Jaguars see tweet and riposte
PITTSBURGH— The talk among Jacksonville Jaguars players at their team breakfast Sunday was about what Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell tweeted Saturday night.
“Everybody saw it,” Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell said after Jacksonville’s 45-42 win on Sunday. “In the morning at breakfast, everybody was kind of talking about it like, ‘Oh, OK.’. . . It awoke our competitive spirit that was already awoke. But it just kind of gave it a little extra.”
The New England Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans last Saturday in the first AFC divisional round game. That prompted Bell, as the Steelers readied to host the Jaguars in the other AFC semifinal Sunday in a rematch of a regular season game lost by Pittsburgh, to look forward to a potential meeting with the Patriots in the AFC championship game in what would have been a rematch of another regular season game lost by Pittsburgh.
Bell tweeted, “I love round 2’s. . .we’ll have two round 2’s in back to back weeks. . .” The Jaguars had a lot to say Sunday. “For us, it wasn’t about getting into talking matches, trying to fight them, trying to do anything,” defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. “We’re just trying to let the clock run out and go home while they go home and prepare for New England that they’re about to play next week in Imaginary Land.”
All teams like to play the disrespect card. In the Jaguars’ case, this is a team that went 3-13 last season. When this season began, the Jaguars hadn’t won more than five games in a season since 2010.
The task will be enormous Sunday in Foxborough, Mass., of course. The five-time Super Bowl champion Patriots will be playing in their seventh straight AFC championship game, their 12th with Bill Belichick as coach and Tom Brady at quarterback.
The Jaguars are fine with being decided underdogs. At least they’re still playing.
“That’s OK,” Campbell said Sunday. “I’m looking forward to it.”