PITTSBURGH — The confusion is gone. The alarming number of missed tackles that plagued the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first few weeks of the season are dwindling. The pressure created by the front seven is mounting.

And while the Steelers are far from saying their swagger is back — sorry, but even they know their 17-9 victory over winless Jacksonville on Sunday is hardly cause for celebration — they believe it’s a lot closer than it was a month ago.

On a day the offense sputtered whenever it managed to get into scoring range, the defense made the kind of plays it failed to produce with any sort of regularity during the season’s first four weeks.

Brice McCain returned an interception for a touchdown. Cortez picked off a pass for the second straight game. And when Jacksonville tried to push the tempo in the final minutes in hopes of tying the game, Pittsburgh slammed the door shut emphatically.

“Even though (the Jaguars) don’t have a good record, just to go on the road and do that in their stadium was huge,” linebacker Lawrence Timmons said.

Even if half of the stadium was clad in black swirling yellow Terrible Towels. A week after a last second meltdown led to an inexplicable home loss to Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh (3-2) wasn’t taking anything for granted, not with another meeting with rapidly improving Cleveland (2-2) looming.

And while McCain’s 22-yard sprint to the end zone with 11:32 remaining provided the winning margin, it’s what the Steelers were able to do after that that provided proof the group that features five new starters is starting to mature.

Jacksonville got the ball twice with a chance to tie the game. The Jaguars didn’t even come close, managing all of 26 yards while never making it past their own 40.

“Everybody is being accountable,” linebacker Arthur Moats said. “Everybody is just doing their job.”

Something that wasn’t happening with regularity during an uneven stretch in which Pittsburgh rarely looked like the same team from quarter to quarter let alone game to game. The combination of a soft schedule, better tackling and a streamlining of communication from the sideline to the field has helped.

There were times — particularly in the second half against the Browns in Week 1 — when the defense scrambled to get into position at the snap of the ball.

“We weren’t getting the communication that we needed to,” Moats said.