After a slow first half, the Steelers mounted a comeback on the road to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime. Pittsburgh advances to 4-2 on the season.
As always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had.
1. Receivers step up in time
It was no secret that the Steelers were low on wide receivers entering their Week 6 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson are on injured reserve. Ben Skowronek was out. Even DK Metcalf had been dealing with an illness earlier in the week.
And early on against Tampa Bay, those wide receiver issues were painfully obvious. The passing offense was anemic, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not look confident when scanning his options downfield. Rookie Germie Bernard, now that team’s clear WR2, even moved backwards at one point after converting a fourth-down conversion to unintentionally give the Buccaneers the ball back on a turnover on downs.
And beyond Metcalf and Bernard, not a single other Steelers receiver logged a catch — or even a target — in over four quarters of play. Some of that was the game plan, of course, but even that spoke to a lack of confidence in the group’s depth.
However, both Metcalf and Bernard rose to the occasion in the second half, with each receiver finishing the game with a whopping 11 catches. Metcalf went for 93 yards while the rookie logged 87 and a score, reaching the ball into the end zone on what would be the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
And the play only succeeded because of a blocking effort from Metcalf.
While he’s still had some young-player mistakes, and the broken tackles haven’t come as easy against pro competition, Bernard has largely looked like the same possession and yards-after-catch receiver that he was in college. Despite Rodgers famously taking a while to warm up to rookie pass catchers, Bernard looked like a safety blanket against the Buccaneers — and although injuries ahead of him certainly played a role in his ascension up the depth chart, Bernard’s ability and highly-touted football IQ surely played a part as well.
Meanwhile, Metcalf needed to look like a WR1 on Sunday with so many of his teammates missing the game. It took him a while to get going, but he also provided a steady presence on offense, and despite not connecting with Rodgers deep, Metcalf did record five first downs in a game where they were at a premium for the Pittsburgh offense.
Metcalf hasn’t looked like a star this season, but he’s now recorded 90-plus yards in two of the Steelers’ last three games. He may not be a superstar, but he has certainly rebounded from a dismal start to the season.
2. Jamel Dean has a great revenge game
The Steelers secondary certainly had its issues on Sunday, with lapses in coverage contributing to the Buccaneers finding nine first downs through the passing game. However, there was one name Pittsburgh never had to worry about in man or zone: cornerback Jamel Dean.
Dean was still tested plenty in coverage, but the Steelers’ newly-minted CB1 logged a whopping six passes defensed against Tampa Bay. He also capitalized on a poor throw from Tampa Bay’s Jalon Daniels to set up a much-needed late-game score for the Steelers.
Dean was everywhere on the field on Sunday despite being questionable ahead of the game with an ankle issue. Playing against his former team — Dean spent the first seven years of his career in Tampa Bay — the veteran corner was clearly playing with something to prove. He also had to step up for the Steelers, a team still somewhat shorthanded at defensive back following the Joey Porter Jr. trade.
A free agent signing this offseason by Pittsburgh, Dean flew somewhat under the radar due to joining a Pittsburgh secondary with bigger names such as Porter and Jalen Ramsey. But he was widely considered one of, if not the best, corner on the market in 2026, and would’ve been in the running for the CB1 spot on a number of teams.
If Dean can stay healthy, he’ll have a chance to shine in Pittsburgh this season — and the team certainly needs him to rise to the occasion.
3. The Steelers offense still needs an identity
In a win against the Colts last week, there was plenty of talk about the Steelers’ offense finally figuring things out. But against the Tampa Bay defense in Week 6, Pittsburgh showed it still has plenty of work to do.
The late-game heroics of Aaron Rodgers and co. deserve plenty of praise. For as disappointing as the game began, it turned into a thrilling overtime battle with some fireworks on offense by the end. But let’s be honest — even though it ultimately worked out, a game that involves the 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers throwing the football 49 times is not ideal, especially when his yards per attempt were a mere 5.2.
A symptom of that overreliance on the passing game was Rodgers taking five sacks — a number that could’ve been much higher if the veteran quarterback hadn’t shown off some surprising pocket mobility at a few key moments in the game. Even then, several of the sacks Rodgers took were costly.
Meanwhile, despite the run game averaging a healthy four yards per carry, Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle combined for just 21 carries. And the team’s highly-touted tight end duo (although Pat Freiermuth was banged up) combined for just 36 yards and a touchdown on six catches.
As I’ve written a few times this year, the 2026 Steelers offense has looked like Pittsburgh’s late-career Ben Roethlisberger offenses at times, with an aging, future Hall of Fame passer intermittently coming alive to will an otherwise dead passing attack to late-game success.
It’s fun to watch. In many cases, it results in a win. But Steelers fans should know by this point that similarly unsustainable offensive production rarely results in long-term — or postseason — success.
4. The Steelers won despite themselves
There were a lot of positives to take away from the Steelers’ win. But it’s hard to ignore a truly ugly first-half performance even if it all worked out in the end.
