Metallica has a song called “The Thing That Should Not Be.” This title fits exactly what happened in Tampa today as the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied to win 26-19 in overtime. What should not have been was this victory – which no one will apologize for – but it was so ugly. It was literally three quarters of abysmal football followed by clock management gaffes that made the Washington Commanders blush.
I’m a big believer in that you do what you do. If Jaylen Warren and the running game have been your bread butter then stay with it. So what if Tampa Bay’s run defense was one of the best in football coming in? Make them prove that. Warren had six touches in the first half. That’s criminal. Instead, Mike McCarthy chose to come out in the shotgun and do anything but get Warren involved.
The Steelers’ defense was far from perfect but they kept the Steelers in the game. Jaylen Ramsey, Keannu Benton and Jamel Dean all had huge days and Nick Herbig recorded his first two sacks of the season. Dean and rookie Daylen Everette had interceptions while Ramsey opened and closed the game with sacks of rookie QB Jalon Daniels.
Credit where it’s due. Aaron Rodgers finally seemed to get on the same page with D.K. Metcalf and Germie Bernard who both had double digit receptions. The offensive line struggled throughout especially Max Iheanachor but when it mattered, the unit came up huge. The overtime drive was a thing of beauty as they wore down a tired Bucs’ defense.
And now to that clock thing…
With the game tied late, Dean corralled his interception and took it down to the three-yard line. The Bucs had two timeouts and the clock was under two minutes to go. Common sense suggests three runs which would force Tampa to burn the final two timeouts. Then you kick the short field goal leaving them with little time. Instead, McCarthy called a play action rollout where Rodgers threw incomplete to Darnell Washington. After a run and a Bucs’ TO Rodgers threw a brutal fade route to Metcalf which was incomplete. Chris Boswell kicked the field goal but too much time was left. Tampa got into field goal position and tied it.
Let’s go back to when Art Rooney II made the decision to hire McCarthy. He wanted a veteran coach and which is fine but how does a guy with so much experience mishandle the clock like that? Doesn’t Rodgers have to know better too? Rather than thread a needle to Washington and risk the clock stopping, why not just get some yards and hit the deck? The clock runs and the Bucs have to burn a timeout. The third down fade to Metcalf was as predictable as the sun coming up tomorrow and it was made worse by a poor throw.
The Steelers no doubt boarded their plane tonight grinning like the Cheshire Cat. They know they stole a game they really shouldn’t have won but that’s today NFL. One minute it’s fade to black and the next it’s hit the lights.
