Steelers defense gives offense chance to shine

On a day when Ben Roethlisberger threw two interceptions on his first 12 passes and the Pittsburgh Steelers failed to score in the first half, it was up to the defense to step up and give the team a chance.

That is exactly what happened on Sunday, when the defense held the Jaguars in check, giving Roethlisberger and the offense the opportunity for a 20-16 comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"Horrible games that you find a way to win? Pretty special," Roethlisberger said after Sunday's win.

The Steelers (7-2-1) have been doing it with offense all season, but the defense has been warming up to the task as of late.

Leonard Fournette rushed for 74 yards at halftime, but had just 21 yards on 14 carries in the second half. Blake Bortles went 10 of 18 for 104 yards and the Steelers held the Jaguars to just 243 yards of offense in the game.

"Really, really awesome fight," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "The bottom line in our business is winning, and we took care of business. Style points were quite ugly, or few, but we got the job done."

When the game was on the line, Jacksonville ran only 11 plays in the fourth quarter for minus-7 yards, and Bortles was sacked six times.

"We have to be able to get first downs and close the game out," Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said. "If you just had one first down on any of those drives, you had a chance to win that football game, and we weren't able to do that."

--LB Anthony Chickillo hurt his ankle late in Sunday's game on a special teams play.

--QB Ben Roethlisberger was 27 of 47 for 314 yards on Sunday, with 170 of them in the fourth quarter.

--DT Javon Hargrave had two sacks on Sunday. "We were in this position last year and we gave up big plays at the end of the game," Hargrave said, referring to the 45-42 playoff loss to Jacksonville. "So we knew we had to make stops. We did that gave our offense a chance to come back, and they did."

--LB T.J. Watt had two sacks on Sunday. Watt now has 17 career sacks, the most by a Steelers player in his first two seasons since Keith Willis, who had 15 in 1982 and 1983.

--RB James Conner went into Sunday's game with an AFC-leading 771 yards rushing, but had just 25 on nine carries on Sunday.