Bucs stun Steelers to secure first victory of Lovie Era Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 30 September 2014 In so many ways it seemed like last year all over again for Buccaneers quarterback Mike Glennon. There he was Sunday, seven seconds left in the fourth quarter, down by four, his team deteriorating around him — just as it did much of last season. The difference is this time the tall, rangy kid with the ability to spin one of the tightest spirals you’ll ever see brought the Bucs back. And not just from behind, but from the brink of oblivion. When Glennon hit Vincent Jackson with the 5-yard touchdown pass that gave them an improbable 27-24 comeback victory over the Steelers at Heinz Field, the Bucs were staring straight into the teeth of a second straight winless September. Now, even at 1-3, they’re just one game behind the NFC South division leading Falcons and Panthers, both of whom are 2-2. That’s how quickly fortunes can change in the NFL, and the feeling inside the Bucs locker room is that fortunes are indeed changing. “I definitely believe in momentum,’’ said Lovie Smith, who won for the first time as Bucs coach. “Sometimes nothing good happens until you get that momentum and find a way to win and you see what it’s like to win. You have to experience it first. Until today, we didn’t know how to win. Today we found a way, and this is just a step. We talk about quarters and this was the last game of the first quarter (of the season) and to finish off with a win like that was big, because we needed to play better than we have been and we did.’’ What the Bucs needed more than anything going into this game was better play from their quarterback. Josh McCown played well at times before spraining his right throwing thumb in a loss to the Falcons last week, but wasn’t making big plays or good decisions. That all changed with Glennon in charge. Though the second-year pro completed just 21 of 42 passes, he gobbled up 302 yards with his completions and threw two touchdown passes against one interception while taking just one sack. And it wasn’t like the interception came off a bad decision. It came as a result of rookie wideout Mike Evans pulling up with a severe left groin strain as he ran a go-route toward the end zone late in the third quarter. A play like that, coming with the Bucs trailing 27-14, might have derailed the Bucs a year ago. And if that didn’t do it, surely their failure to punch the ball in from the Steelers 14-yard line late in the fourth quarter would have. Glennon missed three straight throws into the end zone on that drive, slightly overthrowing his target on each one. But a defense that started fast, taking the ball away on its first series and recording five first-half sacks, also finished fast. Despite losing safety Dashon Goldson to an ankle injury in the first quarter, the defense forced the Steelers to give the ball back to Glennon and the offense with 40 seconds left, giving Tampa Bay one more chance to win for the first time ever in Pittsburgh. “I wanted that chance bad because of some of those throws (the series before),’’ Glennon said. “It would have been tough to sleep if we didn’t get another chance to win this game, because those are throws I need to make if we’re going to win games.’’ Starting with the precision pass he made to Louis Murphy, who ran a quick slant across the middle on second-and-10 from the Steelers 46-yard line, Glennon eventually make several of those game-deciding throws. The pass to Murphy, who was re-signed just last week after being cut with a back injury at the end of the preseason, went for 41 yards. The next pass was dropped by Jackson in the end zone, who was defended tightly by cornerback William Gay. But Jackson caught the last one, cradling it against his body as he dove to the ground. “Guys had been real physical down there in the end zone the whole game,’’ Jackson said. “But I just ran a little slant, a stick out. I knew Mike was going to give me a chance with the ball on the outside and I just competed for it.’’ There wasn’t a whole lot of compete in the Bucs last week in Atlanta, where they suffered one of the worst losses in franchise history in a 56-14 drubbing that seemed to set the franchise back. Proving that was not the real Bucs was one the team’s top objectives Sunday. “Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time for it to come together,’’ Smith said. “We wanted to be playoff ready right away, but we weren’t. We wanted to be win-a-game ready right away, but we weren’t. We still have a long ways to go, but we found a way to win today. That was a hurdle we needed to get over.’’