20 things learned from playoffs
Home field doesn’t really matter
JACKSONVILLE – Young Jeezy’s Standing Ovation blared from a speaker box in a nearby locker, and as Calais Campbell spoke about the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 10-3 AFC wild-card playoff victory over the Buffalo Bills, the defensive end could hardly contain himself.
“A win’s a win’s a win,” said Campbell, 6-8, 300 pounds, clinching his fists and arms, looking as if he might burst. “I’m happy we were able to get it, and now we’ve got to figure out what we’ve got to do against Pittsburgh.”
The defense definitely deserved an ovation for its performance. But Campbell was right. The Jaguars’ first playoff victory since 2007 (also the last time they reached the postseason) was only minutes old, and already attention had started to shift to the next challenge.
That’s because the Jaguars know that as dominant as their defense was Sunday, there’s no way they can expect to hold the Steelers to a field goal and just 230 total yards.
The futility of the Bills offense was nothing short of an embarrassment. Buffalo punted eight times, ventured into the red zone just once and crossed midfield only twice more all game. Tyrod Taylor completed only 17 of 37 pass attempts for 134 yards and an interception to post a 44.2 passer rating.
The only thing more unsightly was Jacksonville’s own Blake Bortles’ passing day: 12-for-23 for 87 yards and a touchdown. Yes. That’s right. Just 87 yards. By an NFL quarterback.
But backed by the defense, which during the regular season ranked second in the NFL both in yards and points, that Bortles touchdown and a field goal was all Jacksonville needed Sunday.
But if the Jags come with the same feeble offensive effort Sunday at Pittsburgh, they have no chance of winning.
Jacksonville’s players enter this week of preparation with a sense of cautious optimism because they have some familiarity with Pittsburgh. In Week 5, they stunned the Steelers 30-9.
The defense harassed Ben Roethlisberger, forcing him into five interceptions, two returned for TDs. Le’Veon Bell mustered only 47 rushing yards (his third-lowest total of the season).
You don’t have to tell the Jaguars that game is virtually irrelevant. In the postseason, everything changes. The intensity level increases several notches.
“It’s super fast. Everyone’s into it,” Jacksonville linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. said. “The way you study, the way you scheme, it’s all different. It’s just a different tempo, very fast.”
Plus, the Steelers have experience on their side, having reached the playoffs for the fourth time in four seasons. The Jaguars will try to glean from their familiarity with the Steelers personnel and schemes from the early-season meeting, and the younger players will look to playoff veterans such as Campbell and Malik Jackson to lead them.
Though they won’t admit to it, there is reason for concern because of how severely limited Bortles is as a passer.
The win over Pittsburgh came despite the fact that he completed just eight of 14 passes for 95 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Leonard Fournette rushed for 181 yards and two touchdowns in that game. But had the defense not registered those five interceptions and 14 points, the outcome would have been very different.
As Buffalo showed Sunday, the game plan for Pittsburgh has to be to contain Fournette and make Bortles assume way heavier a workload than his coaches would like. Fournette managed just
57 yards on 21 carries (2.7-yard average), and it was Bortles that led the team in rushing with 10 carries for 88 yards
(1 yard more than his passing total). I asked Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander how his team held an NFL quarterback to 87 yards (high school quarterbacks often do better than that), and he said, “We had some looks that confused Blake a little bit and he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with the ball. He held onto it and sometimes scrambled with it and was able to pick up the first down. … They’re not very complex yet on the passing game.”
The Steelers no doubt will opt for the same approach.
Bortles’ elementary knowledge of coverages and subpar passing skills could send the Jaguars to their vacation homes next weekend. They got by this season with that nasty defense and potent rushing attack. And they eked out the win over the Bills because Taylor is nearly as limited as is Bortles. But don’t expect that to happen again.
The divisional round is where the big boys come to play.