The Tampa Bay Buccaneers head into Week 6 with no room to waste. A win over the Pittsburgh Steelers would push them to 2-4 and keep them in the NFC South chase. A loss, though, would drop them to 1-5 and leave them staring at a hole that could be too deep to climb out of, even in a weak division.
If Tampa Bay is going to spring the upset and stack a second straight win, three players have to deliver.
Alex Anzalone is one of them, and the matchup could get uncomfortable quickly. Pittsburgh brings a dangerous tight end pair in Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, and Anzalone is likely to spend plenty of passing downs lined up against one of them.
If the Steelers did their prep the right way, they’ll test him often. His PFF coverage grade sits 71st out of 72 qualifying linebackers this season, and while he’s come a long way from a brutal opening two games, coverage still looks like the area where opponents can attack.
Tampa Bay needs his best outing of the year here, because if he becomes a soft spot, a veteran like Aaron Rodgers will keep going back to it.
On the other side of the ball, Jalon Daniels has a chance to author a moment he’ll remember for a long time. The undrafted rookie would love nothing more than to come away with a head-to-head win over future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers.
To give the Bucs that shot, he has to look like the quarterback who handled the Cowboys last week. Daniels went 19-of-25 for 189 yards and a touchdown, and he protected the football.
That’s the formula again: distribute the ball, take what the defense gives him and stay away from turnovers. If he does that, Tampa Bay gives itself a real path to the win.
Then there’s Irving, who gave the offense a jolt last week and powered Tampa Bay to its first victory of the season. The bar is even higher now.
He’s coming off a career-high 165 rushing yards against the Cowboys and their bottom-ranked rushing defense, and the Steelers will be a much tougher assignment. Still, the Buccaneers need another strong day from him if they want to control the clock, keep pressure off their rookie quarterback and let the defense breathe.
In Other News...
Buccaneers Face A Huge Week 6 Test After That Cowboys Breakthrough
The Buccaneers Week 6 meeting with Pittsburgh comes with a little more intrigue than usual after Tampa Bays breakthrough against Dallas, a result that helped sharpen the conversation around where this team stands in the NFC race. The weekly upset watch around the league also put the focus on other matchups, but Tampa Bay is part of the same conversation because of how much that win changed the look of this stretch.
Bucky Irving has been one of the reasons for the optimism, coming off a 165-yard rushing performance against the Cowboys that also included both a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown. Against a Steelers team that can make life difficult in plenty of ways, the Buccaneers are trying to show that the Dallas performance was the start of something more stable, and not just a one-off jolt in an otherwise uneven home start. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Head Into Steelers Game With A Quarterback Problem Fans Feared
The Buccaneers week took a sharp turn after their recent win over the Dallas Cowboys, with the team now trying to keep its momentum going under far less comfortable circumstances. Tampa Bay announced that Baker Mayfield will not practice, leaving the quarterback situation suddenly in flux as the club turns its attention to an upcoming trip to face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For now, Jalon Daniels is lined up to take the first snaps in Mayfields place, giving the Buccaneers an entirely different look at the games most important position. It is the kind of development Tampa Bay had hoped to avoid this late in the week, and it puts added pressure on the rest of the roster to carry over the energy from last week while the quarterback situation sorts itself out. [Read more 🡒]
Todd Bowles Is Suddenly Coaching For His Buccaneers Future
Todd Bowles standing in Tampa Bay has shifted quickly in the first five weeks of the 2026 season, with the Buccaneers off to a 1-4 start and pressure building around a team that still believes it can matter in the NFC South. ESPNs Bill Barnwell framed the next stretch as especially important for Bowles, pointing to the reality that the Bucs need to stay relevant while Baker Mayfield is sidelined if the coach is going to have a path to keeping his job.
The schedule offers little room to ease into that challenge, with Pittsburgh, Carolina, Atlanta and Chicago all ahead before the Week 10 bye. If Tampa Bay keeps slipping, the conversation around Bowles will only get louder, because the margin for staying competitive in the division is already thin and the next month could define whether this season is merely frustrating or something far more consequential for the coaching staff. [Read more 🡒]