Steelers score 27 unanswered points, Jags lose 9th in a row

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The Pittsburgh Steelers scored 27 unanswered points and stayed undefeated (10-0) with a 27-3 NFL victory over the Jaguars at TIAA Bank Stadium.

 Jacksonville lost its ninth in a row and fell to 1-9.

 The Jaguars took a 3-0 lead on the game’s first possession. Jacksonville’s nine-play, 52-yard drive in 4:03 was culminated with kicker Chase McLaughlin’s 41-yard field goal. He is now 3 for 3 on field goals since signing with the Jaguars. For his career, he is 21 of 26.

 “I felt like we came out, we were able to drive the ball. We fell short, we kicked a field goal. I tried to steal a possession with the onside kick. And then suddenly, we hold them, they miss a field goal and then it is kind of a battle after that. We got our hands on three balls in the first half. We got the one pick at the end of the half,” said Jacksonville head coach Doug Marrone.

 Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eric Ebron with 6:40 left in the fourth quarter provided the final margin. Roethlisberger went 32-for-46 passing, for 267 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception, before being relieved late by Mason Rudolph.

 In his third career start, Jaguars’ QB Jake Luton completed 16 of 37 passes for 151 yards. Through four games, he is 60 of 110 passing for 624 yards and three total TDs, two passing, one rushing.

 Jaguars’ running back James Robinson turned in a team-leading 94 scrimmage yards to become the first undrafted rookie in NFL history to total 1,000 scrimmage yards through their first 10 career games.

 “I think we just need to be able to execute in the red zone or near the red zone. We got down there, and we weren’t able to do that,” Robinson said. “I just think we’ve got to be able to finish once we get down there because it hurts us when we don’t. We could put our defense in a better situation.”

 This season, Robinson has 762 rushing yards, 249 receiving yards and 1,011 scrimmage yards. He joins RBs Fred Taylor (1998) and Leonard Fournette (2017) as the only players in franchise history to total 1,000 scrimmage yards through their first 10 career games.

 Pittsburgh wide receiver Diontae Johnson had his second consecutive 100-yard game receiving, with 12 catches for 111 yards. Pittsburgh running back James Conner had 89 yards on 13 carries.

 Jacksonville linebacker Joe Schobert made a season-high 13 tackles, marking his third game this season with double-digit tackles. He had praise for the Jaguars’ young secondary.

 “I thought they were competing, they were in the right positions the whole time and the other guys just made a few more plays today, and when a couple of those plays are 50-yard passes on the outside, that’s an easy way to give up some points,” Schobert said. “They were out there competing, even the guys who are out there, the young guys, some of them are hurt, playing through injuries during the game. You can’t be nothing but proud of the effort they put out there.”

 In eight career games against the Steelers, he has tallied 62 tackles, six passes defensed, two fumble recoveries and two interceptions. This season, he has a team-leading 84 tackles and one interception.

 An interception in the host’s end zone on the last play of the first half denied the Steelers a chance to add to their lead. Daniel Thomas got his first career interception against Roethlisberger, returning it 54 yards.

 It marked the longest interception return by a Jaguars player since safety Tashaun Gipson returned one for 67 yards in 2017. It was the ninth pick thrown by Roethlisberger in his last three regular season games against Jacksonville

“We did the job,” said Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin. “We checked the boxes. “It wasn’t perfect, but nothing’s perfect about us except our record.”

 The Jaguars have three home games remaining. The first is Sunday against the Cleveland Browns (7-3). Kickoff is 1 p.m.