Ben Roethlisberger finally had a dominant performance in a road game. He took the Pittsburgh Steelers into Tampa Bay, had a great game, and led the team to their first victory of the season over the Buccaneers. He finished the game completing 30 of 38 passes for 358 yards and three touchdowns. The game was of tremendous importance, as the win will finally silence most of the negativity that has surrounded Pittsburgh thus far.
Big Ben, Big Game, Big Win
Ben Roethlisberger Was Spectacular
Though he wasn’t perfect, Roethlisberger was close to it in the win. His lone interception came early on when he was under pressure and just made a bad decision. After that, he really settled in and started systematically picking the defense apart. Whether it was Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Vance McDonald (who deserves a shout-out for this incredible stiff arm), or whoever else, Big Ben was getting what he wanted. The only area that he struggled in was with his deep ball accuracy. He was particularly sharp on third downs.
The performance was especially impressive considering the fact that it came with a backup right guard and right tackle. He was under pressure a decent amount, but still made plenty of plays to power the offense and lead the team to a much-needed victory. He even made the play of the game, extending plays like he always does, making a beautiful pass to Smith-Schuster and essentially securing the victory late in the game.
Pass Defense Struggles Again
Though they started sharp and forced four turnovers in the first half, the Steelers secondary and linebackers did a poor job in coverage as the game went on. Ryan Fitzpatrick looked more like Dan Marino in the second half. Joe Haden (back from injury) and Mike Hilton deserve to be left out of the blame, as they were the only two bright spots from the pass defense. Artie Burns struggled all game with his assignments, whether it was DeSean Jackson or Mike Evans. Evans absolutely bullied Coty Sensabaugh whenever the two matched up. Sean Davis, though he did a better job with open field tackles, was late to help corners multiple times. The same can be said of Terrell Edmunds.
The linebackers once again were not good in pass coverage. This time, the coaches deserve as much blame as the players do. Jonathan Bostic and Vince Williams were asked too many times to cover O.J. Howard one-on-one. Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt had to cover Howard and Cameron Brate, too. One time, Williams was even matched up with Mike Evans. As the linebackers continue to be asked to cover tight ends one-on-one, the opposing teams will continue to rack up the passing yards.
Effective but Inconsistent Pass Rush
The pass rush was spectacular in the first half. They sacked Fitzpatrick three times and hit him a bunch more. Without the pass rush, there wouldn’t have been four forced turnovers in the first half. There probably would’ve only been one. Dupree was making plays, Cameron Heyward was constantly in the backfield, and Bostic was involved with a sack and a deflected pass that ended up as an interception. Daniel McCullers even got involved, getting pressure on Dupree’s pick-six. The defense in the first half looked like a legitimate defense. Things changed as the game went on, though.
Fitzpatrick was racking up numbers like crazy in the second half. 265 of his 411 passing yards came after halftime. This was thanks in large part to the major lack of a pass rush in that half. In the first half, he was under pressure on roughly 40 percent of his dropbacks. The rate was nowhere near that high in the second half. With a secondary that just can’t get on the same page and perform well, more will be needed from the guys up front. A consistent pass rush can’t fix a bad secondary, but it would at least help.
Last Word
It wasn’t pretty, at least not in the second half. The Steelers scored zero points after the break. But, for a team that was 0-1-1, any win is a good win. There are still obvious areas that need improvement, though. Somehow, they got worse with penalties from the first two weeks. This time, it was 13 for 155 yards, and too many personal fouls to count. That will definitely need to be cleaned up. Sensabaugh and Burns will need to improve as soon as possible. Haden and Hilton, the latter of whom left with an injury, can’t carry the secondary forever. The pass rush needs to improve. But at the end of the day, a win is a win, and the Steelers will take their first of the year. And they can thank Ben Roethlisberger and company for it.
