NFL Week 3: Pittsburgh Steelers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Monday Night Football Recap

Nazrul Islam via Flickr

NFL

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Monday Night Football Recap

For the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 3 showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, most were expecting a shootout. The matchup certainly did not disappoint as the Steelers held out for a 30-27 win in Tampa. In TSJ’s Monday Night Football recap, we take a look at how the thrilling primetime contest played out.

1st Quarter

Pittsburgh opened the game on offense and started slow. The Steelers went 3-and-out on the first series and punted. Tampa Bay got the ball at their own 41, but followed with a 3-and-out of their own. On the following drive, Ben Roethlisberger escaped the pocket but managed to get the ball out under pressure — only to be intercepted by Justin Evans.

Tampa Bay would capitalize on the turnover by driving 53 yards downfield for a touchdown. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick found tight end Cameron Brate in the back of the end-zone with a 4-yard touchdown pass.

Down 7-0, the Steelers’ follow-up drive began with a rush for a loss of 4 yards. Two plays later, though, Roethlisberger found tight end Vance McDonald for a sensational 75-yard touchdown. McDonald delivered an impressively fierce stiff arm on Bucs safety Chris Conte before taking it to the end zone. The stiff arm immediately took Twitter by storm and solidified McDonald’s touchdown as likely the play of the game.

Kicker Chris Boswell missed the ensuing extra point, banking it off of the right upright. The missed kick – Boswell’s second missed extra point this season – left the game at 7-6 Bucs.

Tampa started the next drive hot, gaining three first downs and 47 yards. The drive stalled, however, after outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo recorded the first sack of the night for the Steelers. Pittsburgh responded quickly on the following drive, with a 43-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster moving the Steelers to the Bucs’ 34 yard line.

2nd Quarter

The Steelers continued their drive from the first quarter but couldn’t punch it in, settling for a 38-yard field goal. Tampa’s ensuing drive could not have gone worse, as the second play resulted in a turnover. Bucs receiver Chris Goodwin fumbled the ball after Steelers cornerback Artie Burns knocked it loose with his helmet.

The Steelers took advantage of the turnover and struck again quickly. Roethlisberger tossed a 27-yard touchdown to All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown to give them a 16-7 lead.

The Buccaneers came back firing on the next possession, driving all the way to the Steelers’ 12 yard line. Ryan Fitzpatrick failed to deliver in the red zone, though — being intercepted by Mike Hilton on a tipped pass. After a Pittsburgh punt, the Steelers defense struck again. A miscommunication between Ryan Fitzpatrick and his wide receiver lead to an easy interception by Steelers first-round rookie Terrell Edmunds.

The Bucs defense held strong on the next drive, sacking Ben Roethlisberger twice on the drive for a net loss of seven yards. Steelers punter Jordan Berry, who has had a very lackluster season, pinned the Bucs down at their own 2 yard line with a 40 yard punt. On the second play following the punt, the Steelers’ defensive pressure got to Fitzpatrick. He threw another interception, resulting in a pick-six by Bud Dupree. Boswell nailed the extra point, giving the Steelers a commanding 23-7 lead.

On the Bucs next possession, Ryan Fitzpatrick came back out targeting Mike Evans, leading to a 51-yard bomb that moved the Bucs to the Steelers 5 yard line. The Steelers defense came up big, once again, holding the Buccaneers to a 21-yard field goal  — cutting the lead to 23-10. Ben Roethlisberger answered with a surgical two-minute drive, going 75 yards in 1:09. Roethlisberger on the drive completed 7/8 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown. Entering halftime, the Steelers led 30-10.

3rd Quarter

The Buccaneers started the second half on offense, once again struggling to cross the goal line. Tampa’s 65-yard drive to open the half took 7:53 off the clock, but couldn’t yield a touchdown. The Bucs settled for a field goal, narrowing the Steelers’ lead to 17 points with the score at 30-13. Notably, the drive also featured a controversial touchdown reversal. Chris Goodwin appeared to go untouched for a 56-yard touchdown — but after review, it was found that Goodwin’s foot made contact with a defensive back as he initially went down.

Roethlisberger’s start to the second half was just as hot as his performance in the first half. The Steelers’ drive went for 46 yards and took 6:01 off the game clock, almost ending the quarter. Pittsburgh’s push for the end zone was denied, however, when a strip sack by Jason Pierre-Paul forced them to attempt a 47-yard field goal. Chris Boswell’s struggles continued, as he hit the right upright once again. At the end of the quarter, the score remained 30-13 Steelers.

