The Pittsburgh Steelers faithful felt a variety of emotions Sunday during the team’s Week 6 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For much of the afternoon, it didn’t look like the Steelers would win. Then, they arguably should have won at the end of regulation.
Instead, the game went into overtime.
During the extra session, the Steelers offense put together perhaps their best drive of the contest. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers led the team on a 12-play, 70-yard touchdown to give the Steelers their biggest lead of the day. The drive also left only 3:15 on the clock for the Buccaneers offense.
Rodgers expressed that he obviously would have preferred to win at the end of regulation when the offense had the ball at the Buccaneers 3-yard line in a tie game and only 1:38 remaining in regulation. Or better yet, play well enough to have a lead entering the fourth quarter.
But the Steelers faced the adversity of their first overtime game this season and came out successful.
“The thing is, these are the most important moments for us as a team to grow. Because this is a trajectory-altering win today,” Rodgers told reporters. “To go 3-3, we’ve got the Paris trip, that’s just not what you want to do.”
Instead of falling back to the .500 mark, the Steelers have won two in a row for the first time this season.
They also beat a team that Rodgers suggested his club couldn’t afford to lose to.
“But to be 4-2 now, to win our first road game, to beat a team that we should have beat. There’s no two-ways around it. You gotta beat teams like that if you want to get to where we want to get. It didn’t look like a win for a long time.
“So, I’m proud of our guys. The defense kept us in it, and the offense finally made a couple plays.”
After scoring on the first possession in overtime, the Steelers defense forced a turnover on downs. The Steelers defeated the Buccaneers 26-19.
Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers Gets Honest About Comeback Win vs. Buccaneers
That assessment from Rodgers came at the end of an answer where he shared the decision-making behind some of the play calls at the end of regulation. Social media heavily criticized Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy for calling two passing plays inside the 5-yard line in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.
Rodgers supported those play calls, explaining that execution, not the calls, were the reason why the Steelers didn’t score the touchdown to potentially win at the end of regulation. The quarterback then provided the positive spin on what the overtime victory could mean.
For much of Sunday, the Steelers offense didn’t look particularly good. But it did in overtime, which is what mattered most Sunday — thanks to the defense keeping the team close enough for the offense to erase a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Clearly, the veteran signal-caller is already looking at the standings too. That’s the other reason why the victory is potentially so meaningful.
With the win coupled with the Cleveland Browns beating the Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers are in a 3-way tie at the top of the AFC North after Week 6.
Rodgers Takes Slight Dig at Buccaneers After Close Win
There were actually quite a few takeaway points from that honest assessment of the win that Rodgers offered. The last of which was the potential dig he sent toward the Buccaneers when he called them a team the Steelers need to beat.
Rodgers isn’t wrong. That’s why I would call the answer more honest than an actual insult. Even on the road, Super Bowl contenders have to beat an undrafted rookie quarterback if they are actually going to contend.
The Steelers did that Sunday, so they, Rodgers included, can be proud of that. But as the quarterback suggested himself throughout a lot of his answers, it was probably closer than it should have been.
In many ways, the Steelers should have lost. They had only 144 yards and three points in the first three quarters. Before Sunday, the Steelers hadn’t erased a 13-point deficit in a regular season game since the first year of the Bill Cowher era.
That’s not necessarily a great sign for Rodgers’s team going forward. But the Steelers can be pleased that they did win and kept pace in the very competitive AFC North.
Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers Offers Very Blunt Take After Narrow OT Win vs. Buccaneers