By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
PITTSBURGH, PA-If there was any overall Silver Lining to the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-14 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is that it was only the Preseason. Meaning: What caused them to lose the game wasn’t of much significance in the standings. However, it does present the opportunity for them to learn lessons for the mistakes and errors so not only that history doesn’t repeat itself with those trying to make the team, but that it doesn’t happen in the regular season.
“You know, there is nothing really mystical at all about the outcome of games. We determine how games unfold. Taking nothing from the Bucs,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “We have had a couple of good days’ work with those guys. Respect Coach Bowles and their program, but it was self-inflicted wounds for us tonight that determined the outcome of the game.”
The first thing that hurt the Steelers were from all 3 of their QBs: Mason Rudolph, Skyler Thompson (10/15, 113 yards) and Logan Woodside (4/9 for 45 yards), who threw one interception apiece. Rudolph’s turnover was on the Steelers 2nd drive, paving the way for the Buccaneers first TD of the game. Thompson’s turnover killed a would-be scoring drive and although Woodside’s turnover did the same, it also led to the Buccaneers winning points off the foot of K Chase McLaughlin as he kicked 42-yard FG as time expired.
“You turn the ball over; you’re going to reduce your chances of winning. Thought we stalled a lot of drives offensively with penalties that put us behind the sticks and put us in less than advantageous on possession downs. I think we were 0-5 at the half as an example of that,” Tomlin commented.
The Steelers also had a costly roughing the passer penalty on an earlier Mclaughlin FG attempt that gave the Buccaneers the ball deep in Steelers territory, which led to their 7-0 lead. What also hurt the Steelers was a missed 43-yard FG attempt by K Ben Sauls that could’ve given the Steelers the lead.
But despite the miscues, the Steelers did fight back from a 14-0 deficit to tie the game, thanks to a 2-yard TD pass from Rudolph (3/5, 46 yards, TD, INT) to WR Brandon Johnson and a 1-yard TD run by RB Trey Sermon. 2nd year WR Roman Wilson was also very instrumental on the Steelers first scoring drive as he caught a 50-yard pass from Rudolph en route to a 72-yard night. Rookie RB Kaleb Johnson also added 50 yards on 11 carries and fellow rookie Lew Johnson finished with 42 yards on 3 carries.
Rookie first round pick Derrick Harmon had his first career NFL sack, and the defense also forced 2 turnovers that led to Steelers recoveries and forced a turnover on downs.
“There certainly were some positive things. I thought several players took a step forward, two young guys in particular,” said Tomlin. “(Derrick) Harmon and Kaleb Johnson really took a step forward off their first performance. Again, that’s a reasonable thing to expect. The second time stepping into a stadium you see more of their talents. I think we talked about that a couple days ago in anticipation of the game.”
The Steelers will have a short turnaround as they prepare to travel to Charlotte, NC to face the Carolina Panthers on 8/21 with the chance to apply what they’ve learned from this game.
“Working on a short week. Get ready to get to Carolina to finish off our in-stadium preseason work,” said Tomlin. “We’ll work with extreme urgency, but for us, a major component of that is analyzing the self-inflicted wounds that were really kind of characteristic tonight and hadn’t been us throughout this process. It was definitely us tonight.”
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