“It Was A Bad Mistake”

October 19th, 2022

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett is seen finishing his follow-through on Pittsburgh’s opening drive Sunday. Devin White kept coming and hit Pickett and knocked him to the ground.

Some blame offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich for the Bucs’ miserable loss to the miserable Steelers. Others rail on the 89-yard special teams screwup and the horrible third-down defense.

Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles seemed to have his strongest words for his team lacking toughness and for a Devin White blunder on the opening drive.

The Bucs sent six pass rushers at Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett on 3rd-and-6 and were successful near midfield. He rushed a throw under pressure and it had no chance of being caught. Here comes the punter. But no! Buccaneer savior linebacker hit Pickett long after the ball was released. First down Steelers on the roughing-the-passer call.

Bowles didn’t like that one bit, so he said last night on the Buccaneers Radio Network. The disdain in his voice was evident.

“We know we can’t do that, especially with the sensitivity of touching the quarterback these days. It was a bad mistake,” Bowles said of White.

It’s not White’s first roughing the passer call, and this one was so senseless. The Steelers finished the drive with the first passing touchdown of Pickett’s career, a huge happening in their 20-18 win.

Yeah, you could make the case White cost the Bucs the game, but that’s silly. It was an all-phases loss. The Bucs made a ton of mistakes. And Joe still cringes at the Bucs having first downs at the Steelers’ 18, 13, 9 and 4 yard lines without scoring a touchdown.

35 Responses to ““It Was A Bad Mistake””

  1. Panhandle Buc Says:

    White needs to play smarter, but that was not the reason we lost! #1 blame goes to the play calling with a close second being our atrocious 3rd down D!! O-line play, ST coverage, and of course Brady’s off throw’s all contributed too! Ryan Succup is about the only player absolved from this loss!

  2. BA’s Red Pen Says:

    Brains Leftout gets my vote. Bring back the old man ASAP.

  3. Upstate NY BUC Says:

    Still pissed of today about that play!! that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Same type of game at Washington last year, lackluster, looked bored, lost… unfortunately Sunday is kind of a must win!!! Go Bucs.

  4. Nutterbuccer Says:

    This team is bad right now and it’s unacceptable. The offense is downright pathetic. The defense allowed 4 conversions on third down over 10 yards in the 4th. To include one where lavonte David stood there and called a timeout and did nothing. This is suppose to be a veteran team. They picked up right where they left off by blundering the final play of the rams game on defense. They haven’t learned a thing from that game. And at what point to we point the blame at brady on offense. He has been horrendous. Him and Leftwich combined.

  5. Kentucky Buc Says:

    Time to move on

  6. Thisisouryear!!! Says:

    He’s still trying to find something to keep him interested in the game. Pushing the QB down made it fun for him.

  7. Josh Says:

    In my opinion, the single play–even with all the first down runs–that lost the game was not calling a timeout prior to Vita Vea running off the field, with the mass substitution. It was obvious through the TV there would be a penalty, the defense was not ready when the ball was snapped. Reminded me of last year’s Rams game at the end with the defense caught off-guard.

  8. Bucobill99 Says:

    No savior thats for sure

  9. FortMyersDave Says:

    I agree with Upstate NY: every year the Bucs lay an egg to a bad team; last year it was Washington, the year before it was the Bears fiasco and this year a loss to a likely 4-13 Pittsburgh club. Problem is, the loss kind of makes the Carolina game a must win as the Ravens are on the horizon and you know that the Bucs are kind of famous for choking under the national spotlight on Thursdays……

  10. SPARKY Says:

    Yes Joe, the 4 stops in the red zone where we couldn’t get a yard. We weren’t that far away from a 30 some point game. Seems like Succup was kicking extra points all game. Figure out how to get us a yard on 3rd down boys! How about that 3rd and 1 play the Eagles use ? Just replace Brady with Ko. I think they said the other night that the Eagles hadn’t been stopped yet using that play.

  11. SlyPirate Says:

    Culture is the personality of its leadership.

    TB12 doesn’t care and it’s spreading throughout the entire team. Bowles isn’t a strong enough leader to alter the culture shift.

    White’s hit was a “who cares” moment.

  12. Tap-Out Says:

    That play…. It was a (flop) …just keeping it 100%!

  13. BigMacAttack Says:

    White is an arrogant idiot for committing that penalty and then got burned a few plays later for the TD. Coach should have came upside White’s head, or called his mom to come do it. Seriously way beyond selfish. Again this team isn’t going playing like a single unit, just a bunch of rugged individualists. And many take plays off. The word of the day is “Loaf”.

  14. Infomeplease Says:

    Let’s face it the defense stayed home, special teams fell asleep, BL called a mediocre game, and Brady was not Brady!!! Hard to win a game with all that going on at the same time!!

    TIME TO REGROUP!! LFG!!!!!!!

  15. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    D white turning into Kwon & LVD looks like he has lost a step; but not throwing 4 fades to Mike Evans in the end zone is the main reason the bucs lost and of course that left guard that is GARBAGE….

  16. Craig Says:

    D. White seems to come up with three splash plays a game.

    Regretfully, two of those benefit our opponent because of an oops.

    Even worse is that it happens again and again, brainlessly.

