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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- After two near misses, the Pittsburgh
Steelers got their first victory.
|  | Jerome Bettis and the Steelers offensive line helped account for 209 rushing yards for Pittsburgh.
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With Kordell Stewart avoiding costly mistakes and Jerome Bettis
leading a running game that produced 209 yards and three
touchdowns, the Steelers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-13
Sunday.
They made more of the kind of errors that can cost a team games,
but an inspired defense kept the sputtering Jaguars out of the end
zone until the final minute to drop Jacksonville (2-3) below .500
for the first time since 1996.
"It's been tough opening 0-3," coach Bill Cowher said.
"They played two games they could've won and should've won, but
we didn't. The most important thing is not to lose sight of how you
got into the 59th minute and be in a position to win a game. As I
told the guys, don't focus on that last 40 or 50 seconds. Let's
focus on what we did to get ourselves in that position."
The Steelers (1-3) withstood a blocked punt, a kickoff that went
out of bounds to give Jacksonville the ball at its 40, and three
turnovers -- one of them on a fumble charged to receiver Plaxico
Burress, who spiked the ball at the end of a 19-yard pass play.
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TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN |
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The Jaguars were coming off a difficult Monday night game where they gave up 22 points in the second half. Pittsburgh continued the onslaught right away in this game.
Though they came into the game winless, the Steelers dominated play with an outstanding defensive effort. They held the Jags to 26 yards on 16 rushes.
Offensively, the Steelers dominated the line of scrimmage. Kordell Stewart registered an impressive performance filling in for the injured Kent Graham. Kordell was poised, accurate and made some key runs to keep some drives alive.
It's good to see Kordell play like this because he's been under siege and under fire in Pittsburgh. It'll be interesting to see if he has a chance now to regain the starter's job he lost in the preseason.
After five games this year, Jacksonville has lost more games than it lost all of last year (when it was 14-2). The Jaguars have real issues on the offensive line, and on defense, they can't seem to stop people. If the Jaguars want to get back in the playoff race, they'll have to address those issues quickly.
Tom Donahoe, ESPN.com's NFL analyst, was formerly the Steelers' director of football operations.
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The rookie stumbled and fell to the ground without being touched
by a defensive player. When Burress got up and slammed the ball to
the ground, Jacksonville's Danny Clark scooped it up and ran it
back 44 yards.
Six plays later, the Jaguars were stopped on downs at the 4.
Burress was the first player to run out on the field and
congratulate the defense for protecting a 24-6 lead.
"I'm just glad it didn't cost us the game," Burress said. "I
thought the play was over. I was mad because I didn't stay up. I
thought I could have run farther. I learned a lesson. I'll never
spike it again except in the end zone."
Bettis scored on runs of 1 and 3 yards. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala's
5-yard, first-quarter TD ended Pittsburgh's three-game touchdown
drought against Jacksonville, which had won three straight in the
AFC Central rivalry.
The Steelers sacked Mark Brunell seven times and forced two
turnovers by the quarterback, who completed 15 of 32 passes for 137
yards and one interception. The Jaguars were limited to two field
goals by Steve Lindsey until Jamie Martin threw an 11-yard TD pass
to Keenan McCardell with 9 seconds left in the game.
"We had a lot of opportunities. They just took us out of our
game," Brunell said. "We wanted to run the ball and we weren't
able to. When that's taken away, you have to throw it, and we
didn't execute there, either."
Stewart, starting with Kent Graham out because of a bruised
right hip, completed 10 of 16 passes for 132 yards with one
interception. The Steelers rushed for 209 yards with Bettis running
for 97 yards on 28 carries and Fuamatu-Ma'afala gaining 51 yards on
seven attempts.
The Jaguars were embarrassed 43-14 by Indianapolis last Monday
night and sputtered on offense for the third straight week. The
defense started the game without linebacker Lonnie Marts (abdominal
strain) and was further weakened when linebacker Hardy Nickerson
pulled his right hamstring in the second quarter.
"We're not a very good football team right now. We're not
doing much that I can relate to," Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin
said.
"Somebody questioned me about our team lacking fire. I would
challenge that one. We knew the situation: `How are we going to
come back after the Monday night game?' The fact of the matter is,
we did not make any significant plays early on to give ourselves
the spark that we needed."
Brunell, questionable to play early in the week after straining
his left calf against the Colts, didn't complete a pass until a
minute into the second quarter. The Jaguars were held to minus-4
yards in the opening quarter and failed to get into the end zone
after Donovin Darius blocked Josh Miller's punt and Greg DeLong
recovered at the Steelers 4.
Pittsburgh drove 53 yards and took a 7-3 lead on
Fuamatu-Ma'afala's touchdown, a drive that was helped by a personal
foul on Gary Walker for a late hit on Stewart.
Stewart scrambled for 34 yards and completed passes of 15 yards
to Hines Ward and 14 yards to Burress to set up a second-quarter
field goal. He then took advantage of Lee Flowers' interception to
put the Steelers up 17-3.
Lindsey kicked a 48-yard field goal for Jacksonville just before
the half, but the Steelers kept the Jaguars from getting back in
the game by stopping Brunell on downs twice inside the Pittsburgh
20.
McCardell finished with 11 receptions for 137 yards.
Game notes The Steelers won for the first time in six tries at Alltel
Stadium ... Jacksonville's Jimmy Smith had two catches for 20
yards, extending his streak of consecutive games with at least one
reception to 77 ... The Jaguars are below .500 for the first time
since Week 15 of the 1996 season, a streak of 58 consecutive weeks.
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ALSO SEE
NFL Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Jacksonville Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO

Tom Coughlin says his team needs confidence.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mark Brunell says the Jaguars are struggling.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Kevin Hardy does not want the Jags to start pointing fingers.
wav: 168 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Chris Mortensen reports on Jacksonville's woes.
wav: 222 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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