Steelers win wild overtime game in Tampa behind rookie wide receivers breakout game

Steelers win wild overtime game in Tampa behind rookie wide receivers breakout game    

By: Wilson Simons

    The Steelers spent three quarters getting outplayed by a 1-4 team with an undrafted rookie quarterback. Then their coach nearly threw the game away in the final two minutes. They won anyway, pulling off their largest fourth-quarter comeback since 1992, per the broadcast.

    Ramsey sacked Daniels on the opening drive, and a 28-yard shank of a punt gave the Steelers the ball at the Tampa 45. They went three-and-out, and the first half went downhill from there. Rodgers threw a tipped screen that was intercepted. Kaden Wetjen’s return to the Tampa 40 got wiped out by two special teams penalties. And on fourth-and-3, Bernard caught a ball past the sticks, then backpedaled like Diontae Johnson and was ruled short. That’s the kind of rookie mistake that has Omar Khan calling about every receiver on the trade block.

    Daniels, making his third career start in place of the injured Baker Mayfield, picked apart the Steelers’ zone coverage. He went 7-for-7 on the opening drive of the second quarter, capped by a 2-yard touchdown to Emeka Egbuka. Chris Boswell missed a 48-yarder, and Tampa led 13-0 until Boswell hit a 52-yarder at the halftime gun.

    The third quarter wasn’t any better. Rodgers nearly threw a walk-in pick-six, the Steelers went three-and-out twice more, and Tampa’s eight-minute drive ended in a field goal that made it 16-3. The only bright spot was the run defense: Bucky Irving never broke a big one, and Tampa finished with 102 rushing yards.

    The comeback started early in the fourth. Rodgers found a wide-open Darnell Washington for a 5-yard touchdown, and on Tampa’s next possession, Daylen Everette picked off a pass tipped by Patrick Queen. Rodgers then completed nine straight passes, and Boswell’s 39-yarder made it 16-13. DK Metcalf took over the next drive with a toe-tap catch and a drawn pass interference, and Boswell drilled a 58-yarder to tie it with 1:55 left.

    Then Jamel Dean jumped a bad throw and returned it to the Tampa 3. First-and-goal, 1:46 left, tie game. This is where it fell apart.

    A play-action rollout fell incomplete and stopped the clock for free. Jaylen Warren ran it to the 1. On third down, McCarthy called a fade to Metcalf that fell incomplete, and the Steelers settled for a 20-yard field goal with 1:21 left and Tampa still holding a timeout. Nick Herbig sacked Daniels to burn that timeout, but Daniels hit a pass over the middle on third-and-17 to set up a 53-yarder that forced overtime.

    McCarthy spent the offseason saying he wanted the Steelers to be the best team in the league in the final two minutes. Run it three times, make Tampa burn its timeouts, and kick with nothing left on the clock. Instead, he gave a rookie 81 seconds and a timeout, and the rookie used them.

    In overtime, the Steelers finally put together the drive they’d needed all day. Metcalf converted a third-and-13, Warren turned a 3-yard check-down into a 12-yard first down with a double spin move, and Bernard, the same rookie who backpedaled out of a first down in the first quarter, caught the go-ahead touchdown.

    Tampa drove into Steelers territory, but Dean broke up a slant on third-and-8.

    That brought up fourth-and-8 with 1:06 left. Ramsey lined up off the edge, came free on the blitz and dropped Daniels to end it. It capped the best game of Ramsey’s season: two sacks, 10 tackles and four tackles for loss, with a sack on Tampa’s first drive and its last.

    This was the ugliest win of the season, and I don’t care. It’s the Steelers’ first back-to-back wins of the year and their first road win. McCarthy did everything he could to throw this game away, and Rodgers wouldn’t let him.

    That can’t be the plan going forward, though. Rodgers threw 50 passes, he’s 42, and he was sacked five times. The defense held Tampa to 19 points and 228 yards. The offense owes them long drives, not five three-and-outs. That starts with Warren, who barely touched the ball early. The overtime spin move is exactly why you keep him fresh: quality over quantity.

    The rookies are making the Makai Lemon miss look better by the week. The Eagles traded up one spot ahead of the Steelers to take Lemon, so Khan took Max Iheanachor at 21 and traded up for Bernard in the second round. Iheanachor had a rough day, but he’s been a steady starter. Bernard, minus a few rookie mistakes, looks like the WR2 this team has needed.

    Herbig got his first two sacks of the season, both off the edge. Keeanu Benton looks ready to replace Cam Heyward whenever Cam retires. T.J. Watt got held all day without a flag, most obviously on Herbig’s second sack. And Dean, a former Buc, got his revenge game.

    McCarthy was limping after spending halftime in the medical tent with an ankle injury, so watch that this week. Next up is the Saints in Paris, though with the protests over there, I’m not sure how good an idea it is for anyone to be in Paris right now.

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