Miracles do happen! With no TJ, no Pat, none of the starting secondary and the starting QB leaving just over halfway through, the Steelers pulled off a 20-18 home upset over the Great Tom Brady.
Pittsburgh’s defense held the Bucs offense to three punts and three field goals in the first half. One of those field goals came after a 1st&Goal from the Pittsburgh three. DE Cam Heyward dragged Leonard Fournette down with only a handful of blades of grass on 1st Down. DT Larry Ogunjobi knifed through the Center’s chop block to push them back to the three on 2nd Down. Here’s the 3rd Down play:
The doink giveth; the doink taketh away. K Chris Boswell was the victim of a rogue goal post in the Cincinnati game but today the cross-bar was an accomplice. He converted football’s equivalent of the alley-oop from 55 yards out and Pittsburgh led 10-9 at the half.
Steelers fans were treated to a sampler platter of rare delicacies this afternoon. In addition to beating Tom Brady, WR Steven Sims took the second half kickoff 89 yards to the Tampa 12. On the radio broadcast Billy noted it was the longest Steelers kick return that didn’t result in a TD in team history. It was the team’s longest return since Juju Smith-Schuster had a 96-yard kick return TD as a rookie (2017).
The Steelers managed only a field goal from that stellar field position. It’s hard to settle for kicking points when you know they have Tom Brady on the other side. He again picked his way down inside the Steelers’ five, but was AGAIN stood up with a TFL from SS Terrell Edmunds and a QBH from Ogunjobi. 13-12 PIT
QB Kenny Pickett was 11/18 for 67 yards and 1 TD in his first home start. His outing was shortened when his head bounced off the field after completing a pass that went for nearly 30 yards. He made a brief visit to the medical tent before retreating to the locker room with a concussion. To add insult to injury, a holding penalty on LG Kevin Dotson negated the gain.
QB Mitch Trubisky once again wrapped the reins around his fist. He was 9/12 for 144 yards and a TD of his own. Most of that yardage came on this 45-yard catch-and-run to rookie TE Connor Heyward:
WR Chase Claypool flashed signs of his dangerous rookie form. He had seven receptions for 96 yards (both led the team), including this 6-yard score to go up 20-12:
Tampa responded with a 14-play, 73-yard drive that necessitated two 4th&1 conversions. The heart was taken out of the stadium momentarily when Leonard Fournette took a swing pass 11 yards, through a number of potential tacklers, into the end zone to pull within a two-point conversion attempt of a tie game. My guy MLB Devin Bush restored the energy with a fantastic play on Chris Godwin – a much faster man. Take a look if you don’t believe me:
Mitch got the ball back with just over 4-and-a-half minutes to play. He found Claypool for 17 on 3rd&15, and later for 26 on 3rd&11. As the Bucs ran out of timeouts, Mitch moved the chains with his legs and Victory Formation was deployed. Boy have I missed Victory Formation.
Steely Cam 