Feats of Strength: Trio of much maligned Steelers comes up huge as Steelers stun Buccaneers

Go ahead. You figure out the 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers. Or the NFL in general.

The 1-4 Steelers entered Sunday’s game against the 3-2 Buccaneers on a four-game losing streak. A week after getting shredded in Buffalo, 38-3, the Steelers secondary dressed just one healthy starter.

Coach Mike Tomlin’s team also had to play without standout linebacker T.J. Watt, defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal and tight end Pat Freiermuth. Then quarterback Kenny Pickett left the game in the third quarter with a concussion.

Oh, and they were playing against Tom Brady. So what did the Steelers do?

Well, of course, they won 20-18.

“Where we are is more than one good day, one good plan, one good winning performance,” Tomlin said. “We’re appreciative of today. Still we understand exactly where we are, and we aren’t running from it.”

Nor should they. But for one week, it’s a pleasant departure for us to acknowledge some “Feats of Strength” along with our “Airing of Grievances.”

And it’s particularly enjoyable to point out a few highlight moments turned in by some Steelers who have struggled this season.

Feats of strenght

Sensational secondary: Maybe the Steelers should consider rebuilding their entire secondary more often.

Coming into the game, the biggest mismatch on the field appeared to be Tom Brady and the Bucs passing attack against a reconfigured Steelers secondary. Of the five defensive backs who normally get the bulk of the playing time, Terrell Edmunds was the only one who was able to suit up. Ahkello Witherspoon, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Levi Wallace and Cameron Sutton were out.

Unheralded signees, practice squad call-ups and reserves such as James Pierre, Josh Jackson, Quincy Wilson and Elijah Riley were pressed into expanded service on defense and special teams.

But Brady and his two main receivers — Mike Evans and Chris Godwin — were held to 243 yards through the air. Brady was also just 25 of 40 with only one touchdown and no interceptions.

“In the state that we’re in, we’re more concerned about ourselves as opposed to who we’re playing,” Tomlin said. “We didn’t want to screw ourselves up. We wanted to handle what we could handle and dress it up to the best of our abilities. So our decision-making process from a schematic standpoint on the back end was geared toward our guys and what they could handle probably more than any other variable.”

Godwin was the only Bucs receiver on the day to top 50 yards. The Penn State product caught six balls for 95 yards.

More Tim Benz:

• Madden Monday: 'If both quarterbacks are available, I would go with Mitch Trubisky'
• First Call: Bucs linebacker offers opinion on Steelers quarterbacks; Gerrit Cole, Clay Holmes keep Yankees alive

Enough to get the job done: Credit the Steelers defensive front as well. While Brady was sacked only twice, they created enough pressure to throw off the future Hall of Famer and keep his throwing lanes clogged.

“You’ve got to rush forward. You blitz too much, he’s going to dice you up. There’s not a coverage he hasn’t seen,” defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said. “I think the best pressure is always up the middle. I thought we applied that today. We have to be cognizant of the rush and work together as a unit. You’re not going to get multiple times to hit Tom Brady. So get pressure up the middle.”

Brady was caught on camera using some salty language while ripping into his offensive line at one point during the game.

Between the secondary and the defensive front, Brady and the Bucs were just 4 for 14 on third-down conversion attempts.

Speaking of Heyward, his brother, Connor, had a huge 45-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter to set up the Steelers’ second touchdown of the game.

Redemption song: Three of the most maligned players on the Steelers this year have been Mitch Trubisky, Devin Bush and Chase Claypool.

Unhappy Steelers supporters booed Trubisky until he got benched for Pickett. The fanbase also seemed to endorse a pair of trade rumors that have come up since the start of the season involving Claypool’s name.

However, those two were the most impactful offensive players in the fourth quarter Sunday. With the Steelers up 13-12, Claypool caught a touchdown from Trubisky to push the lead to eight after Chris Boswell tacked on the extra point. It was the first touchdown catch of the season for a Steelers wide receiver.

.@Mtrubisky10 @ChaseClaypool for six!

