Considering how the Jaguars defense played last week against a Colts

If there’s ever going to be a changing of the guard in the AFC Myles Jack Color Rush Jersey , then Sunday’s visit to Jacksonville by the Patriots would seem a perfect time.Except when you look at the numbers that say Tom Brady doesn’t lose to the Jaguars.Ever.Jacksonville had a 10-point lead at New England in the second half of the AFC championship game last January when Brady worked his magic, helped mightily by the Jaguars’ discomfort being so close to making the Super Bowl. It shouldn’t have been a surprise in this matchup: Brady now is 8-0 against the Jags, the only AFC team without a win against the five-time Super Bowl champion and three-time league MVP. He has 19 TDs and two interceptions against Jacksonville while completing more than 70 percent of his passes for more than 1,800 yards.So solving Brady, as it is for most teams, is a must for Jacksonville in this battle of opening-game winners that could wind up pivotal for the AFC playoffs.“It’s going to be an emotional environment,” Brady said. “I think everyone, whenever you play some of the best teams, you want to see where you’re measured up to, and that defense has been ranked very high all last year, and I could see why. We practiced against them. They were very good. They’ve got a lot of very talented players — some of the guys that are probably the best at their position. So, it’s going to be a great environment for football.”Brady has 224 career wins, one shy of the NFL record held by kicker Adam Vinatieri, whose Colts are at Washington.Jacksonville could be short-handed in a key area: running back Leonard Fournette has hamstring issues, and the Jags need a strong running game to keep Brady on the sideline.T.J. Yeldon would get the start if Fournette can’t go.“He has always been good,” coach Doug Marrone says of Yeldon. “I think he is more explosive. He’s stronger. He’s elusive. I think he can carry a load of carries.”The weekend began with Cincinnati’s 34-23 home victory over Baltimore. Andy Dalton threw four touchdown passes in the first half — three to A.J. Green — to help the Bengals improve to 2-0. The Ravens are 1-1.Philadelphia (1-0) at Tampa Bay (1-0)One reason the Eagles had the NFC’s best record in 2017 was a 6-2 road mark. They were sloppy yet victorious in their opener at home against Atlanta and haven’t played since Sept. 6. Nick Foles gets the call at quarterback again with Carson Wentz still not ready, though Philly’s running game with Jay Ajayi, who had two touchdowns last week, and strong defense could decide things.The Buccaneers come off an impressive upset win at New Orleans in which Ryan Fitzpatrick showed why he has been a quality fill-in passer for years. He threw for a career-best 417 yards, four TDs, and had no interceptions against the Saints. He also scored a rushing TD.FitzMagic indeed.Kansas City (1-0) at Pittsburgh (0-0-1)As ugly as the Steelers’ performance was in the rain in Cleveland, that’s how pretty Chiefs fan think their team’s work was in Los Angeles.But this is a nightmare matchup for KC: The Steelers have won seven of the last eight vs. the Chiefs, who are 0-6 in Pittsburgh since 1986. Plus, the Steelers are 15-2 in home openers at Heinz Field.Two of the NFL’s most dynamic wideouts go at it here: All-Pro Antonio Brown for Pittsburgh, WR-KR Tyreek Hill for Kansas City. Don’t take your eyes off the field.Minnesota (1-0) at Green Bay (1-0)Right up until kickoff, the fans at Lambeau Field will be holding their breath to see if Aaron Rodgers can go. Green Bay is in massive trouble if he can’t, as last week’s heroic performance by A-Rod in the comeback victory over Chicago showed.“Yeah, well, you know he walks on water, so I’m sure he’s going to play Abry Jones Jersey ,” Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer said.The Vikings aren’t the Bears and won’t likely be playing passively if they get a lead. Not with that dynamic defense that handed Jimmy Garoppolo his first pro defeat in the opener.Carolina (1-0) at Atlanta (0-1)Not only did the Falcons falter in Philly in their opener, they had two significant long-term injuries with safety Keanu Neal and linebacker Deion Jones. The defense kept them in the Eagles game while Matt Ryan struggled. Sure, he completed 10 passes for 169 yards to Julio Jones, but Ryan generally was off the mark.Carolina has its own injury woes, losing star TE Greg Olsen with a foot problem. Its defense was super stingy against Dallas, with LB Luke Kuechly in on 13 tackles.Miami (1-0) at New York Jets (1-0)Barring a tie — and we all know those never happen in the NFL, right? — one of these teams will be a surprising 2-0 Sunday night.The Dolphins come off the longest NFL game since the 1970 merger, outlasting Tennessee in 