  17. Biff Barker Says:

    Devin White has been an ongoing liability. I blame Bowles .

  18. Bruce Gibson Says:

    Joe……3rd and one, 4th and one…..

    VITA!!!

    An unstopable running back in high school.

    Remember The Fridge

  19. Hodad Says:

    White followed up that penalty by completely losing Harris on his TD catch. Najee had time to catch the ball, look around, and trott into the endzone untouched. White could be seen lost, hands in the air wondering, how did that happen?

  20. Bucs since 76 Says:

    White should never be assigned coverage just put him up by the line and let him pick his spot to either run blitz or rush the passer.

  21. Anonymous Says:

    That RTP cost us the game and just continues to show Devin’s Whites severe lack of maturity on the team.

  22. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    Bruce Gibson…..see that is thinking outside the box…love it…..D White was a D-1 RB in HS too

  23. Richard Says:

    It’s about time the JBF followers are seeing that 45 is no more than an average NFL LB….yes, he’s athletic etc but he’s still terrible in coverage, can’t shake off blocks, has ball carrier get extra YAC due to poor tackling ( shoulder tackling in particular), constantly overruns plays and doesn’t play smart. He’s quite possibly the most overrated player in the league….the film doesn’t lie!

  24. Richard Says:

    Oh, I forgot…cudos to Josh for realizing that one of the worst blunders made was not calling time out when Vea was trying to get off the field….it was total confusion and a huge factor in the outcome. Anyone notice that Tomlin was smart enough to call a TO when they were in the same circumstance??? Out coached…again!!!

  25. Zoocomics Says:

    I know most of the time the coaches and players say that one play or player and/or play doesn’t cost a team game, but the way this team has played this year, it seems it’s always been a play or 2 that is the difference of if we have won or lost.

    Most coaches say most games are decided by one score or less, it’s not called a game of inches for nothing. White’s roughing the passing call was so stupid on him, given the fact that the sports media spent a week beating up the referees for the call on Brady during the Atlanta game, you’d think we would have been extra cautious with hitting the QB, and yet his bone headed play wasn’t even difficult to call, it was so ridiculous a blind man could’ve called that penalty.

    And back to my first point, any stop of one of the (3) 3rd and 15+ yd conversions that Trubisky made could’ve been the difference with Tampa getting one more possession to score. This team under Arians/Bowles has ALWAYS lacked the discipline that teams like the Chiefs and even the Patriots have perfected, where they don’t beat themselves. Our success is predicated on having hall of fame talent on both sides of the ball, voided of that type of talent and the result is the Pittsburg game.

  26. Tiny Dungy Says:

    Bruce

  27. captivajim Says:

    White has been , and IS a problem .. last yr he cost us the first game against the aints with his3 personnel fouls . his lack of smarts & discipline will not change for the better

    trade his mouth to the Bears for Quinn

  28. JeffreyLane77 Says:

    I feel the defense would play with more intensity if they had a good game plan. One that keeps them away of unwinnable match ups. Like Devin White covering Cooper Kupp. Or the blitz happy headcoach calling a blitz in an obvious run situation. Then not calling a blitz in an obvious 3rd and looong situation.

  29. firethecannons Says:

    devin white needs to be traded immediately after this season is over of even this week and needs to be questioned extensively by Joe and Ira on what he was thinking as he was pushing kenny picket to the ground senselessly. perhaps other players might take notice also.

  30. firethecannons Says:

    #dumpdevinwhite

    devin white is the most over rated player in the league. The sooner we trade this fool the better!

    #dumpdevinwhite

  31. Davenport Says:

    White’s day of reckoning is coming. He thinks that he’s worth far, far more than he is. Too inconsistent, too many holes in his game.

    The Bucs shouldn’t pay him. Just let him move on and take the compensatory pick from the league.

  32. Leopold Stotch Says:

    This may be an overreaction, but I am just not confident in spending big money on a MLB who cannot cover well outside of three post season games, is really only effective blitzing, but still somehow manages to over pursue and whiff on tackles. Really all he has going for him is speed. I’m sure we could find someone else with speed… The penalties are obnoxious and completely unnecessary and honestly after his “bored” comments I’m about done with him. What kind of player, much less a freaking captain says they’re bored? Inexcusable and honestly should have the C ripped off his chest…

    Completely off topic, but I saw it mentioned on here about Mike Evans. The lack of redzone targets is abhorrent and needs to be fixed yesterday. I could call out, “Watch this, it’s a touchdown to Mike right here” and be right 90% of the time. Now, I’ve been wrong way too many times.

  33. garro Says:

    Whites lack of self discipline led to half of the Steelers points. 3 of his boneheaded plays led to 10 points. film don’t lie. First TD and First FG!
    Greg Says:
    October 18th, 2022 at 7:59 am

    Devin White is the defensive version of Jameis.

  34. Sumosam Says:

    White’s play set the tone for the entire game.

  35. Listnfrmafar Says:

    Yet he never sits him? How about you coach instead of throw ayers under the bus after the fact. At least BA would have slapped him in the head. You sit him a series or two and he gets mad and shows you why you shouldn’t sit him. Earn some freaking respect. Sit Vea to and maybe he’ll start playing.