XBOX 360 Simulation: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

8:15 ET NBC

Weather: partly cloudy with chance of showers and isolated Thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 80s.

Sunday’s Week 5 slate comes to a close under the primetime lights of NBC’s telecast between the (3-1 SU, 1-3 ATS) Pittsburgh Steelers who pay a visit to Jacksonville Municipal Stadium to battle the (2-2 SU, 1-3 ATS) Jacksonville Jaguars in a rematch of last year exciting Wild Card playoff game; kick-off is slated for 8:15 ET and can be seen nationally on NBC. Both clubs survived overtime scares at home last week as the Steelers edged the Baltimore Ravens by a 23-20 final count failing to cover as six-point chalks, while the Jaguars snuck past the Houston Texans 30-27 also failing to cover the spread. Jacksonville has taken four straight games from the Steelers, which includes a pair of wins at Heinz Field last season. Though Pittsburgh barely covered as 2.5-point home underdogs in last years playoff game, Jacksonville has dominated the pointspread going 7-3 ATS the L/10 times these teams have met.

1st Quarter:

Jacksonville Municipal Stadium was a rocking when the Jaguars began their initial drive of the game. QB David Garrard found WR Jerry Porter for a pair of long pass and catches after RB Fred Taylor gouged the Steelers defense with a six-yard gain to start the game. Already sitting pretty with a 1st and 10 from Pittsburgh’s 36-yard line, Garrard hooked up with TE Marcedes Lewis for a huge 28-yard strike and RB Maurice Jones-Drew capped the beautiful drive off with a two-yard TD plunge to put the Jags up seven zip.

The Steelers offense took the field looking to match the Jags drive, and did exactly that as the Heinz Ward show took over the stadium. QB Ben Roethlisberger hooked up with Ward on six of his first 12 passes, and the drive ended with RB Mewelde Moore rushing for his first TD of the year to knot the game up at 7’s.

Jacksonville was held to three and outs in its next two possessions, while Pittsburgh punted once but ended the 1st quarter set up at their own 39 yard line.

PITTSBURGH 7 JACKSONVILLE 7

2nd QUARTER

After “Big Ben” hooked up with WR Santonio Holmes for a 12-yard gain, Jacksonville’s defense came up with a big sack and almost came up with another on the following play forcing the Steelers to convert a 3rd and 15 from its own 42. Roethlisberger’s pass sailed incomplete, and the Steelers were forced to give up possession of the pigskin. Punter Mitch Berger pinned the Jags back at their own 13.

RB Jones-Drew got the Jags out to midfield, but that’s where the drive stalled and Punter Adam Podlesh pinned the Steelers back at their own 10.

After an incomplete pass on 1st down, Big Ben got blindsided by DE Reggie Hayward and in the process coughed up the ball. FS Brian Williams pounced on it at the Steelers 10 to set Garrard and company up for an easy score.

The Steelers “D” held strong on the first two plays from scrimmage, but the Jags O-line gave their field general enough time to find a cutting Reggie Williams for the nine-yard score in the back of the endzone.

Neither team was able to do anything else offensively, and the half ended with the home team up a touchdown….

PITTSBURGH 7 JACKSONVILLE 14

3rd Quarter

Roethlisberger and the Steelers took possession of the ball first in the second half, but they didn’t hold onto it for very long. After he hooked up with WR Holmes for a 12-yard gain, “Big Ben” got dropped for the third time in the game, and once again fumbled the ball. This time, LB Daryl Smith fell on it at the Steelers 40-yard line.

Pitt’s defense stiffened in the red zone, and held the Jags to a 33 yard FG attempt that Kicker Josh Scobee converted with ease.

Pitt got to midfield by way of passing the ball to TE Heath Miller and WR Ward, but the drive stalled at their own 45 when RB Mewelde Moore got stuffed and lost two yards on a 3rd and 1 play. P Berger came in and pinned the Jags back at their own 7-yard line.

After the Steelers limited the Jags to a three and out, the offense found itself set up nicely at its own 45 staring at a 1st and 10. However, Roethlisberger tried to force one in where he shouldn’t have and the offense turned the ball over for the third time in the game.