7 hours, 8 minutes, including 3:59 in multiple weather delays. RB Frank Gore has 14,087 career yards rushing and needs 15 to surpass the Jets’ greatest runner, Curtis Martin (14,101), for fourth place on the NFL’s list.Sam Darnold threw a pick-6 on his first pro attempt, then reversed things with aplomb at Detroit. The Jets’ defense deserves the highest accolades for making Matthew Stafford look like an inept rookie, something Darnold didn’t resemble beyond that opening pass.Cleveland (0-0-1) at New Orleans (0-1)Oh yeah, they do have ties, which for the Browns is a monumental achievement considering they lost all 16 games in 2017 and were 1-15 the previous year. Oddly, the Browns overwhelmingly lead this series 13-4, winning five of the last six meetings.WR Michael Thomas had a Saints single-game record 16 catches last week for 180 yards and a score. Drew Brees will target him often, sometimes against rookie Denzel Ward, who had two picks of Ben Roethlisberger in the opener.Arizona (0-1) at Los Angeles Rams (1-0)All seven of the new head coaches lost last week, none more distressingly than Arizona’s Steve Wilks at home against Washington. QB Sam Bradford, the top overall draft choice by the Rams in 2010, now is the Cardinals‘ starter, and he has an all-time great receiver in Larry Fitzgerald. Yet Arizona was outclassed in its first game for Wilks.No such problems for the Rams, who looked strong in all phases at Oakland. A worry, though, is losing All-Pro kick returner Pharoh Cooper to an ankle injury.Oakland (0-1) at Denver (1-0)The glow from the return of Jon Gruden as coach will fade into the Mile High air if the Raiders put forth another mediocre showing in this bitter rivalry. Oakland struggled in the second half in falling to the Rams, with only TE Jared Cook a consistent positive with nine catches for a career-best 180 yards. The defense clearly missed Khalil Mack.Von Miller was a terror against Seattle: Miller had three sacks https://www.jaguarsfanstore.com/Yannick-Ngakoue-Jersey , two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He’s one of three active players (Robert Quinn, Terrell Suggs) with two career games with at least three sacks and two forced fumbles.In all, Jon Gruden’s teams are 1-9 against the Broncos, with the one win coming in Oakland in 2001.Indianapolis (0-1) at Washington (1-0)The last time Frank Reich coached in a game that counted, he helped Philly win a Super Bowl. His Colts blew a big lead at home to Cincinnati, but at least Andrew Luck is back behind center. And Luck likes the look of Redskins burgundy: He threw for 370 yards, five TDs and one interception in his only previous game vs. Washington.RB Adrian Peterson moved into 10th place all-time in rushing yards after gaining 96 last week at Arizona. Washington’s defense was stout and ranks second overall.Houston (0-1) at Tennessee (0-1)After their long, weather-related wait to eventually lose in Miami, and a right elbow injury to Marcus Mariota, the Titans could use a boost in a key early season AFC South game. Mariota should play for new coach Mike Vrabel, who was an assistant in Houston the last four years under Bill O’Brien.The Texans have won nine of the last 12 against Tennessee, and O’Brien is 6-2 against the Titans. Houston lost at New England last week, but kept things close.L.A. Chargers (0-1) at Buffalo (0-1)So, first-round pick Josh Allen will start and hope to avoid another debacle after the 47-3 defeat at Baltimore. Allen will have a long leash. Remember, Buffalo’s other QB, Nathan Peterman, threw five first-half interceptions in his start against the Chargers last year. He was just about as bad against the Ravens.The Chargers have won three straight and 17 of the past 22 meetings. They outscored the Bills by 113-44 in those three victories.Detroit (0-1) at San Francisco (0-1)It’s impossible to fathom Stafford being as awful again. He threw four picks, one returned for a touchdown by the Jets. His passes were off the mark most of the game.Now that 49ers QB Garoppolo has lost a game, maybe the expectations in the Bay Area can be tamped down a bit. Keep a watch out for DL DeForest Buckner (2 1/2 sacks at Minnesota) and LB Fred Warner, who led all rookies with 12 tackles last week and forced a fumble.New York Giants (0-1) at Dallas (0-1)Easy to understand why the NFL keeps scheduling this matchup in prime time and why the broadcasting network loves it: big audiences. This year’s faceoff doesn’t have all that much charm considering both teams stumbled, particularly with the ball, in losing openers.Of prime interest will be the running backs, second overall pick Saquon Barkley, who excited Giants fans with his 68-yard TD burst in his debut, and Dallas star Zeke Elliott.Seattle (0-1) at Chicago (0-1), Monday nightSo the two