The Bucs may only be 3-2, but their Week 6 matchup against the 1-4 Steelers in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon looks like a mismatch.

Then again, it’s the NFL, and anything can happen. The “any given Sunday” cliché rings as true as ever year after year, and it’s on Tampa Bay players and coaches not to overlook Pittsburgh. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles has certainly been preaching that all week, and third-year safety Antoine Winfield Jr. echoed the sentiment on Wednesday.

“Yeah, [you] never look at any teams like that, you know, it’s the NFL,” Winfield said. “Every team is good, so you have to go in there and take care of business as usual. Can’t look down on any teams in this league.”

Bucs DB Antoine Winfield, Jr. – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs haven’t played their best football yet this season. The offense only just found some of its old self in Week 4, but in Week 5, the unit showed some of the same inconsistency that it did in the team’s first three games. Defensively, Tampa Bay dominated its first three games before faltering in a 41-31 Week 4 loss to the Chiefs. Then, on Sunday against the Falcons, it let up late, allowing 15 second-half points in what turned out to be a closer-than-necessary 21-15 win.

“I feel like the key for us is – something we need to work on – is finishing games,” Winfield said. “Like, last week, we had a fast start, but we didn’t really finish as well as we wanted to. That’s probably the key thing we’re working on this week.”

The Bucs certainly haven’t proven to be world-beaters so far this season. And that’s why they can’t afford to view Sunday’s game as a mismatch, especially given that it’s on the road in Pittsburgh. Tampa Bay has something of a history with losing games it shouldn’t, even since the arrival of Tom Brady in 2020. That year, the Bucs lost a road game against the Bears that they had no business losing.

Last year, it was a road loss against Washington that simply shouldn’t have panned out the way it did. It took a fourth quarter comeback and a touchdown pass to Cyril Grayson Jr. to avoid a near upset by the Jets in New York last December. Avoiding that kind of slip-up this week and getting to 4-2 could be a tougher task than it appears to be.

Steelers Offense Is A Work In Progress, But Bucs Can’t Play Sloppy

Pittsburgh’s offense isn’t going to be mistaken for a juggernaut any time soon. The Steelers are averaging 15.4 points per game, which ranks them No. 30 in the NFL. They’ve already gone through a quarterback change this season, swapping veteran Mitch Trubisky out for rookie Kenny Pickett. Pickett is who the Bucs will see on Sunday, and Bowles had plenty of praise for the 24-year-old on Wednesday.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and ILB Devin White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“He’s a very heady football player,” Bowles said. “He knows where his check-downs are, he has a very good arm, [is good at] reading defenses, going to the outside or the inside. He can get out of the pocket and run pretty [well] if he has to. It looks like he has a good command of the offense, so we expect him to play well.”

Pickett, the No. 20 pick in the 2022 Draft, was a Heisman Trophy finalist last year. He led Pitt to the ACC Championship, throwing for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns to seven interceptions. He also ran for 241 yards and five touchdowns. The Bucs have been known to struggle with rookie quarterbacks in the past. It hasn’t been as prevalent of an issue under Bowles, and the defense will look to make sure those old tendencies don’t resurface on Sunday.

The Steelers’ rookie quarterback is still finding his footing, having thrown for 447 yards, zero touchdowns and four interceptions over the last game and a half since taking over for Trubisky. He does have some weapons around him, as Winfield noted Wednesday.

“They have a good receiving corps,” Winfield said. “They have a good [running] back as well, and so, [we’re] trying to contain them as much as possible. That’s what we’re trying to do this week.”

Najee Harris hasn’t looked like 2021 Najee Harris this year, rushing for 222 yards and one touchdown on 69 carries (3.2 avg.). But he’s still dangerous. Out wide, Pittsburgh has seen flashes from George Pickens, its 2022 second-round pick out of Georgia.

Bucs FS Antoine Winfield, Jr. – Photo by: USA Today

“He has great ball skills. I’ve seen him go up on top of people’s heads a few times this year – so making sure he doesn’t do that to us – that’s my only job,” Winfield said.

Bowles was sure to talk not only about Pickens, who has 17 catches for 250 yards (14.7 avg.) this year, but also mention Chase Claypool, who has disappointed so far with 16 catches for just 129 yards (8.1 avg).

“[Pickens is] a physical receiver, you know. They have two of them – Claypool as well,” Bowles said. “He’s going to jump and try to make great catches, which he’s shown week-in and week-out – that’s why he got drafted so high. He’s tough, he was a tough player in college, he’s tough with the Steelers. They got a good draft pick – they’ve got a potential Pro Bowler on their hands. He’s going to be a handful to deal with.”

On paper, this shouldn’t be a close game. But the Bucs have to make sure the “on paper” matchup plays out on the field. The Steelers have one of the longest-tenured head coaches in the game, Mike Tomlin, looking to get the most out of them. But Tampa Bay has to play to its potential and frustrate Pittsburgh the way the Bills did last week in a 38-3 blowout. If the Buccaneer defense can look a little more like it did over the first three games, it could create opportunities for the offense to come out and do something similar to what Buffalo did.