The Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off a surprising win in Week 6 over the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. The team has been dealing with changes in the past few weeks and was on a four-game losing streak. Pittsburgh suffered a miserable 38-3 loss to Buffalo last week to cap off all of the team’s early suffering. To add to all of that, the entire Steelers’ starting secondary, minus Terrell Edmunds, was out for the Week 6 matchup. Despite all of this adversity, the team stepped up and fought for a 20-18 win over the Bucs. This game was highlighted by the Steelers’ ability to stop a good offense. Plus, Chase Claypool exploded for his best game of the season. Now, the Steelers look towards their two dangerous matchups with the Dolphins and the Eagles.
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Depleted Pittsburgh Steelers Beat Bucs in Week 6 Battle
Pre-Game Troubles
The Steelers knew this game was going to be difficult from the beginning. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year and one of the NFL’s best defensive players, T.J. Watt, has been out for the Steelers for several weeks now. And, four of Pittsburgh’s starting secondary members were out for the game: Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cameron Sutton, Levi Wallace, and Ahkello Witherspoon. With this, the Steelers were missing nearly half of the defensive starters from Week 1. Plus, Pat Freiermuth, the team’s starting tight end, was out with a concussion. The team turned to several recently signed/elevated players, and all of them stepped up in big ways to help the Steelers to win number two.
Game Summary
Steelers Get Out to Strong Start
On their first drive, the Steelers ate up nearly seven minutes of clock and came out with a touchdown. Kenny Pickett found Najee Harris in the end zone for a six-yard score, which was the rookie Pickett’s first career passing touchdown. The Steelers’ defense made several key stops and forced the Bucs to three first-half field goals. This kept the game within reach going into the half; Pittsburgh led 10-9 before getting the ball first out of the half.
Last week, the Steelers turned to Steven Sims in favor of Gunner Olszewski as their return man. Sims ran back the second half’s opening kickoff for 90 yards and set up the Steelers in the red zone. But, the offense couldn’t break through and was forced to kick a field goal, which was Chris Boswell’s second of the game. The Bucs answered with a field goal but both teams went scoreless for four consecutive drives.
Pickett Goes Down, Trubisky Comes In
On one of those previously mentioned drives, Kenny Pickett was hit hard and knocked out of the game with a concussion. This forced Mitchell Trubisky, the original Steelers’ starter, to come back in and prove himself. Trubisky, who was benched in favor of Pickett in Week 4, led the Steelers to a touchdown on his third drive in at quarterback. He converted on two key third downs, finding George Pickens and Connor Heyward (45-yard pass) for big plays. Chase Claypool hauled in a six-yard pass from Trubisky for a score, which put Pittsburgh up 20-12 with ten minutes left. This pass was the first touchdown catch by a Steelers receiver this year, a streak that the time wanted to end for a long time.
Tom Brady and the Bucs went down and scored a touchdown, but the Steelers’ defense had an answer on the two-point attempt. Brady used a 14-play, five-minute drive to put the Bucs within two. He found Leonard Fournette in the end zone for an 11-yard score, the Bucs’ first and only touchdown on the day. On the two-point attempt, Brady threw it to Chris Godwin, but the pass was batted down by Devin Bush. From here, the game rested on Trubisky’s shoulders, but he pulled through and killed the clock to secure the win.
Trubisky found Claypool for several third-and-11+ yard conversions on the drive. This included an incredible 26-yard grab to seal the game, seen below. Trubisky used two runs to pick up the team’s final first down and kneeled the rest of the way. Clutch throws, catches, and some shifty runs helped propel the Steelers over the Bucs late in the game.
