Can The Jacksonville Jaguars Keep Up With Pittsburgh?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are going to have their hands full on defense against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. If things keep going the way they’ve been going all season for the Jaguars then they will likely find themselves scored on early and often. Just how often? If you take the 152 points the team has allowed over the first four games and average it out per quarter, the Jaguars will have to put up 10 (really 9.5 but we’ll round up) points each quarter just to keep pace.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a quality offense and can easily generate 40 points in a game. Fortunately they are only averaging six points per quarter currently and an achievable 24 points per game.

The Jaguars, meanwhile, have struggled to generate 10 points per quarter. They average just four points (3.6, we’ll round up again) per quarter so far this season. 17 of their 58 total points came in an otherworldly first half of week one against the Eagles. Almost all the rest have come in garbage time or with the game thoroughly out of reach.

That’s not promising for a team that will be facing a very productive  Pittsburgh offense. So far it doesn’t seem like the Jaguars will be able to keep pace.

But the team kept it close (14-17) in the first half against the San Deigo Chargers, so let’s not write them off completely yet.

Quarterback Blake Bortles brings a lot more fire to the offense and has raised all boats around him. He’s outplayed incumbent Chad Henne and is the starter for the rest of the season. With his ascent comes a bigger impact from receivers like Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson. The running game continues to be a liability, but if the passing offense can click then it may open things up for the running game.

Is this all optimism? Probably. I want to see the Jaguars win as much as the rest of the Jags fanbase.

Yet there are flashes that keep that optimism alive. Denard Robinson flashes in almost every game. Hurns is a big play threat every time the ball comes his way. Robinson is a reliable pass catcher.

Is this the game when things come together? Probably not. The offense will need some help from the defense to keep pace. The defense hasn’t shown it will be able to, but it did get better (slightly) against the San Diego Chargers last week, allowing just 33 points and 407 yards. It’ll be tough for the Jags to keep pace on offense so the defense had better show larger progress than last week.