Tampa Bay wasn’t exactly a formidable opponent, either. Were the Buccaneers better than their 1-4 record entering the game? Probably. But you’d hope that a playoff-hopeful team like the Steelers wouldn’t suffer as many cold spells as they did against the team at the bottom of the NFC South standings, starting an undrafted rookie at quarterback and generally lacking star talent.
And even when Pittsburgh’s offense and defense did start clicking, the team’s overall decision-making kept getting in the way. Once again, the team consistently struggled to get offensive plays set up on time, with a lack of timeouts unnecessarily complicating a two-minute drill at the end of the first half.
Then, Pittsburgh nearly mismanaged the end of the game, with the Steelers throwing the ball twice while near the goal line in the final two minutes of regulation with the score tied. Both passes were incompletions, letting Tampa Bay hold onto two timeouts with plenty of time left on the clock the ensuing overtime-forcing drive from the Buccaneers.
That eventual game-tying field goal from Tampa Bay was also handled poorly, with Pittsburgh head coach Mike McCarthy calling a timeout while the Buccaneers’ special teams unit was rushing onto the field with a running clock, slowing things down for the opposition. And if McCarthy had wanted to ice the kicker or try to give Aaron Rodgers some time for one last drive in regulation, he should’ve called that timeout much earlier.
That play was the second Steelers’ field goal gaffe of the game, as well. Earlier, Pittsburgh kicker Chris Boswell ended up having to kick a 58-yard field goal twice as the two-minute warning accidentally nullified the first attempt.
Had any of those scenarios contributed to a Pittsburgh loss, we’d be hearing a lot more about the Steelers’ questionable decision making this week. A win makes up for a multitude of sins, but there was still plenty to be concerned about following Sunday’s game.
I dedicated an entire segment to Keeanu Benton’s strong play in last week’s column, but I might’ve been a week early on the defensive tackle’s first real breakout performance this season. Benton logged two tackles for loss and one pass defensed against the Buccaneers, leading a disruptive Steelers front seven that managed 11 tackles for loss in total.Outside of end-of-half drives, the Steelers had six drives of three offensive plays or less: one interception and five three-and-outs. Not great. Somehow, Pittsburgh still won the time of possession battle, but the Steelers won’t be playing the Buccaneers and Jalon Daniels every week.T.J. Watt’s incredible snap timing stood out to me in this game. He might not be as explosive as he was in his prime, but the veteran still has some tricks up his sleeve for getting off the ball in a hurry.Jalen Ramsey’s two-sack game was highlighted by the play that sealed the win for Pittsburgh. Sending such a heavy blitz in overtime — even against a rookie quarterback — was a gutsy call from coordinator Patrick Graham. It’s always good to see those trust-heavy decisions pay off.Nick Herbig also recorded a two-sack performance after failing to log one through the first six games after his big extension. The team’s usage of such an explosive edge rusher has been questionable at times this season, but it was good to see his speed play a role in containing an athletic quarterback such as Daniels.It hasn’t been a great rookie campaign for return specialist Kaden Wetjen, but he had two of his better plays this year — including a 55-yard kick return — called back due to penalty against Tampa Bay. It was a step in the right direction for the young receiver, even if his lack of involvement on offense despite the team’s shorthanded receiver room wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement of the fourth-round pick’s value to the team.The Steelers had at least two instances on Sunday where the team seemed close to blocking a Buccaneers punt. The team seems due for a successful block at some point this season. Massive defensive lineman Yahya Black also got a hand on a field goal attempt even if the ball still powered through the uprights. With a nearly 7-foot wingspan, Black should continue to be an asset on field goal defense units.I saw a good number of plays with both Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren on the field against Tampa Bay. I’m curious to see if this was simply a reflection of a lack of wide receivers, or if this will be something we see more of going forward.While Jaylen Warren’s performance the last few weeks has earned him the Steelers’ RB1 role, it was good to see Dowdle back in the rotation. The latter actually had the more efficient game on the ground in Week 6, rushing seven times for 40 yards. He’s a downhill force who clearly benefitted in his first game playing behind a revamped Pittsburgh O-line.As mentioned earlier, Boswell hitting back-to-back 58-yard field goals to keep the Steelers in the game was an incredible feat, even by modern NFL kicking standards. With yet another miss this season earlier in the game, this hasn’t been the near-perfect year many expected from Boswell, but he obviously still has the goods.The broadcast pointed this out many times, but the Tampa Bay crowd sounded an awful lot like a Pittsburgh one due to the sheer number of Steelers fans in attendance.It wasn’t a perfect game, but this felt like the most consistently disruptive performance we’ve seen from the Steeler defensive front this season — against a solid Tampa Bay offensive line, as well.
Steelers fans will have to set their alarms next Sunday as Pittsburgh will kick off at 9:30 a.m. EST (or 6:30 a.m. PST) against the New Orleans Saints in Paris.
What are your takeaways from Steelers vs. Buccaneers? Agree/disagree with the ones above? Join the Behind the Steel Curtain community and let us know in the comments!