottom of the league. Fournette, Bortles, and the rest of the Jaguars' offense will need to be much better this week and keep the ball out of Ben Roethlisberger's hands to improve Bortles' career playoff record to 2-0.
TV Schedule
Sunday, January 14, at 1:05 PM ET on CBS
Prediction
The Jaguars have a championship-caliber defense, but the offense may be the worst unit remaining in the playoffs. The Steelers are better than the Bills on both sides of the ball, they get Antonio Brown back in the lineup, and they have home-field advantage on Sunday afternoon.
The Patriots and Steelers will both take care of business this weekend and set up a rematch of one of the greatest games of the 2017 season in the AFC Championship Game.