4th Quarter

Tampa Bay finally managed to score in the red zone early in the fourth quarter with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin. While Pittsburgh’s defense had been strong in the red zone for most of the game, they couldn’t come up big here. With the touchdown and successful extra point, the Buccaneers reduced the Steelers’ lead to 10 points. Heading into the Steelers’ first possession of the quarter, they led 30-20.

Pittsburgh’s offense got the ball back and, for the first time in a while, struggled to get anything going. The Steelers were forced to punt, which lead to an 80-yard return touchdown for DeSean Jackson. Though Jackson got the Tampa crowd back into the game, his return was called back due to a holding penalty. Following the reversed call, the Bucs began their drive on their own 8 yard line. This drive showed us all that, although Fitzpatrick was off in the first half, the ‘Fitzmagic’ from Weeks 1 & 2 was alive and well in the second half. The Buccaneers orchestrated a nine-play, 92-yard drive ending on a 27-yard touchdown to Mike Evans. With the late touchdown, Tampa cut the Steelers’ lead to just 3 points — bringing the score to 30-27.

After back-to-back punts by the Steelers and Bucs, Pittsburgh got the ball back with 2:49 left to go. Running back James Conner stepped up and made the drive his own, showing that this team can succeed without Le’Veon Bell. Conner ended the Bucs’ comeback hopes by picking up two huge first downs, giving the Steelers a kneel-down situation and sealing a narrow victory. Final score: 30-27, Steelers.

Fantasy Implications

Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger followed last week’s play with another great stat line, racking up 24 fantasy points for Week 3. JuJu Smith-Schuster also continued his hot streak with 116 yards on the night. Though he didn’t find the end zone, Smith-Schuster still managed 11.6 fantasy points in standard formats. Fellow receiver Antonio Brown also performed well, recording 50 yards and a touchdown for 11 fantasy points this week. Brown’s performances thus far have shown that, while him and Roethlisberger have appeared out of sync at times, he can still deliver consistent fantasy production. Running back James Conner had a very average game in terms of fantasy output, finishing with 20 total touches for 9 points.

Buccaneers

Ryan Fitzpatrick got off to a rocky start, but rallied enough in the second half to end the game with 24 fantasy points. The top fantasy performer of the night for Tampa was receiver Mike Evans, finishing with 137 yards and a touchdown for 19 points in standard scoring. The biggest surprise, though, was DeSean Jackson’s performance. Jackson, who was expected to have a huge week, only came away with 3 fantasy points. Entering Week 3, Jackson was averaging 30 yards per catch — but only managed 37 total yards all game.

Final Observations

Pittsburgh Steelers

In a game where Pittsburgh did almost everything they could to lose, they still found a way to emerge with a win. The Steelers defense that capitalized on turnovers and shut the Bucs down in the red zone throughout the first half failed to do the same in the second half. They almost gave the Bucs an improbable comeback and allowed them to get well within striking distance. After leading 30-10 in the first half, the Steeler defense surrendered 220 yards and 17 points in the second.

The Steelers offense also slowed down some in the second half, but they did what they needed to do in order to save the win. Their offensive efforts certainly weren’t helped by the Buccaneers’ dominance in time of possession. Ben Roethlisberger was the Steelers’ MVP this game, throwing for 353 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception for a 120.7 passer rating. Pittsburgh emerges from Week 3 with their first win of the season and a 1-1-1 record. In Week 4, the Steelers will host fierce division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, in another primetime game for Sunday Night Football.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Although it appeared that ‘Fitzmagic’ was dead and gone in the first half, he came out firing in the second to make this a close game in the end. Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in the first half – one being a pick six – scraping together just 10 points. Tampa rallied around their signal caller as the game wore on, though, getting the ball four times in the second half and scoring on three of those possessions. Fitzpatrick pulled a complete 180 and, in doing so, may have done enough to keep the starting job — despite the return of Jameis Winston. Mike Evans also had a great game, gaining 137 receiving yards and a touchdown late. After suffering their first loss this season, the 2-1 Buccaneers will head to Chicago in Week 4 to face the Bears.

Photo Credit: Nazrul Islam via Flickr

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