The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost on Sunday, 20-18, to the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the loss, the Bucs fell back to .500 at 3-3 on the season and are now in a stalemate for the division lead with the Atlanta Falcons.
Steelers Defense Holds Bucs Offense at Bay
The Buccaneers were a measly 4-of-14 on third downs and oftentimes struggled to move the ball. The front seven kept Leonard Fournette and the rest of the run attack from finding explosive plays. He did finish with 63 yards, however, on 21 carries.
Chris Godwin was Tampa Bay’s best receiver finishing with 95 yards. However, Pittsburgh could have allowed more and did a great job disrupting the connection between him and Tom Brady. Godwin was targeted 12 times and caught just half of them. They also held Mike Evans at bay, allowing just four catches for 42 yards.
Brady had a low-level quarterback rating of 58.3 and struggled getting the ball out wide to his primary targets. He finished with 243 yards and one touchdown that came in the fourth quarter to Leonard Fournette to bring the game within two. However, on the impending two point conversion, Brady’s pass attempt to Godwin was knocked down by Devin Bush to keep the score at 20-18.
It looks very evident that the injuries along Tampa Bay’s offensive line are catching up to them. The pressure from Pittsburgh up front was a lot for Brady to handle and the lack of time kept his play-making targets from getting the football. The Steelers defense recorded five QB hits on Brady and sacked him twice with those coming from linebacker Alex Highsmith and veteran defensive tackle Cameron Heyward.
Brady has to find ways to spread the ball out to other people besides Fournette. He once again had a great game with receiving yards finishing with 38 of them. The Bucs also had just nine points at halftime and could not find the end zone until the fourth quarter.
Brady on the offense’s plan going forward: “We all have to do a better job. We got to go back and watch tape and obviously there’s things to correct.”
Defense Holds Strong and Keeps Najee Harris From Exploding
The Steelers’ main weapon on offense, Najee Harris, was held to just 42 yards on 14 carries. He averaged three yards and the usual patient, shifty running back did not tear the Bucs’ defense apart, even though he recorded a touchdown catch from Trubisky.
The one place the Bucs were not able to get a handle on was stopping Chase Claypool. He had a career day and caught all seven of his targeted attempts for 96 yards and a touchdown. He also had the game-sealing catch, twisting himself around to make the grab over his back shoulder going up against David.
Lavonte David had a stand out day with 13 tackles. Devin White and Jamel Dean also had decent games with eight and six tackles respectively. The unit also got to both Kenny Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky with sacks coming from Carl Nassib and Antoine Winfield Jr.
Overall, the Bucs defense had another solid outing giving up only 270 total yards. The Steelers had under 200 passing yards and under 100 rushing yards.
Up Next
The Buccaneers look to rebound as they travel to the Carolinas to take on the Panthers on Sunday in Bank of America Stadium. Kickoff is 1 p.m. E.T.