#TBvsPIT on FOX pic.twitter.com/kotOXNc9GO

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 16, 2022

After Tampa trimmed the score to 20-18, the Steelers were able to grind out the last four minutes, 38 seconds to secure the victory. Trubisky and Claypool connected on two third-down conversions along the way. The first was a 17-yard gain on third-and-15. The second was a beautifully improvised throw from Trubisky to Claypool down the sideline off a scramble.

.@ChaseClaypool with an incredible grab

#TBvsPIT on FOX pic.twitter.com/JRBMXpk7zH

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 16, 2022

“I was looking to see which direction he was going to go,” Trubisky said. “I knew he was going to get free from that backer. I didn’t know if he was going to break across the middle of the field or come back towards me and just get the first down. He decided to take it up. I tried to put it over the shoulder. It kind of went a little more back shoulder because I was rolling to my left. He made a phenomenal grab, and to get two feet in and keep us on the field was a huge play for us.”

Meanwhile, Bush turned in the biggest defensive play of the game, batting away Brady’s 2-point conversion attempt to Godwin that would have tied the game at 20-20.

Rewarding returns: The Steelers had some good moments on special teams. Chris Boswell kicked a 55-yard field goal that bounced over the crossbar to make the score 10-6 Steelers.

Coordinator Danny Smith’s group also gave a jolt to Acrisure Stadium in the return game. Steven Sims ran the second half kickoff all the way to the Tampa Bay 12-yard line.

.@StevenSimsJr with some space to open the 2nd half! #HereWeGo

: #TBvsPIT on FOX
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/CzoJaimv3n pic.twitter.com/R36byi4PG4

— NFL (@NFL) October 16, 2022

Sims also had a 24-yard punt return. The Steelers offense couldn’t make much out of those plays, though. The unit went three-and-out after the punt return and only got a field goal after the long kick return.

Airing of grievances

Half-baked: The end of the first half was a kerfuffle for the Steelers.

After the defense did a nice job of forcing a three-and-out, the Steelers started a drive at their own 26-yard line with 2:42 remaining. A meager 2-yard run from Najee Harris and two incompletions from Pickett resulted in just 40 seconds of possession time before they punted back to Tampa Bay.

Again, though, credit the defense. They forced another punt, and the Steelers got the ball back once more with 46 seconds left at their own 14-yard line.

What followed was an incompletion on a throw away by Pickett and two runs from Harris that resulted in 1 yard. That ate up all of 23 seconds.

The Bucs got the ball back on their own 49-yard line. All it took was one 15-yard pass from Brady to Godwin to get into field-goal range. Ryan Succop complied with a 54-yard boot, pulling the Bucs to within one point at halftime.

The on-field execution was atrocious. The lack of creativity and clock management was stunning. At just about any other time in his career, Brady would’ve made the Steelers pay for that much worse than he did.

More Steelers:

• Short-handed Steelers keep Brady out of the end zone, beat Bucs to stop skid
• Devin Bush delivers timely play on late 2-point try to help seal Steelers’ win
• Steven Sims calls his shot in producing big returns during 1st full game in role for Steelers
• Steelers QB Kenny Pickett suffers concussion, leaves 1st career home start

On the Dot’: Kevin Dotson had a rough game in the penalty department. He was nailed for two holds and a false start.

In general, the offensive line didn’t provide much push in the run-blocking game. The Steelers averaged only 2.7 yards per carry on 29 attempts for a total of 77 yards. That includes a total of 21 yards rushing from the quarterbacks.

The pass blocking was better than we saw at the start of the season. Trubisky and Pickett were sacked only once each. But Pickett did absorb a blow from Devin White that resulted in his concussion.

Communication breakdown: Given how well the hodgepodge of defensive backs held together, largely, the Steelers communication should be praised. But there did appear to be some problems along the way.

The one sack on Pickett was a disaster of a miscommunication up front. It looked like James Daniels was planning to run out on a screen, and no one picked up Shaquil Barrett. He barreled through the line unblocked, forcing Pickett to scramble, and he was tracked down from behind by Antoine Winfield Jr.

The Steelers seemed to have a lot of those issues when it came to getting personnel on and off the field in the first half, especially on defense and special teams. That was probably the result of working with so many new players because of all of the injuries.