Pittsburgh vs. Jacksonville

Jaguars -4 vs. Steelers

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One of the most overly used clichés in sports is to describe a banged up team as a MASH unit. Save the self-righteousness about sports clichés because if any situation called for that cliché, it is the current state of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It will be quite amazing to see just how the Steelers (3-1) will field a team and who will be wearing the black and gold this Sunday night in Jacksonville. DT Casey Hampton, DE Brett Keisel are out and LB Donovan Woods is doubtful. In particular, running back will be awfully thin as Willie Parker is expected to miss his second straight game and rookie back Rashard Mendenhall out for the season. Mewelde Moore will be the Steelers featured back this week and the team is exploring possibly bringing Najeh Davenport back in after throwing him on the scrap heap after last season. Sadly for Pittsburgh, this game is on Sunday night instead of Monday night. They have now won 15 straight Monday night contests besting the prior streak of the Oakland Raiders’ who won 13 straight games in the 1970s.  This past Monday, Jeff Reed drilled an overtime 46-yard field goal to lift the Steelers to victory over the Baltimore Ravens despite the numerous injuries.

The Jaguars (2-2) are not a much healthier bunch, but they seem to be righting their ship after their disastrous 0-2 start. Coming off an overtime victory of their own, 30-27 over the Houston Texans, Jacksonville will look to keep their momentum going. David Garrard, the wunderkind of the 2007 season, is steadily improving after a couple of disappointing early season performances. Garrard threw for 236 yards with one touchdown in the win against the Texans.

The Jaguars and the Steelers know each other while, having faced each other regularly while both teams claimed residence in the now defunct AFC Central from 1994-2001. As bad as the Jaguars were in many of those years, they always seemed to be able to beat Pittsburgh, holding a 6-4 lifetime mark against them.  The Jags have won four straight in the series, including a contest held in the snow this past January.

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