After another surprising win last week in Los Angeles, your Pittsburgh Steelers are *somehow* 4-2 on the year.

But this Sunday features one of the biggest tests of the year for this young team. The pesky Jacksonville Jaguars come to town this weekend, coming off three straight wins.

Jacksonville leads their division, the AFC South, with a commanding lead so far, and they will look to build on that against a Steelers team they have historically been able to give a hard time.

With the exception of their most recent meeting (a 27-3 Steelers win in 2020), Pittsburgh has a had a very difficult time with Jacksonville, no matter how good or bad the team was. In 2018, the Steelers fell 16-0 before Big Ben staged an epic fourth quarter comeback, but he was still picked off 3 times in that game.

The season prior, Pittsburgh got blown out 30-9 at home vs the Jags.

And of course, we all remember that Wild Card game, where the Steelers ultimately lost that 45-42 shootout, also at home.

Both teams look very different from even their most recent meeting in 2020. Both teams are featuring new quarterbacks, running backs, and several new receivers.

Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence, who already took the liberty of making himself an enemy in this town, is coming off a rather modest 204-yard day last week in the Jaguars’ win over New Orleans. That ankle injury has hampered him somewhat, but he seems to be getting closer and closer to his old self as the season goes on.

And he could take a big step forward this week, when he goes up against a maligned secondary for Pittsburgh. LA’s Puka Nacua had a field day against the Steelers cornerbacks (minus Joey Porter Jr), and the Jaguars have weapons who can do similar damage.

Christian Kirk and Calvin Ridley are reliable targets for Lawrence, and in addition to those wide receivers, the Jaguars can often use tight end Evan Engram and running game Travis Etienne in the passing game as well.

But this game is much more dependent on what Pittsburgh’s offense does.

Kenny Pickett once again did Kenny Pickett things last week: be bad through the first three quarters of the season and become a surefire Hall of Famer in the fourth.

The offense heavily benefitted from having Diontae Johnson back in the fold, and they were still able to get quality catches out of George Pickens as well.

But something was different last week. Instead of just one game-winning drive, the Steelers engineered two healthy-looking touchdown drives last week in LA, the first time we have seen that in god knows how long.

It was a great fourth quarter of play that saw Pittsburgh come back and win 24-17. Now, with that improvement, the expectations should be that that progress continues to rise.

However, while that progress certainly isn’t guaranteed under a Matt Canada offense, if it’s real, they should be able to display it against Jacksonville.

The Jaguars are 26th in the NFL in total defense, allowing on average over 350 yards a game. They are especially bad through the air, where their defense is giving up just about 274 yards a game, good for second to last in the entire NFL.

Jacksonville does excel against the run, however, being a top 5 team in rushing defense. So if the Steelers can really get their offense going, it’s very likely going to have to come through the air.

We know what Jacksonville’s offense is: good. We don’t quite know yet what Pittsburgh’s offense can be. They keep giving us flashes, it’s time we see more.

How the Steelers keep winning games is not going to be a sustainable method for the rest of the season. Yes, their defense can keep them in games, and yes they can make momentum-swinging plays, but the offense needs to pull their own weight for more than 15 minutes.

With how good Jacksonville’s offense can be when everything is clicking, the Steelers need to be able to respond if/when (probably when) the Jaguars strike for several good drives.

(Featured image by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)