Steelers vs Jaguars: Positional Grades for the 20-16 Win

There are unlikely wins and then, there are wins like the one the Pittsburgh Steelers had over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Despite being outplayed for the better part of 50 minutes, the Steelers were able to keep the Jaguars from running away with it and they crawled back into it. Ben Roethlisberger led back-to-back touchdown drives at the end of the drive, the latter ending with a touchdown in the final seconds. It wasn't pretty, but at the end of the day, a win is a win. Let’s go back and give out grades for every positional group and the coaches for their performance.

Quarterbacks: 

• Austin- (C+) For most of the game Roethlisberger was at an F, but at the end he really played his best football allowing him to get an average grade of C+. 
• John- (C-) For nearly three quarters this was the worst game of Ben Roethlisberger's career.  He rebounded nicely, but his play got this team in a big deficit in the first place.

Running Backs:

• Austin- (F) Sorry Conner, but there was nothing good coming out of this performance from the running backs. Complete failure for me.
• John- (C-) James Conner had a tough day and it wasn't really his fault on the ground, the line didn't open holes for him and the Steelers didn't run the ball much.  But, in the most important situations James Conner had two critical drops, that we would have looked back on negatively had the Steelers lost.

Wide Receivers: 

• Austin- (B) Antonio Brown broke off a long touchdown and Juju Smith-Schuster was beyond clutch in this game, so I feel like a B is good for them. Might be a little bit nice, though.
• John- (B+) These guys were clutch down the stretch, quiet early on, but obviously they made enough big plays to win the game.

Tight Ends:

• Austin- (C+) Vance McDonald’s touchdown was great, but for what we were expecting I just don’t feel happy with the production in terms of yardage.
• John- (C) Not a whole lot going on here, they weren't impact in the ground game and didn't do a whole lot though the air.  But, Vance McDonald did have a huge, clutch touchdown that was a contested play in the end zone. 

Offensive Line:

• Austin- (B) This was their worst game in a while, but still not bad at all. Bad of a very good situation. 
• John- (B) They struggled at times in pass protection, but held up relatively well and they gave Roethlisberger time at the end of the game.

Defensive Line: 

• Austin- (B-) Javon Hargrave went nuts again, but they weren’t very good against the run
• John- (B) This unit dominated the Jaguars offensive line when it comes to rushing the passer.  However, on the ground, they got manhandled early, they rebounded nicely in the second half.  But, the poor first half leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Linebackers: 

• Austin- (C+) This group gave me the hardest time when grading, because I just didn’t really know what to give them. At the end of the day, I think I will give them a C+ because their performance was average overall.
• John- (B) They were inconsistent against the run as well, but Vince Williams and T.J. Watt came up big several times in this game.

Defensive Backs:

• Austin- (A-) I felt good about defensive backs in this game, besides maybe Sean Davis.
• John- (B+) Not a whole lot going on here, they were alright in run support and weren't really tested here because Blake Bortles only threw 18 passes.  But, they didn't give up any huge plays.

Coaching: 

• Austin- (A-) I felt like this team really rallied together towards the end to win it and that’s a lot on the coaching.
• John- (B+) The game plans may not have been great, but they rallied the team and kept them focused enough to come back and pull off an unlikely win.