.@ChaseClaypool with an incredible grab 🤯
📺 #TBvsPIT on FOX pic.twitter.com/JRBMXpk7zH
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 16, 2022
Notes/Evaluations from the Game
Quarterback Play Highlighted by Trubisky’s Heroism
Kenny Pickett was looking for the first win of his career and, in a way, got it. Pickett started strong on the first drive, going 5/5 for 37 yards and a touchdown. But from there, Pickett had a hard time doing much, tallying just 67 yards passing and 16 yards rushing by the third quarter. Pickett was hit hard by Devin White on a pass attempt and was taken out for the rest of the game. Mitch Trubisky came in for the rest of the game and did not disappoint.
Trubisky finished 9/12 passing for 144 yards and a touchdown. His 12 yards per attempt was a great thing to see and he really stretched the field for the offense. He had four plays of ten yards or more on third down, making some very tough throws under pressure on those. Overall, Trubisky seemed to thrive under the pressure and left it all out on the field. He also won the game with his legs, running for the final first downs the Steelers needed to close out the game. Overall, it was an impressive half for Trubisky and his reputation has definitely grown in Pittsburgh. For the first few games, it seemed he was timid and holding back. If Trubisky can play like he did every week, he deserves a legitimate shot at being a starter, even if it’s not in Pittsburgh.
Running Game Ineffective, but Progress Seen
The Steelers had a hard time getting the rushing offense going again. Najee Harris has had a lackluster season compared to last year but isn’t at full health and is behind a bad offensive line. On Sunday, Harris finished with 42 yards on 14 carries, while receivers Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson each had eight yards. Overall, the team rushed 29 times for 77 yards, for a measly average of 2.7 yards per carry. The stretch handoffs and jet sweeps to receivers have worked in a way this year, so that’s one positive on the rushing offense. But, the Steelers will have to pick it up on offense altogether if they want to keep winning.
Chase Claypool Shows Out, Highlights Pittsburgh’s Receiving Group
Chase Claypool was by far the best and most targeted receiver for the Steelers in Week 6. Claypool hauled in all seven of his targets and turned them into 96 yards and a touchdown. He was a big factor in the Steelers win and should definitely get targeted more if he can continue to produce. Connor Heyward had the second-most yards with 49, which included a clutch 45-yard play to set the Steelers up for their touchdown to Claypool. Other receivers Diontae Johnson and George Pickens had five catches for 28 yards and three catches for 27 yards, respectively.
Front Seven Puts Pressure on Brady
The Steelers’ front seven, missing T.J. Watt, excelled at putting pressure on the game’s best quarterback of all time. The team only had two sacks, with Alex Highsmith and Cam Heyward each having one; but the effect the whole line had on pressuring Brady forced him to miss several important throws. The team stopped several third-and-short tries and forced the Bucs to punt quite a bit. When the Bucs scored and made it 20-18, they needed just a two-point conversion to tie the game. Brady looked to Chris Godwin but Devin Bush knocked it away and sealed the game; Brady never touched the ball the rest of the game.
Decimated Secondary Holds Brady to Under 250 Yards, Makes Big Plays
As mentioned earlier, the Steelers were missing 80% of their starting secondary. Arthur Maulet, James Pierre, Josh Jackson, and Tre Norwood stepped in to fill the important roles of the injured players. The team held Brady to 243 yards and just a singular touchdown. They broke up a few key passes or forced a few incompletions on some plays. Overall, these guys played well for being mostly practice squad players and helped the Steelers improve to 2-4.
Injury Notes/Looking to Future Games
Now, the Steelers look to two important and difficult games before the bye week in Week 9. The team will travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins next week and then Philly to take on the dangerous Eagles in two weeks. The health of this team is going to be very important and crucial to the Steelers’ potential success in the coming weeks.
T.J. Watt has officially been on the IR for four weeks so he’s eligible to come off, but it’s unclear when exactly he’ll come back. The members of the secondary should be coming back in the next week or two so improvements should be seen soon. And finally, Kenny Pickett’s condition with his concussion is currently unknown but he is expected to be available to play next week in Miami. However, who is starting is still up in the air and Coach Tomlin would start Trubisky if Pickett is not 100%.
