The Jaguars Running Back Travis Etienne Drew The Spotlight After Being Selected Five Picks After The Steelers’ Selection Of Najee Harris.
The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Najee Harris as their all-situations, highly effective workhorse running back.
Two and a half years later, in the draft of 2021, the next guy selected at that position is emerging as a player who is exactly what the Steelers desired.
When the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to Pittsburgh on Sunday for the kickoff at one o’clock, that player, Travis Etienne, will find himself competing against the Steelers for the very first time.
Harris, who stands 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 242 pounds, is well renowned for this particular style of sprinting.
Harris described the competition between the starting running backs as “a good battle” earlier this week. “It’s a good battle,” Harris added.
“I constantly view everything like competition, so I won’t say that wouldn’t be on my mind, three of the backs coming in and fighting against each other,” he said. “I always view everything as a challenge.” He is an outstanding performer.
Etienne has had his most successful season ever, which is technically his third as a professional but only his second playing any action because he missed his whole rookie year due to a foot ailment.
Etienne, who is 5-foot-10 and weighs 215 pounds, is now third in the National Football League in running touchdowns and fourth in rushing yards through the first seven games of the 2018 season.
Etienne would become the initial player after Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson for 2006 to record two touchdowns for four consecutive games if he were to accomplish this feat while playing against the Steelers and score two touchdowns.
“He’s a real time bomb. “He can really explode,” said Teryl Austin, who is the defensive coordinator for the Steelers.
“He’s got incredible speed, and while he’s not a real large man in terms of the way some other running backs in the league are built, he runs behind the pads, and he’ll run through arms tackles in a hurry,” the coach said. “He’s got tremendous speed. The individual is very remarkable.
The Steelers selected Harris with the 24th overall pick in the 2021 draft. This came after they had previously let James Conner leave via free agency and had taken running backs throughout the middle rounds in each of the four years before to 2021, with mainly dismal outcomes.
There are a ton of exciting games on the NFL schedule for Week 8 of the 2023 season, and we’ve got your covered with everything you need to know in order to get ready for the weekend.
Our correspondents from NFL Nation provide us with a bold forecast for each game as well as the most important factors to consider for each contest.
In addition, ESPN Stats & Information offers a significant statistic to be aware of as well as a betting nugget for each game, and its Football Power Index (FPI) delves deeper into the stats to produce a game prediction.
The statistical writer Seth Walder determines which matchups include the most significant X factor, while the fantasy expert Eric Moody provides useful information regarding fantasy football. Everyone agreed that he was the best running back who was available.
Finally, Walder or Moody will tell us their predictions for the final scores of each game. To assist you in getting ready for a jam-packed weekend of NFL football, all of the information that you require can be found in this one convenient location.
The once-decrepit club that Pederson took over with the Jaguars is beginning to exhibit the characteristics of a potential contender as they get closer to the halfway mark of his second season with the team.
Jacksonville now sits atop the AFC South Division with a record of 5-2 and is riding a winning streak of four straight entering Sunday’s visit to the mysterious Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2).
Pederson gave a shrug in response to the question of whether he believed his club will swiftly demonstrate that their sudden climb in 2022 wasn’t a fluke.
“Yeah, to tell you the truth,” Pederson responded. You have prepared yourself to be in this circumstance. We still have room to improve our play.
I believe that there is a lot that we can benefit from and grow upon each weekend that is left in the field.
Perhaps, but if you can learn something new while also achieving success, that’s even better. Oddsmakers have shown the Jaguars some respect by making them the favorite in Pittsburgh for the very first time since 1999.
This is a nod of respect to a team that had an average of 12.5 losses per season in the four seasons before Pederson arrived. The Jaguars started the season with a record of 1-2.
According to the quarterback Trevor Lawrence, “I think this is a mature team we happen to have, as well as think we understand what’s at stake this week & every week moving forward.” Every game is essential; the situation is serious.
Before the Jaguars go on their bye week, they will face the inconsistent Steelers, who are discovering ways to win while having severe troubles on offense.
This will be an interesting test for the Jaguars. “Pittsburgh, their whole organization had like an aura around it, and that’s really cool there,” said Lawrence. “Pittsburgh is a really cool place.”
But not frightening for the Jaguars, at least not in terms of their prior performance. The Jaguars have defeated the Steelers on the road five times out of the last six times they have faced them, including a stunning victory during the divisional phase of the 2017 playoffs one seemed to signal the beginning of a possibly long run of success.