The Pittsburgh Steelers withstood a second half rally from Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Buccaneers to get their first win of the season with a 30-27 victory in Tampa Bay on Monday night.
Ben Roethlisberger slipped out of a tackle by Gerald McCoy and flipped a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster for 18 yards to all but seal the win with just over two minutes to play. Pittsburgh watched a 20-point halftime lead cut to just three with 5:43 left to play. However, the Buccaneers were unable to move the ball on their one last chance on offense and the Tampa Bay defense couldn’t get the ball back.
Roethlisberger completed 30 of 38 passes for 353 yards and three touchdowns with one interception against the Buccaneers. Meanwhile, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 411 yards on 30 of 50 passing with three touchdowns, but his three interceptions were a part of four Tampa Bay turnovers that created too big of a hole to dig out from.
According to the Buccaneers, Fitzpatrick became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 400 yards in three straight games. While Jameis Winston is set to return from suspension this week, Fitzpatrick’s play may keep him in the starting lineup.
The Buccaneers took an early lead before the Steelers got rolling. Roethlisberger was intercepted by safety Justin Evans to give Tampa Bay a shortened field to work with. Five plays later, Fitzpatrick connected with Cameron Brate on a 4-yard score to give the Buccaneers the lead.
The Buccaneers then struggled to slow down Roethlisberger as Pittsburgh took control of the game.
A 75-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Vance McDonald – along with a brutal stiff arm of safety Chris Conte – got the Steelers on the board, though the extra point by Chris Boswell was missed leaving Tampa Bay with a 7-6 lead. A 38-yard Boswell field goal would put Pittsburgh on top, 9-7, early in the second quarter.
A Chris Godwin fumble recovered by the Steelers set up a quick scoring drive as Roethlisberger connected with Antonio Brown for a 27-yard touchdown to extend their lead to 16-7.
The Buccaneers survived two Fitzpatrick interceptions without yielding any points, but a third interception was returned for a 10-yard touchdown by Bud Dupree to grab a 23-7 lead.
After a 21-yard Chandler Catanzaro field goal trimmed the lead to 23-10, Roethlisberger led a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive capped with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Switzer over the final 1:15 of the first half to take a 20-point lead into the break.
Tampa Bay began to chip away at the lead from there. Catanzaro made a 28-yard field goal midway through the third quarter to cut the lead to 30-13. Fitzpatrick hit Godwin for a 4-yard touchdown after a 12-play, 63-yard drive to trim the lead to 10 points. A nine-play, 92-yard drive was capped by a 24-yard pass from Fitzpatrick to Mike Evans to make it a 30-27 game with just under six minutes remaining.
However, the Buccaneers would go three-and-out on their final possession and tried to get the ball back after punting away. The throw to Smith-Schuster and a 17-yard run by James Conner closed the door on the Buccaneers.