‘Big Ben’ strikes three (TDS) as Steelers’ drama times out
TAMPA, Fla. — It was not the way Ben Roethlisberger would draw it up, but the Pittsburgh Steelers will take it.
In desperate need of a win, the two-time defending AFC North champions capped a tumultuous week in which star receiver Antonio Brown made headlines by shouting at an assistant coach on the sidelines and getting into a spat on social media with a 30-27 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
The Steelers (1-1-1) built a 20-point lead and held on for their first win despite not scoring after halftime.
“I don’t feel like we had the ball much in the second half. Three possessions maybe. We need to do a better job putting it away,” Roethlisberger said.
“At the end of the day we just wanted to get out of here with a win,” cornerback Joe Haden added. “It wasn’t a good-looking win at all. They made a lot of plays on us, but at the end we made some big stops.”
Roethlisberger threw for
353 yards and three touchdowns, with all but 80 yards of that production coming while the Steelers were building a 30-10 halftime lead.
Vance Mcdonald scored on a 75-yard pass play and finished with four catches for 112 yards. Brown and Ryan Switzer also had first-half TD receptions for Pittsburgh, which had been winless through two games for the first time since 2013.
The Pittsburgh defense did its part, too, forcing four turnovers, including three firsthalf interceptions of Ryan Fitzpatrick, the 35-year-old journeyman who threw for 819 yards and eight touchdowns in two victories to begin Tampa Bay’s season.
Fitzpatrick, the only player in NFL history to open a season with consecutive games with over 400 yards passing and four touchdowns, tried his best to create “Fitzmagic” again in his third start in place of the suspended Jameis Winston.
He led a long field goal drive in the third quarter, and then tossed fourth-quarter TD passes of 4 yards to Chris Godwin and 24 yards to Mike Evans to rally the Bucs (2-1) within 30-27 with 5:43 remaining.
“We obviously dug ourselves a pretty big hole,” Fitzpatrick said. “The great thing to me coming out of this game is again the belief in the huddle in the second half and guys not wavering and not blinking and having the feeling the whole time that we were going to come back and win the game.”
The Bucs got the ball back with just over three minutes left; however, the Steelers forced a punt and Roethlisberger ran out the clock.
Fitzpatrick, who was sacked three times, finished 30 of 50 for 411 yards and three TDS.
Buccaneers at Bears (-2½), 10 a.m. Sunday; Ravens at Steelers (-3), 5:20 p.m. Sunday.
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