Steelers don’t let first win get away
After building big lead they must hold on in scoreless second half to survive ‘FitzMagic.’
TAMPA, Fla. — In desperate need of a win, the Pittsburgh Steelers capped a tumultuous week with a 3027 win 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,” said Ben Roethlisberger, who threw for 353 yards and three touchdowns, with all but 80 yards of that production coming while the two-time defending AFC North champions were building a 30-10 halftime lead.
“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.”
Vance McDonald scored on a 75-yard pass play and finished with four catches for 112 yards. Antonio 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. JuJu Smith-Schuster had nine catches for 116 yards.
The Pittsburgh defense did its part, too, forcing four turnovers, including three first-half interceptions of Ryan Fitzpatrick, the 35year-old journeyman who threw for 819 yards and eight touchdowns in two victories to begin the season.
Fitzpatrick, the only player in NFL history to open a season with consecutive games with more than 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 tossed fourth-quarter touchdown passes of four yards to Chris Godwin and 24 yards to Mike Evans to rally the Bucs (2-1) within 3027 with 5:43 remaining.
“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,” said Fitzpatrick, who finished 30 for 50 for 411 yards and three touchdowns.
Roethlisberger was 30 for 38 with one interception.