TAMPA, Fla. -- The rains fell and fell hard in the few hours before the Steelers played the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium, putting a damper on what appeared to be a heck of a party in the parking lots outside.
But those rains weren't enough to slow the Steelers, as they rode a nearly perfect first half to a 30-27 win over the previously unbeaten hosts to earn their first victory of the 2018 season at 1-1-1.
How good was the first half for the Steelers?
After falling behind 7-0 midway through the first quarter, they outscored Tampa Bay, 30-3, over the final 21 minutes and change. Ben Roethlisberger would complete 21 of 25 passes in the first two quarters for 273 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. And the defense forced four turnovers, with Bud Dupree's interception return for a touchdown with 2:50 remaining bringing a 23-7 lead.
"I thought our defense played awesome," said Roethlisberger, who finished 30 of 38 fo 353 yards. "They were creating turnovers, giving us some short fields, making some stops. It was fun getting them involved. I told the team afterward, 'That was a total team win. That's what Steelers football is about.' "
At least that is what the formula is meant to be. The Steelers know they don't have a shutdown defense. But they want to have one that is opportunistic.
The coaching staff simplified things in this one. And with Joe Haden back at one corner position after sitting out last week's loss to Kansas City, Coty Sensabaugh and Artie Burns rotated at the other corner spot.
"This gave us a chance to get our confidence back," admitted slot corner Mike Hilton, who suffered a hyperextended elbow in the game but expects to be OK moving forward. "The first two games, we struggled. This win in a primetime game is big for us. We didn't have a lot of calls. We felt confident in the scheme we had. We took out a lot of different things and just played ball."
Despite taking a 30-10 lead into the half, the Steelers allowed Tampa Bay to creep back into it in the second half. The Bucs added a field goal in the third quarter when the Steelers came up with a stop on third-and-goal from the 10. But then the Bucs added a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the first a 4-yard strike to Chris Godwin and the second a 24-yarder to Mike Evans with 5:49 remaining. Evans caught six passes for 137 yards.
With the game on the line, however, the Steelers came up with a defensive stop after punting the ball back to Tampa Bay with 3:02 remaining, forcing three-straight incompletions.
Roethlisberger found JuJu Smith-Schuster for this 18-yard gain on second-and-10 with 2:31 left in the game to cap off a nine-catch, 116-yard game for him:
James Conner then ripped off a 17-yard run to allow Roethlisberger to take a knee three times to end the game. Though the Steelers had trouble establishing the run early in the game, gaining 13 yards on his first nine carries, Conner got things going a little more in the fourth quarter and finished with 61 yards on 15 carries.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE GAME BALLS
My top three performers:
1. Ben Roethlisberger
Roethlisberger again started slowly with a three-and-out on the Steelers' first series and an interception on the second. But he went 30-of-38 for 353 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
2. Vance McDonald
McDonald's 75-yard touchdown catch and run, which included a monstrous stiff-arm on safety Chris Conte, ignited the Steelers' offense. He finished with four receptions for 112 yards and a score, his first regular-season 100-yard game.
3. Bud Dupree
The much-maligned outside linebacker had just three tackles, but he added a sack, an interception return for a touchdown -- with an assist from Dan McCullers hitting Fitzpatrick's arm as he threw -- and three quarterback hits to tie Stephon Tuitt for the team lead.
THE INJURY UPDATE
• Mike Hilton, cornerback, suffered a hyperextended right elbow and will have an MRI. Tomlin described the injury as 'significant,' but Hilton said he expects to be OK.
• G David DeCastro (hand), RT Marcus Gilbert (hamstring) and S Morgan Burnett (groin) did not dress for the Steelers.
THE SCHEDULE
THE GOOD
McDonald's stiff-arm is the stuff of legend.
With the Steelers trailing 7-0 and facing a third-and-10, he caught an intermediate crossing pass with only Conte to beat. Then, he did this:
"Just punish him," McDonald said of his mindset there. "Inflict as much force as I can on him."
He did that and then ran untouched the final 50 yards for a 75-yard touchdown.
The Steelers scored on their next two offensive possessions after that, but it was all sparked by McDonald's play.
Roethlisberger said he saw when McDonald was crossing the formation on that play that it could be a big one.
"I didn't get to see the actual stiff-arm," Roethlisberger said. "When they went cross motion, I knew Vance was going to be open. I was kind of saying, 'Hurry Vance, turn your head.'"
And once McDonald put Conte on his back, he knew he had nothing between him and the end zone.
"He just dumped me the ball," McDonald said. "It's not often safeties or corners try to take me up high, so I took advantage."
THE BAD
The Steelers were again heavily penalized, drawing 13 for 155 yards. Tampa Bay had nine for 80 yards.
"We can't continue to do that," said linebacker Jon Bostic, who had a team-high six tackles and a sack. "We need to look at that and get it cleaned up."
The Steelers now lead the NFL with 37 penalties through three weeks.
Chris Boswell also had another tough night, missing his second PAT of the season along with a 47-yard field goal attempt that hit the right upright. Boswell, who went to the Pro Bowl last season, did make a field goal from 38 yards and is now 1 of 4 on the season.
"I'm not," Mike Tomlin said when asked if he was concerned about Boswell's misses.
THE PLAY
Leading 23-10 after Tampa Bay kicked a field goal with 1:15 remaining in the first half, the Steelers got the ball back at their own 25 with three timeouts remaining.
Roethlisberger quickly directed the team down the field, completing 7 of 8 passes and hitting five different receivers on the drive, including Ryan Switzer for this pretty 1-yard touchdown with six seconds remaining in the half to extend the lead to 30-10.
Switzer, who had just one reception entering the game, wasn't the top option on that play, but it sure looked like it.
"I was a target," Switzer said, stressing the 'a' when I asked. "We got the look we wanted. Ben put it right where he needed and we came away with seven points."
Those points were huge and wound up being the eventual game-winning margin.
"Anytime you can go down at the end of a half like that and score, it's huge," Roethlisberger said. "We really love to do that, and it turned out to be a big drive."
THE OTHER SIDE
Fitzpatrick had been as hot as any quarterback in the league coming into this game, but threw three first-half interceptions. He did rally the troops in the second half and finished 30 of 50 for 411 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.
That marked his third consecutive 400-yard game to open the season, the first time that has happened in the NFL.
"Tough to turn it over four times," Fitzpatrick said. "And really, three interceptions on me. Can't have them. Hard to win a game that way. And we obviously dug ourselves a pretty big hole there."
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Steelers team page for everything from this game.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers at Buccaneers, Tampa Bay, Sept. 24, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS