Pittsburgh falls to Tampa Bay, 27-24
Andrew Baugh
Tampa Bay wide receiver Vincent Jackson (83) makes the winning touchdown with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter during Sunday’s game against the Steeelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Markus Wheaton (11) leaps to make the catch in front of Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Dashon Goldson (38) during the second quarter at the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Heinz Field Sunday afternoon.
Andrew Baugh
Pittsburgh running back LeGarrette Blount (27) breaks into the secondary during the second quarter of Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay at Heinz Field.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) releases a pass attempt to wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) in the end zone during the fourth quarter at the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Heinz Field Sunday afternoon. The pass was not caught.
PITTSBURGH — Play with fire long enough and it’ll burn you.
It happened to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday in a 27-24 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Pittsburgh trailed early, fought back and took a lead, but couldn’t build on it.
Instead, the Steelers kept giving the Buccaneers chances to pull out a win and Tampa finally took advantage with seven seconds remaining. Mike Glennon’s 5-yard scoring pass to Vincent Jackson lifted the Bucs to a 27-24 win over the Steelers.
So, Tampa leaves town with its first win of the season, while the Steelers are stuck at 2-2, with road games ahead at Jacksonville and Cleveland.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin watched as his team self-destructed under the weight of 13 penalties worth 125 yards. He identified pre-snap and post-play penalties as twin culprits.
“After a performance like that, I think it’s appropriate that we look within and look at what it is we are doing,” Tomlin said. “The bottom line is that we are an undisciplined group. We are too highly penalized. Obviously, we are not coaching it. We are allowing it to happen, so I take responsibility for that.
“We need to fix it. If we don’t, we will continue to lose close football games. It’s just that simple. Some of the penalties are technical or orientation-like, facemask penalties and things of that nature. Our tackling technique needs to improve. But some of the pre-snap and post-play penalties are just lacking discipline.”
Tampa Bay came out on fire. The Bucs won the coin toss and deferred. The defense came up with two sacks, the second resulting in a fumble that was recovered by Jacquies Smith. Two plays later, Tampa Bay was on the board on a seven-yard Glennon pass to Mike Evans and Tampa led, 7-0, two minutes into the game.
The Bucs turned a short field into a 50-yard field goal by Patrick Murray and a 10-0 Tampa lead. Tampa Bay benefitted from a personal foul facemask call against Cam Thomas to get into range after a 25-yard punt return by Solomon Patton started the drive at the 45-yard line.
“They didn’t have a win, so we knew they were going to come out strong,” center Maurkice Pouncey said. “But we battled back from that and took a lead. But the penalties caught up with us and let them stay in the game.”
Pittsburgh’s offense settled for a 25-yard Shaun Suisham field goal to cut Tampa’s lead to 10-3 with 6:19 remaining in the first quarter. The 10-play drive was highlighted by a 31-yard pass from Roethlisberger to Markus Wheaton.
The Steelers tied the score before the first quarter ended, as Roethlisberger passed to Antonio Brown from 11 yards out with 15 seconds on the clock. The nine-play, 60-yard drive featured Le’Veon Bell, who ran for 29 yards on two carries during the drive.
But Brown was called for unsportsmanlike conduct on his first TD grab and it forced the Steelers to kick off from their 25-yard line.
“We have to work at it,” Brown said. “We have to play smarter football, find a way to win and play within the rules.”
Pittsburgh took the lead on a 27-yard Roethlisberger-to-Brown pass play after the running game brought the Steelers most of the way down the field. The ground game accounted for 37 yards on the 93-yard drive and the Steelers assumed a 17-10 lead late in the second quarter that carried to halftime.
Roethlisberger threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns, including the two to Brown, who set a record with his 20th consecutive game with at least five catches and at least 50 yards. He caught seven for 131.
“Right now, it’s not about records,” Brown said. “It’s about winning, playing Steelers football and getting victories. The record is great, but it means nothing. We lost. Our business is winning.”
Tampa drove 80 yards on eight plays with the second half kickoff to tie the score on Doug Martin’s 3-yard touchdown run with 12:27 showing on the clock. Glennon passed for 40 yards to Evans to set up the TD run that made the score 17-17.
The Steelers reclaimed the lead when Roethlisberger rifled his third TD pass of the game, this one going five yards to Heath Miller. The 10-play, 80-yard march featured a 27-yard pass to Brown that was ruled complete on review and a 17-yard Brown pass to Bell.
It remained a 24-17 Steelers lead into the fourth quarter, when the Buccaneers engineered a 12-play, 83-yard drive that was capped by a 27-yard Murray field goal that closed the gap to 24-20 with 11:37 remaining in the game. The drive included a facemask penalty against Troy Polamalu.
The Steelers defense held once, stopping the Buccaneers and taking over at their 14-yard line with 1:40 remaining. But Pouncey was called for an illegal snap that led to a 29-yard Brad Wing punt that set up the Bucs for the game-winner.
“If we don’t get a five-yard penalty, in all likelihood we get a first down there and run out the clock,” Tomlin said. “It’s just that simple. We kicked our own butt today with penalties.”