The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17-14, at Acrisure Stadium in their second preseason game. The Buccaneers secured the win with a last-second field goal.
“There is nothing mystical at all about the outcome of games,” said Coach Mike Tomlin. “We determine how games unfold. Taking nothing from the Bucs. We have had a couple of good days of work with those guys. Respect Coach (Todd) Bowles and their program, but it was self-inflicted wounds for us tonight that determined the outcome of the game.
“You turn the ball over, you’re going to reduce your chances of winning. I thought we stalled a lot of drives offensively with penalties that put us behind the sticks and put us in a less than advantageous possession down. I think we were 0-5 at the half as an example of that.
“We got a penalty, roughing the kicker, where they were settling for three and we put them back on the field and eventually got a touchdown. You lose games when things like that happen. We lost leverage in the red zone and some passes there early on allowed them to score seven, and we’ve got to make people settle for three on the short field. We spend too much time working in the short field. We understand how important leverage is in that space, but we didn’t execute it.
“So, there will be a lot to learn obviously from this game because of that. There certainly were some positive things. I thought several players took a step forward, two young guys in particular. (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 played without many starters on both sides of the ball as Tomlin chose to rest key players including T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Jalen Ramsey, Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay, DeShon Elliott, Patrick Queen on defense; Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Jonnu Smith, Pat Freiermuth, Jaylen Warren and Isaac Seumalo on offense.
Linebacker Nick Herbig started after being rested last week but left early due to a hamstring injury; Tomlin reported he was okay following evaluation.
Mason Rudolph started at quarterback for Pittsburgh for his second consecutive week before Skylar Thompson came in as backup and Logan Woodside finished out late in the third quarter.
Rudolph completed three out of five passes for 46 yards with one touchdown and rushed once for seven yards while Thompson went 10-for-15 passing for 113 yards along with three carries totaling eight yards.
The Buccaneers scored first after an interception set up Teddy Bridgewater’s touchdown pass to Bucky Irving following an extended drive aided by a roughing-the-kicker penalty against Pittsburgh’s D’Shawn Jamison.
Bridgewater threw another touchdown later in the first quarter putting Tampa Bay ahead 14-0 before Rudolph connected with Brandon Johnson for Pittsburgh’s first score after setting up with deep completions and benefiting from defensive penalties by Tampa Bay.
First-round rookie Derrick Harmon recorded his first sack during Kyle Trask’s opening series at quarterback for Tampa Bay: “Really just playing within the defense, trying to do my best to help the team out to the best of my ability,” said Harmon about his sack performance. “First sack as a rookie, felt good. It’s the preseason so just ready to get that one in the regular season. That’s it.
“Week one was kind of rough for me. I took a big…not a big jump, but just more trusted my ability in the second game. Still a lot of work to do in the back end. Still a lot of work as far as me individually and the team, so just ready to get back to the work.”
Thompson led several promising drives but also threw an interception near Tampa Bay’s goal line late in first half play.
Kaleb Johnson contributed significant yardage rushing during multiple possessions while Trey Sermon tied up scoring at 14 apiece late third quarter following Max Hurleman’s recovery on special teams turnover by Tampa Bay.
Late opportunities included Lew Nichols’ long run setting up what could have been go-ahead points; however Ben Sauls missed his field goal attempt wide right.
A forced fumble by D’Shawn Jamison gave Pittsburgh another chance before turning over on downs themselves near midfield late fourth quarter.
Chase McLaughlin made his final kick from 42 yards as time expired giving Tampa Bay its margin of victory.
Coach Tomlin provided updates postgame: “From a health standpoint, Christian Kuntz had a chest injury that’s being evaluated. Gareth Warren is being evaluated for a concussion. Then we got some other bumps and bruises associated with play many of which worked their way back into the game.”
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