night games in the second week of the schedule feature a combined record of 0-4. YAWN!Both teams lost close ones on the road, with the Bears infamously blowing a 20-point lead at Green Bay to a hobbled Rodgers. Seattle gave up 475 yards at Denver and the usually slippery Russell Wilson was sacked six times. The Jacksonville Jaguars return home for the first time in almost a month to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2-1) at TIAA Bank Field at 1:00pm EST.With the game being flexed from its original Sunday Night Football prime time slot, anyone not going to the game will have Romo and Nantz on the CBS call. UNIFORM WATCH: Debut of the best uniform from all the new thread combinations. OpponentThe Steelers are red hot coming into Duval County on a five game win streak, most recently dismantling a very good Carolina Panthers team on Thursday Night Football in Pittsburgh. This means that Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff had two extra days to help prepare for this game against their kryptonite Jaguars while Doug Marrone and his crew were supposedly cramming for the Colts on Friday and Saturday. Last year, the Jaguars defense forced a handful of Big Ben turnovers in the regular season and then the Steelers got caught looking ahead to the Patriots in the playoffs. Notice all has been quiet from Pittsburgh on the bulletin board material front this week... Offensively for the Steelers Carson Tinker Color Rush Jersey , it’s been no Le’Veon, no problem this season. Second-year running back James Conner is third in the NFL with 771 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, and the Steelers offense has statistically been even more efficient without Bell in the lineup, especially in the red zone. Ben Roethlisberger is playing at an MVP level and is coming off a career performance last week where he had a perfect 158.3 quarterback rating and five touchdowns against a good Panthers defense. The biggest difference for the Steelers this year has been the quality of new offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner, who replaced Todd Haley in the offseason. Fichtner has placed more of an emphasis on spreading the football around to different receivers outside of Antonio Brown and using a ton of tight ends Vance McDonald and Jesse James, which is bad news for the Jaguars if you saw last week’s game. Juju Smith-Schuster is technically the No. 2 wide receiver, but he leads the NFL in production out of the slot this season and will routinely line up inside to exploit mismatches. Defensively, the Steelers have mixed it up as the season has gone on, and the moves seem to have paid dividends. T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree have flip-flopped sides and Watt now rushes from the left outside linebacker spot and Dupree from the right in their 3-4 defense, combining for 12.5 sacks on the season. The Steelers have also moved second year player Sean Davis to the strong safety position vacated by the infamous Mike Mitchell and they’ve gone with a rotation of rookie first round pick Terrell Edmunds and veteran Morgan Burnett at the free safety spot. The Steelers also benched former first round pick Artie Burns at right cornerback and replaced him Coty Sensabaugh, and the pass defense has improved since making the move and (former Jaguar) Mike Hilton continues to be one of the best nickel cornerbacks in the NFL. Inside linebacker and team leader Vince Williams is having a good season, but the spot next to him currently played by Jon Bostic is in need of a desperate upgrade in the offseason. The Steelers are vulnerable in their secondary and the Jaguars should try to run right at Bostic when rushing the football on Sunday.Check out Ryan O’Bleness’ cross-over piece with Jeff Hartman of Behind the Steel Curtain for more information about the opponent.StorylinesOf course, the major storyline for the Steelers all season has been the status of Le’Veon Bell, who finally did not report to the Steelers before the deadline and will not be eligible to play for the remainder of the 2018 season. For Bell’s teammates, this seems to be some necessary closure as they can now focus on the players they have as they look to make a playoff run.For the Jaguars, the major storyline has been the five game losing streak and what they need to do to get out of their funk. Defensively, they had more busted coverages than a high school team and Jalen Ramsey today refuted the allegations that he was playing his own rogue coverages despite Doug Marrone publicly blaming him for a couple of the busts earlier this week. If the communication issues in the secondary don’t improve this week with A.J. Bouye (hopefully) back in the line up, expect Todd Wash’s seat to get awfully toasty. Whether Wash is making