The matchup

Jerome Bettis, NBC Sports: It's a short week for Pittsburgh coming off a physical game. All signs point to Jacksonville.

Cris Collinsworth, NBC Sports: The Jaguars are one of my favorite teams to watch play. They have two tremendous backs and I'm a big fan of David Garrard.

Mike Tunison, Kissing Suzy Kolber: The Steelers have lost four straight to the Jaguars dating back to 2005, including two strikingly similar home losses last season, in which Pittsburgh allowed a more physical Jacksonville team to build a considerable lead before the Steelers rallied back to tie the game (or in the case of the loss in the Wild Card game, take the lead) before allowing a late deciding score. With the loss of Rashard Mendenhall, the Steelers signed preseason cast-off Najeh Davenport, who struggled in the January loss with only 25 yards on 16 carries. Pittsburgh, coming off punishing games against Philadelphia and Baltimore, would love to exact some revenge before heading into the bye with a chance to heal up.

Running game

Collinsworth: The Jaguars are a run, run, run, run and pass type of team. Third and eight, third and 12... those types of situations. And if you're going to put up big numbers as a passer, you're going to have to do that on first down and second down throws. And when your offensive coordinator or (head coach) Jack Del Rio wants to pound the football, it puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback.

Bettis: The Steelers running situation is in dire straits - not so bad that they're calling me - but in bad shape. That being said, I don't look for them to change who they are. They're still going to try and run the ball.

Tiki Barber, NBC Sports: Both of these running games, once tops in the league, are in shambles - Willie Parker is out for the Steelers, and Jacksonville has had injuries and are too predictable in their run game.  This game will be decided by which quarterback is most effective in the passing game..

Tunison: Each team has been hampered so far this season by the play of the offensive line, and as a result are running the ball much less effectively. Jacksonville has averaged 23 fewer running yards a game than last year, while Steelers are down a staggering 35 yards a game, averaging a pedestrian 100.5 yards per contest. The Jaguars' line has lost two starters to injury, while the Steelers' unit, even before right guard Kendall Simmons went on injured reserve last week, has been the focus of their offensive struggles.

Breaking down Garrard

Barber: Jaguars have been good because their defense has been playing well. But David Garrard has to take another step in his development as a quarterback. He does a great job managing the game but this team has become so reliant on the running game that teams are able to stack up and shut down Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. That's something teams weren't able to do last year when David Garrard was throwing the ball a lot more.

Bettis: He's a different quarterback. Last year he was the type of quarterback who didn't make those mistakes. This year he's making those mistakes early and keeping other teams in the game. It's putting a lot of pressure on the defense and so far it's been up and down for them.

Collinsworth: David Garrard, maybe more with his arms than his legs, has been winning football games.

Tunison: The Steelers were able to force David Garrard to throw two interceptions in the playoff matchup, one less than he threw all of last year in the regular season. Garrard, however, hasn't done as good a job protecting the football this season, already topping last year's interception total in just four weeks.

Big Ben

Tunison: Ben Roethlisberger threw three interceptions in the first half of the Wild Card loss, but was the main reason they were able to get back into the game in the second half. The playcalling of Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was sharply criticized following that loss, and fans haven't been any more pleased with his work thus far this season. He will need to come up with a gameplan to counteract what no doubt will be all-out assault on his already battered quarterback.