The Pittsburgh Steelers scored their first victory of the season in the last game of Week 3. Ryan Fitzpatrick made a bad mistake in the first half of the 30-27 thrilling win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then made a historic comeback attempt.
It actually started wonderfully for the Bucs, who took the lead after a three and out and an interception. But it was probably a matter of time before the magic came to an end in Tampa Bay. And it couldn’t have been more painful when a cracking Stiff arm from Tight End Vance McDonald rammed Bucs-Safety Chris Conte into the ground like a schoolboy and then ran the entire field over 75 yards into the end zone.
This obviously affected not only Conte, but the rest of the team. After a punt in the next drive, the Bucs recorded turnovers in four consecutive drives. First Chris Godwin fumbled, but far worse than that was the sudden implosion of Ryan Fitzpatrick (30/50, 411 YDS, 3 TD, 3 INT). The veteran threw three picks in the first half, two of which looked bad and one was carried by Bud Dupree into the end zone.
The Steelers not only benefited from the mistakes of the Buccaneers offensive, they also knew how to exploit the horrendous problem zones in the secondary. Ben Roethlisberger (30/38, 353 YDS, 3 TD, INT) cast for 273 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first run. Tampa had huge problems with tackling and this was not only due to a muddy ground.
The Bucs shook off the brutal first half and made a historic comeback in the final quarter. Fitzpatrick seemed to find some of the magic powder again, throwing two touchdown passes, one of them to the outstanding Mike Evans to trim the gap to up to three points. Even then you got the ball in your hands again with enough time, but you wasted your drive with risky playcalling and inaccurate passes. It was James Conner who put an end to the most exciting game. It would have been the first time in the Buccaneers’ history that they could have made up for a 17-point gap in the fourth quarter.
After a bad decision early in the game, Big Ben rehabilitated himself and showed a confident game against a highly vulnerable Bucs-D. Sometimes you don’t even need great highlight plays. But he knew how to use his playmakers to make the best use of their mismatches. Ben played almost flawlessly over more than three quarters.
Many expected a regression from Fitzpatrick. But that this would happen in this way… Well, that’s the way it is with Fitzpatrick. Because despite a good performance in the second run, it was he who lost this game in the second quarter. The second pick was probably due to a miscommunication, but this was a bad overthrow. The Pick Six from our own end zone was a catastrophic blackout. Fitzpatrick was still making a comeback and throwing for crazy numbers, but the burden he had put on that evening was simply too great. Now it’s time to make a difficult decision in Tampa Bay. Will Jameis Winston be coming to the first start of the season in Week 4 or will Fitzpatrick be going on?