Steelers Must Overcome Off-Field Distractions Versus Buccaneers

The Pittsburgh Steelers visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football in what is for the Steelers a must-win situation if they hope to have a successful 2018 regular season after opening the season with a tie and loss the first two weeks.

Added to the pressure of winning for the first time is the controversy surrounding the team over Le’Veon Bell one of the top skills position player on the team and in the NFL.

Pittsburgh will be facing Tampa Bay quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who has led the Buccaneers to two straight wins to begin the regular season.

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Steelers top running back Bell remains a holdout, while Antonio Brown the team’s star wide receiver created quite a stir for not showing up one day after the Steelers loss at home to Kansas City. Ramon Foster one of the Steelers offensive linemen said off field distractions needed to die.

The Bucs have beaten a pair of playoff teams from last season with back-up Fitzpatrick, who is the first quarterback to start the season with two straight games of throwing for over 400 yards and four touchdowns in each.

Despite not having Bell in the offensive backfield and Brown’s one day walkout, the biggest issues for Pittsburgh are on the defense. After squandering a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter in its tie to open the season with Cleveland, the Steelers were beaten badly on the defensive side of the field by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who passed for 325 yards and six TDS.

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Steelers veteran Ben Roethlisberger came back well from a poor Week 1 to throw for 452 yards with three touchdowns. JuJu Smith-Schuster caught 13 passes and one touchdown in the loss to the Chiefs.

Fitzpatrick was only supposed to fill in for Jameis Winston while the star quarterback served his three-game suspension, but has thrown for 819 yards and eight touchdowns and would be hard to replace once Winston returns next week.

Wide receiver DeSean Jackson has caught nine passes for 274 yards and three TDS in the first two games, said how can you replace a quarterback that is playing hot. Mike Evans has 17 receptions for 230 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead all Bucs receivers in number of receptions.

Look for the Steelers defense to step up and Roethlisberger to come up big on the offensive side to lead Pittsburgh to a win.