Head Coach Jack Del Rio tried to pump his offense up on the sidelines knowing they could throw more salt onto the wound with a scoring drive. However, RB Jones-Drew was dropped for a loss on 1st down, and FB Greg Jones dropped a “gimme” out of the backfield on second down. However, the Steelers hurt themselves once again when the secondary was flagged for PI allowing the Jags to move the chains by way of penalty on 3rd and 14. HC Mike Tomlin was furious on the sideline after this occurred, and he more than got his point across after he burned a timeout to get his defenses attention.

The next play from scrimmage saw the Steelers swarm upon QB Garrard and contort his body in a very unnatural way. It took him close to five minutes to get up, and backup QB Cleo Lemon was forced into action. Both of his passes fell incomplete, and HC Del Rio called upon P Podlesh to pin the Steelers once again. He did just that forcing WR Holmes to make the fair catch at Pitt’s 11 yard line as the third quarter came to a close.

PITTSBURGH 7 JACKSONVILLE 17

4TH QUARTER

It was do or die time for Pittsburgh and the offense seemed to understand that on its first two plays from scrimmage. Roethlisberger hooked up with WR Ward for 15, and then hit WR Holmes in stride for seven more. Then a holding penalty pushed them back on second down, and they were never able to recover from it ultimately giving up possession of the ball with less than 10 minutes to go in the game.

Still shaken up from the hit he incurred, David Garrard watched from the sideline as QB Lemon navigated the offense. You’d of expected OC Dirk Koetter to pull on the reigns of the offense, but he did just the opposite and allowed Lemon to spray the ball around all over the field. The gamble paid off; Lemon connected with WR Porter for 13, WR Northcutt for seven, and then WR Williams for a 20-yard gain to set the Jags up 1st and 10 from Pitt’s 27-yard line. He wasn’t done there though. He hit Porter once again for a 15-yard gain, and then RB MJD scampered for six on a draw up the gut before Lemon tossed his first TD pass of the season to WR Williams (#2) to put the game away for good.

However, with their backs against the wall, the Steelers finally came up with a scoring drive of its own to cut the Jags lead to 10 when Roethlisberger connected with TE Heath Miller for a 28-yard score. Too little too late though as Jacksonville recovered the onside kick and set up shop at Pitt’s 42.

Jacksonville rode Drew and Taylor to the two minute warning, and continued to ride their legs down to the 32 to set K Scobee up for the 49-yarder, but it sailed just left leaving the door open just a crack for a Pittsburgh comeback.

Roethlisberger came up with a huge 24-yard pass to WR Heinz Ward, but his next three passes fell incomplete. K Jeff Reed nailed the 54-yarder to cut the Jags lead to just seven. Then wouldn’t you know it, Pitt recovered the onside kick and still had life with 54 ticks left on the clock.

Big Ben started the drive by finding RB Moore out of the backfield for 12-yards, and followed it up with a 20-yard strike to Ward setting Pitt up 1st and 10 at the Jags 25 with 25 seconds left in the game. He found Moore again over the middle, but the pass and catch took precious time off the clock since Pitt already used all its TO’s. Roethlisberger was able to spike the ball with just 14 seconds left. The Steelers took three shots at the endzone, but none of the passes connected and the Jaguars held on for the home victory.

FINAL SCORE: PITTSBURGH 17 JACKSONVILLE 24

This game simulation calls for a Jacksonville cover and for the game to go Over the posted ‘Total’. You can get the Jaguars (-4) –115 and the Over 36.5 –110 at BetUS.com right now!!!

QB Ben Roethlisberger: 33/54 360 yards 1 TD 1 INT

QB David Garrard: 14/27 135 yards 1 TD 0 INT

RB Mewelde Moore: 11 carries for 36 yards 1 TD Long of 7

RB Maurice Jones-Drew: 14 carries for 54 yards 1 TD Long of 7

WR Heinz Ward: 12 receptions for 141 yards 0 TD Long of 24

WR Reggie Williams: 3 receptions for 36 yards 2 TD Long of 20