Jags blow 16-point 2nd-half lead
Roethlisberger scores winning TD from 1-yard line with 5 seconds left
JACKSONVILLE — The Jaguars still believe they can turn their season around, and it starts with just one victory.
Finding it has never felt like more of a challenge.
Jacksonville ran the ball with authority, intercepted Ben Roethlisberger three times, kept Pittsburgh from scoring in the first half for the first time in 33 games and had a 16-point lead in the final minutes of the third quarter.
The Jaguars still managed to lose their sixth in a row.
Roethlisberger led two touchdown drives at the end of the game, scoring from the 1 with 5 seconds left for a 20-16 victory.
“This is as tough as it gets,” defensive end Calais Campbell said. “There are going to be some games you definitely lose and you’ll definitely win. But when it comes down to that last play, and you’re on the losing side of it, those hurt, especially in a situation where we’re a desperate team in need of a win.”
For a team that was 12 minutes away from the Super Bowl last year, just getting to the postseason appears unlikely. The Jaguars, whose 3-1 start included a big win early over New England, fell to 3-7 and are four games behind the AFC South-leading Houston Texans.
Roethlisberger, at one point 3 of 12 for 18 yards and two interceptions, was at his best in the end. He finished 27 of 47 for 314 yards and two touchdowns, with 170 of those yards coming in the fourth quarter.
He had plenty of help from the Steelers’ defense, which figured out how to stop Leonard Fournette and came up with key sacks of Blake Bortles as Pittsburgh (7-2-1) won its sixth straight.
The Jaguars ran 11 players in the fourth quarter and, including three sacks, had minus-7 yards.
Cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who last week showed some frustration through a tweet suggesting that he’ll be missed when he’s gone, came up with two interceptions by breaking on Antonio Brown. On one, he managed to keep the ball from hitting the turf. On another, when it appeared Roethlisberger had Brown for a touchdown, Ramsey reached over his helmet and somehow kept control of the ball.
After the game, he was more angry than shocked.
“I’ve been pretty [ticked] off, I’m not going to lie to you,” Ramsey said. “I’ve been battling with my emotions, trying to hold them in. You need a little frustration. If people are in here and they’re content — not saying anybody is — but if people are content with losing and things not going right, then that’s not the type of guys you want on the team and that’s not the type of environment you want to have.”
Even when the game was going well for the Jaguars, they left points out there.
They scored on three straight possessions — all field goals by Josh Lambo.
On the first scoring drive, the Jaguars had 13 rushing plays — just one pass, a short completion — for 65 yards and stalled on a holding penalty. Another drive that started on the Pittsburgh 47 ended with a sack of Bortles.
Fournette was clearly at full strength from a hamstring injury, with 28 carries for 95 yards. He was equally effective out of the backfield for two completions of 20 or more yards, leading to the only touchdown.
Against the Steelers — and given how the Jaguars’ season has gone — that wasn’t enough.
Next up is a trip to Buffalo.
Roethlisberger, who has 10 turnovers in his last three games against Jacksonville, sparked the Steelers’ comeback by getting safety Tashaun Gipson Sr. to bite on a pump fake and found Brown open deep in the middle of the field for a 78-yard touchdown.
Still trailing by 10 points with just under six minutes remaining, Roethlisberger found tight end Vance McDonald in the back of the end zone to cut the lead to 16-13 with 2:28 remaining.
Pittsburgh kicked off and the Jaguars went three-and-out, and then Roethlisberger led a 68-yard drive. He hit JuJu Smith-Schuster on the left sideline for a 35-yard gain to the 27 that at least got the Steelers in field goal position.
But then Roethlisberger hit Brown over the middle to the 2, and after a pair of penalties, he rolled to his right and surged across the line on a 1-yard score that was upheld on review.