The Jacksonville Jaguars secondary picked apart Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, quite literally on Sunday. The Jags intercepted Big Ben five times in the rout, including four interceptions in the second half alone for Pittsburgh as the Steelers could muster only three Chris Boswell field goals all game.
LB Telvin Smith and S Barry Church each returned a Roethlisberger interception for a touchdown and rookie RB Leonard Fournette more than iced the game with a 90-yard touchdown rush in the fourth quarter, his second on the day. Jaguars QB Blake Bortles was relegated to simple hand-off duties as this one wound down, throwing just 14 passes in a game that became an important stepping stone for the Jaguars and their defensive development. The final whistle blew with a final score of 30-9, and with that, we give you our PFF exclusive takeaways from the contest for each team.
Top 5 Grades:
LB Telvin Smith, 87.8 overall grade
CB Jalen Ramsey, 84.6 overall grade
CB A.J. Bouye, 84.4 overall grade
CB Aaron Colvin, 83.7 overall grade
S Barry Church, 81.9 overall grade
Performances of Note:
HB Leonard Fournette, 76.4 overall grade
An untouched 90-yard score is a nice way to cap off your first 100-yard game since your debut a month ago. Fournette had to work hard for his gains on a heavily stunting Steelers defense that threw plenty of bodies in his path throughout the game. Prior to his big run that inflates his yards before contact numbers, Fournette was averaging just 0.8 yards per carry before contact, adding 75% of his yards after contact until that one short-yardage run that turned into a long yardage run completely changed the perception of his performance and the support he got from a statistical perspective.
C Tyler Shatley, 64.0 overall grade
Thrust into the lineup at short notice, Shatley held his own against the interior of the Steelers' defense. Whether having to physically hold his own against Javon Hargrave or having to process the stunts and twists Hargrave ran with the two linebackers, Shatley gave Fournette just enough room to work in the middle of the defense. Some of the Jags' most successful runs came as a result of Shatley picking up Vince Williams cleanly on a twist with Ryan Shazier and the defensive line to allow Fournette to pop through cleanly on a one-on-one and keeping the space clear off the back of those stunts.
CB Jalen Ramsey, 84.6 overall grade
In terms of passing yards allowed, Jalen Ramsey's copybook was blotted on the opening play of the game for the Steelers with Antonio Brown picking up a 49-yard gain to open the game. In spite of the 128 receiving yards he allowed, and a touchdown and some extra yards were chalked off by a hold late in the game, this was another display to show why Ramsey has developed into one of the league's premier corners. Ramsey allowed less than 50 percent of the passes into his coverage to be completed, broke up two of them, intercepted another, allowed only 18 yards after the catch and picked up a defensive stop. This was a heavyweight battle and in spite of surrendering 100+ yards for only the second time in his career Ramsey more than held his own.
LB Telvin Smith, 87.8 overall grade
Smith led the Jags with four stops today, taking his season total to 20 and putting him on course to set a career high of 64 by the end of the season. Thus far in 2017 Smith appears to be consistently fulfilling the promise he has shown inconsistently to this point in his career. A presence against both run and pass this week Smith added his second interception of the season surrendering just 26 yards on the four passes targeted into his coverage.
Top 5 Grades:
WR Antonio Brown, 86.3 overall grade
DE Cameron Heyward, 81.5 overall grade
S Sean Davis, 80.3 overall grade
NT Javon Hargrave, 79.7 overall grade
DE Stephon Tuitt, 79.3 overall grade
Performances of Note:
WR Antonio Brown, 86.3 overall grade
In a losing effort, with no touchdowns (that stood at least), Antonio Brown still put up 185 yards against one of the league's best cornerback groups. From the very first play, Brown made clear he wasn't going to be contained by the Jaguars' secondary and in terms of yardage he absolutely wasn't. The nullified touchdown catch where he held off a Jalen Ramsey's close coverage would have put him over 200 yards but that'll have to wait for another week. A losing effort but while Bell finds his feet and Big Ben continues to struggle, Brown is still flying high in the passing game.
DE Cameron Heyward, 81.5 overall grade
Heyward didn't record a single stop for the first time in the 2017 season, but that lack of statistical impact doesn't convey the disruption he caused to the left side of the Jaguars offensive line. Whether stunting or playing straight into his gap, Heyward was hard to contain and played his part in limiting the Jags' running back to 3.2 yards per carry on runs between the tackles to the left side.
LB Ryan Shazier, 77.5 overall grade
This was a matchup of two of arguably the league's most athletic linebackers, and though he came off second best on the scoreboard and the performance stakes to Telvin Smith, Shazier still put in another strong performance, especially in coverage. The way he closed on Corey Grant on an errant screen on Grant's only snap of the game is the kind of speed to close down a backfield route linebackers dream of. Like Smith, Shazier has taken a step forward in the consistency of his performances this season and Steelers fans will hope he sustains that throughout the season.
RG David DeCastro, 41.5 overall grade
The Steelers' offensive line has not been at its best to start the season and as if to highlight that, David DeCastro turned in his worst performance in four seasons after being the rock of consistency for the Steelers over the first month of the season. DeCastro surrendered five pressures for the first time in more than a year and added to that with a hold on Sheldon Day which wiped out Antonio Brown's touchdown catch late in the fourth that might have sparked the Steelers back into the game.
PFF Game Ball: Telvin Smith, LB
*Grades are subject to change upon review
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