Jaguars Vs. Steelers: Jacksonville's Starters Outscored 7-6 in Preseason Home Finale

Doug Pederson wanted to see a bit more from his team tonight. Last week was a fine start, but he wanted extended reps and a cleaner operation on both sides of the ball.

Through one half, he didn't exactly get it. With the Jaguars' starting offense and defense playing most of Pittsburgh's starters during the first half, the Jaguars entered halftime with a 7-6 deficit.

The so-so half was capped off rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett completing five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown in less than a minute, carving up a Jaguars' defense that had most of its starting secondary and front seven in the game.

The Jaguars' offense finished the half with two field goals, one turnover on downs, and one missed field goal. The Jaguars' starting offense has either scored or attempted a field goal on each of its preseason drives aside from the final one against the Steelers.

The Jaguars' night started in a standard way, with Lawrence connected on a third-down conversion to Christian Kirk to help get them into field goal position on their first drive. Ryan Santoso was wide-right on a 51-yard attempt after Lawrence missed Kirk on another third-down, however, leaving the Jaguars without points.

The Jaguars saw Lawrence struggle with accuracy on the second drive but they still managed to pick up two first downs and drive 47 yards in 10 plays, ending with a 53-yard field goal from Santoso to give them a 3-0 lead.

The defense, meanwhile, completely stymied the Steelers' offense for the first several drives. Over the first four drives, the Jaguars defense limited the Steelers to two first downs, forcing three punts and two three-and-outs.

The Jaguars were aided by a missed field goal on the first drive, but the pressure on Mitchell Trubisky was rampant. Arden Key recorded a sack while Josh Allen and Roy Robertson-Harris provided consistent pressure, forcing the Steelers to abandon aspects of their drop-back passing game.

Lawrence and the offense found some much-needed life on their third drive, driving 83 yards in 15 plays with five first downs and several big conversions. Lawrence had his best drive of the game, completing 5-of-7 passes, including big gains to Marvin Jones and Christian Kirk.

Kirk proved to be one of the Jaguars' most prominent pieces on Saturday night. He was targeted eight times on Lawrence's 21 pass attempts, catching five passes for 54 yards, including a 22-yard gain on third-down.

The Jaguars again struggled to punch the ball into the red-zone, however. Just like last week -- and just like most of training camp -- the Jaguars' offense didn't seem to have any easy answers for scoring in the condensed area of the field, finishing their best drive with a 25-yard field goal from Santoso after a third-down incompletion.

Lawrence finished his night 14-of-21 (66.7%) for 133 yards (6.3 yards per attempt) with a passer rating of 84. He was sacked once, with second-year right tackle Walker Little allowing a sack to T.J. Watt.

The Jaguars' defense got a chance to tee off against a rookie quarterback in Pickett to end the half on a high note, but the rookie completed passes for gains of 11, 17, and 24 yards before a 11-yard touchdown pass to Benny Snell. The touchdown gave the Steelers a 7-6 lead entering halftime, a lead they would hold onto until a Mason Rudolph intentional grounding in the end-zone led to a safety.

The Jaguars' backups had a much better night than in previous weeks, however. The second-team defense was able to limit Rudolph and the Steelers' backups on offense to minimal gains, with Dawuane Smoot recording a sack and a forced fumble in the second half.

The offense, meanwhile, saw C.J. Beathard complete big gains to Dan Arnold (18 yards) and Tim Jones (17 yards) in a solid outing before scoring on a four-yard scramble near the start of the fourth quarter to give the Jaguars a 15-7 lead.

Jacksonville failed to hold onto the lead, though. An E.J. Perry interception led to the Steelers getting a chance to drive down the field with the end of the game in sight, and the Steelers took that chance and ran with it, driving 52 yards in six plays to score on a one-yard touchdown to Tyler Snead.

Perry and the Jaguars drove down the field for an attempt to take the lead back, giving Santoso a chance to make a 57-yard field goal to take the lead. Santoso missed wide right, however, leading to the 16-15 final score and a loss.