The Buccaneers’ swarming defense, which fell apart in overtime, was not enough to overcome their terribly anemic offense today at The Licht House.
The Jalon Daniels hype died a second-half death, as did the Buccaneers’ flimsy playoff hopes. Tampa Bay choked away a 16-3 fourth-quarter lead.
Has 1-5 ever felt so rotten in Tampa?
That’s four consecutive home losses for the Bucs.
Daniels, the undrafted rookie, again looked NFL-ready. He ate sacks early but settled in and moved the team with sound decisions and his legs. But before halftime, Daniels threw short to Emeka Egbuka and then long to him in the end zone. Then the undrafted QB came out confident in the second half before wilting considerably late in the game.
Daniels’ two fourth-quarter interceptions handed the Steelers life, including former Bucs Super Bowl cornerback Jamel Dean dealing the crushing pick.
There is no quarterback controversy if Baker Mayfield is 100 percent healthy next Sunday.
As for the Tampa Bay defense, it struggled a bit against the run today, but the tight coverage seen in Dallas largely returned and a ferocious pass rush emerged that helped Rodgers look impotent through the first half. Joe applauds the Todd Bowles defense. The Steelers had averaged 29-plus points in their past three games, and the Bucs made their offense look ugly today.
David Walker notched his third and fourth sacks of the season and wreaked havoc. Why he doesn’t play more remains a mystery.
Al-Quadin Muhammad, Rueben Bain and blitzing nickel cornerback Keionte Scott all scored their first sacks of the season.
Why the Bucs opted to be aggressive at the end of the first half and throw rather than run the ball to kill the clock and prevent the Steelers from getting the ball back is unclear. And it’s been under Joe’s skin since it happened. Tampa Bay ran three plays for 1 yard and killed only 24 seconds.
The Steelers then went 43 yards on 9 plays in 83 seconds to kick a field goal entering halftime. In many ways, that time management mistake was the ballgame.
Little things turn into big things.
The Bucs are a bad team. (Go Rays!)