the wrong calls, the players are unprepared or miscommunicating before the snap, or players are just straight up disrespecting him and doing whatever they want, it’s all a bad look for him.Offensively, Nathaniel Hackett’s play calling has been much more balanced since Leonard Fournette’s return to the line up, and that has elevated the production of the passing game. Despite eclipsing 100 scrimmage yards and finding the end zone twice, Fournette looked hesitant and, quite frankly, pretty slow running the football for a miserable 2.2 yards per carry. Fournette registered the fastest timed speed in the NFL last year against the Steelers — can he do it again on Sunday and prove to everyone that his first game back was a byproduct of rust? I sure hope so.Key matchupsJalen Ramsey vs. Antonio BrownThis is a big week for Ramsey, who found himself in hot water from not only his coaches, but the fans as well with his cryptic tweet. Ramsey has not played up to the exceedingly high expectations that 2.0 set for himself before the season, and he gets to face off against a top-three receiver in the NFL this week. Brown is one of the few NFL receivers who Ramsey has a ton of respect for, and historically DJ Chark Jersey , Brown has put up some pretty good production against the Jaguars despite losing efforts. With Bouye hampered by a calf injury, expect Ramsey to follow Brown around the field.A.J. Bouye/D.J. Hayden vs. Juju Smith-SchusterWhile Ramsey will be responsible for Brown, the Jaguars have a litany of other issues to worry about with all the weapons that the Steelers have surrounded Big Ben with. One of those weapons is Juju Smith-Schuster, who as mentioned above, leads the league in production out of the slot. My initial thought is that Bouye sticks with Smith-Schuster when he’s lined up on the perimeter and Hayden will pick up the slack when Juju moves inside. Don’t be surprised if Smith-Schuster leads all Steelers receivers in targets on Sunday. Leonard Fournette vs. Vince WilliamsThe bummer of the week is that we won’t get another Leonard Fournette moment against Mike Mitchell, but there’s another vocal Steelers player that could make Leonard’s life difficult. Williams has dialed up his play over the last few weeks and it would be wise of the Jaguars to scheme their runs away from him this week. With Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt lined up across from Andrew Norwell and A.J. Cann, expect another long day at the office for Fournette.Ereck Flowers vs. Bud DupreeEreck Flowers was kind of, sort of, maybe good last week? He’s dealing with tendinitis in his knee, but should be a big upgrade over the injured band aid Josh Walker who has struggled playing out of position since Josh Wells went down with a groin injury. I wrote in this week’s piece that this could be a big audition for Flowers to potentially be the Jaguars’ swing tackle in 2019. This is either going to go really well or really poorly, but either way, buckle up.Yannick Ngakoue vs. Alejandro VillanuevaNgakoue has not had the sacks and fumbles that we are accustomed to seeing, but did you know that the Jaguars actually lead the league in pressures? Ngakoue has a lot to do with that, and it feels like he’s just getting there a half second too late. Life doesn’t get much easier for Yannick this week against Alejandro Villanueva, who is having a terrific season for the Steelers as a pass blocker. As big as Roethlisberger is, I’m not anticipating Ngakoue to show up on the sack sheet (Ben has only been sacked 12 times this year), but his pressure will hopefully affect Ben and cause some rushed throws into double coverage or maybe even one of those world-famous strip fumbles. Myles Jack/Telvin Smith vs. James ConnerThe Steelers know that Ben traditionally struggles with the Jaguars defense, so expect a heavy does of James Conner this week. The Jaguars linebackers have played poorly over the past few games with Myles losing track of his run fits and Telvin getting beat in coverage, so this could be a good day to start Conner if you have him in fantasy. Final predictionCtrl+C, Ctrl+V. Copy, paste. If the Jaguars can get an early lead and maintain possession by running the football and keep the ball out of Roethlisberger’s hands, they have a chance. If the Steelers get off to an early lead and force Blake Bortles to start throwing it all over the yard, forget it. Considering how the Jaguars defense played last week against a Colts team with limited threats at wide receiver, why should anyone be confident that they will be able to blanket the Steelers’ weapons? The problem with how this team is constructed (run the ball, play defense, kill clock) in the modern passing area of football is that the margin for error is so small. I think the Steelers win 42-24.