Jaguars v. Steelers: Winners and losers from Week 8

The hope defense is undefeated.

In an ugly game, the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-10. The win gives the Jags a 6-2 record on the season and the second-best start in franchise history.

The Jags also have the third best record in the entire NFL and are securely atop the AFC South.

Here are your winners and losers from yet another road win.

WINNERS

The hope defense

No one in Jacksonville holds any true malice towards George Pickens. But when you talk a big game, you have to back it up.

In the end, it was the Jaguars’ defense that prevailed, limiting Pickens to just one catch and the Steelers only touchdown. The unit held the Steelers to 261 total yards, 57 of which came on the team’s final drive.

The defense also secured two takeaways, highlighted by an Andrew Wingard interception.

Playing in the place of a hurt Andre Cisco, Wingard had six total tackles and two passes defensed. And as he is one to do, Dewey celebrated like no one else can.

Not to be missed, Josh Allen had two sacks in the game and Travon Walker had one. Allen now has nine sacks this season.

The Jags held the Steelers to just 70 yards rushing, yet again selling out to stop the run and making quarterbacks beat them.

But at the end of the day...

Travis Etienne

Travis Etienne is going to the Pro Bowl isn’t he?

It has been one heck of a year already for Etienne, who is far and away the number one threat for the Jaguars’ offense.

He finished his day with 79 rushing yards and three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown catch essentially secured the win.

Etienne’s numbers likely could have been higher, but he hit the sideline for a bit due to an ankle injury.

He has been a monster all year, and when the offense needed him most, he delivered.

Evan Engram

Thank you to the New York Giants for lighting a fire in Evan Engram.

The Engram resurgence in Jacksonville has been a beautiful one, and he was a huge factor in the win.

Engram hauled in 10 balls for 88 yards, one catch shy of a career-high. A lot of his damage was done on third downs, where he simply was faster and longer than anyone on the Steelers’ defense.

With his receiving total today, Engram joined Jeremy Shockey as one of only two tight ends ever to have 40 or more receptions and over 400 yards in each of their first seven seasons.

Engram too has had a monster year and is on pace to potentially join Etienne in the hypothetical Pro Bowl I am sending them to.

Special teams

This unit had themselves a day.

Firstly, hats off to Brandon McManus who nailed four kicks. His longest of the day was 51 yards out. In his first year in teal, McManus is 17-19 on field goals.

Punter Logan Cooke also warrants a shoutout, as he is just so good. Two of Cooke’s three punts were downed within the 20. After a Cooke punt, the Steelers threw two picks and punted once. Hard to not give him credit for helping the defense with field position.

Jamal Agnew also had a couple nice kick returns, his longest going for 27 yards.

Considering the weather, and Steelers’ kicker Chris Boswell dealing with slipping and even missing a kick, the Jags special teams did phenomenally.

Losers

Turnovers

This game should have been a blowout. But instead, the Jags lost the turnover battle and forced us all to sweat out a game that really was not particularly close.

Engram fumbled, Trevor Lawrence threw an awful pick and Tank Bigsby also fumbled. The worst of the trio was by far Lawrence interception.

Wins do mask these kinds of things, but against a team like the 49ers, the Jags cannot afford these types of mistakes.

The Jags now have five turnovers in their last two games.

Dropped interceptions

This is a funny loser because poor Devin Lloyd picked an awful time to have hand surgery and to have to wear a cast.

He has to be leading the league in dropped picks, as he dropped one today and the team dropped four as a unit.

Wingard and Antonio Johnson made up for it, but if those interceptions are hauled in, the Steelers might not have had 150 yards of offense.

The team does have 18 takeaways on defense, so you can only be so mad. But they have to be kicking themselves when they watch the tape back on these games.