Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3 Biggest takeaways from loss in Week 3 vs. Steelers
By Nick Sparrow
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football in Week 3. Here are three takeaways from the Bucs lost to the Steelers.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered their first loss of the 2018 season, falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football in the team’s first primetime matchup of the season. After a phenomenal start for the Buccaneers’ offense in the first two weeks of the season, Tampa looked flat and out of sync in the first half of Monday night’s game.
The good news for fans of Tampa Bay is they saw their team fight back and stage what could have been one of the great comebacks in franchise history. However, the team fell just short eventually losing 30-27 in a game decided by the final two drives of the game.
Despite a hugely disappointing loss, Tampa Bay still looks like a force to be reckoned with in the NFC South and there doesn’t seem to be reason for fans to being giving up hope after a single loss.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from Tampa’s loss to the Steelers.
1. The Fitzmagic Is Not Over, But It Has Faded Slightly
After a phenomenal start over the first two games that earned him consecutive NFC Player of the Week awards, Ryan Fitzpatrick fell back to earth in the Buccaneer’s first primetime game of the season on Monday night. Fitzpatrick’s explosiveness that had defined the Tampa offense through the first two weeks turned into careless inaccuracy against the Steelers.
Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in the first half of the game, including a pick-six from his own end zone that felt like the killing blow, despite occurring in just the second quarter.
A large reason for the struggles of Fitzpatrick and the Tampa offense as a whole was the Steelers’ ability to seemingly take away the deep ball from the team. In the first two weeks of the season, Fitzpatrick was completing 78.7 percent of his passes while gaining an average of 13.4 yards per attempt.
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Against Pittsburgh on Monday, Fitzpatrick completed just 60 percent, although he still averaged 13.7 yards per completed pass. It is important to note, however, that the significant majority of Fitzpatrick’s production came in the second half after the team was down heavy.
The good news for Buccaneers fans is that Fitzpatrick didn’t seem to collapse after a terrible start. Over the course of his career, including the infamous six-interception game as a New York Jet, NFL fans have seen Fitzpatrick get frustrated by slow starts and try to force more passes which, of course, only leads to more turnovers.
On Monday night, Fitzpatrick was able to come out after halftime and look significantly better, specifically on the team’s first drive in the fourth quarter which led to a spectacular touchdown by Chris Godwin.
Despite Fitzpatrick improving his play in the second half, this team simply isn’t good enough to overcome a dismal start of a game. Last week, I argued that Jameis Winston had lost his starting job due to Fitzpatrick’s superb play. If Fitzpatrick cannot limit his turnovers, then the starting job becomes cloudier.
Winston’s biggest problem both on and off the field is his decision making and if Fitzpatrick is showing the same issue on the field, Winston probably has a higher upside as a starting quarterback. Fitzpatrick needs to show elite, veteran decision making to keep the starting job as the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.