2020 Steelers Season Recall: Steelers coast to 10-0 with a win in Jacksonville

Steel City Underground presents our 2020 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.

After trouncing the Bengals a week earlier, the Steelers traveled to Jacksonville, Florida with their sights set on starting their season a perfect 10-0 against a 1-8 Jaguars team stuck with starting their rookie, sixth-round, third-string quarterback Jake Luton.

Embed from Getty Images

As you may imagine, the game went the Steelers way, but fans would still be perturbed when the Jaguars went on the board first behind a Chase McLaughlin 41-yard field goal.

Those would be the only points Jacksonville would score the remainder of the game.

The Steelers would equal the Jaguars behind a Chris Boswell 44-yard field goal attempt, before pulling away with two second quarter touchdowns – the first, a 31-yard laser from Ben Roethlisberger to Chase Claypool, while Benny Snell secured the second with under a minute before half, vulturing a one-yard walk-in score from James Conner.

The theme would ideally continue throughout the second half as the Steelers cruised to two more scores, with a Boswell 47-yard boot and an Eric Ebron 20-yard touchdown reception.

The goal, with a Thursday Night Football battle on the horizon against the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving evening, was to rest some of the starters.

The Steelers made the game easy, especially on defense. Even easier than playing on http://platincasino.com/ie/treasure-nile.html.

Embed from Getty Images

The Jaguars would score first, but the following possessions result in six punts, four interceptions, and a turnover on downs to finish the game.

Two of those four interceptions came from safety Terrell Edmunds – a career-high and breakout game for the former first round pick.

As for the Jags, their season hit a low point as they could only secure 14 first downs, and were behind two seconds shy of a full thirteen minutes in time of possession.

Luton would only get sacked twice, but in coughing up the ball four times, would finish 16-of-37 for 151 yards and a 15.5 QB Rating.

The Steelers on the other hand prepped for their short week by being able to sit Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, and Ben Roethlisberger near the end of the game.

None of the wide receivers played more than 80% of the offensive snaps, while Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland Jr. each saw some time in the backfield as well.

Embed from Getty Images

On defense, players such as Bud Dupree, Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt Joe Haden, Tyson Alualu and even Mike Hilton were replaced with the likes of Henry Mondeaux, Ola Adeniyi, and Avery Williamson.

The team knew they’d be playing 13 straight games following the blunder of their bye week, and adequately made concessions to be in top form in a few days hosting the Ravens. Unfortunately, as we now know, that game was heavily delayed to where the extra rest hurt Pittsburgh – with Dupree being lost for the season as the key lowlight of that upcoming matchup.

Yet, the Steelers had foresight here to know they didn’t want their men to get banged up further in the upcoming brawl and strolled in, and out of Jacksonville largely unscathed with a 27-3 victory.


Suggested articles from our sponsors