‘Not only did Buffalo verify its place among the conference elite, but it also edged a bit closer to the AFC’s No. 2 playoff seed — Pittsburgh is 11-2 and the Bills 10-3, but with the head-to-head tiebreaker — and, if Cleveland beats Baltimore tonight, a postseason berth is assured.’
Archives for December 14, 2020
Vic Carucci: Bills remove all doubt about their elite status by beating Steelers
‘If you only went by the first half, you wouldn’t know that these were two of the NFL’s more explosive passing attacks.’
Jason Wolf: Matt Milano makes impact as Bills trounce Steelers
‘The Bills continued to work Milano back into action after his return from a partially torn pectoral muscle, rotating him with Klein throughout their 26-15 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a nationally televised showdown between two of the AFC’s heavyweights on Sunday Night Football at Bills Stadium. The Bills (10-3) are off to their best start since 1991 and moved a step closer to winning the AFC East for the first time since 1995. They lead the Dolphins (8-5) – who lost to the Chiefs 33-27 on Sunday – by two games with three remaining in the regular season.’
Analysis: Taron Johnson exploited Steelers’ quick game on key INT
‘“It energized the whole team,” said Bills cornerback Levi Wallace. “It’s just playing complementary football, like Sean McDermott says.”’
10 observations: Stefon Diggs sparks offense, nears personal, team receiving records
‘”More so give all the credit to the people around me, especially Josh Allen,” Diggs said on a video call after the win. “He’s a younger quarterback and he put his faith and his trust in me to make plays for him with the ball in my hands and catching the ball. Coach (Brian) Daboll is calling the right stuff and he’s drawing it up upstairs and putting me in the best position to make plays. And then my wide receiver coach, Chad Hall. We put in a lot of work in practice. We rep a lot of stuff that’s more game-like than anything. I could be a lot better so I don’t think to much of it. I’m just trying to chase these wins.”‘
Quarter by quarter: Bills get all-phases complete game to beat Steelers
‘The Bills used tight ends Lee Smith and Dawson Knox on the right side of the formation to help right tackle Daryl Williams on NFL sack leader T.J. Watt. Watt had a couple of hits on Allen, but did not dominate.’
Report Card: With a franchise quarterback and a coach to believe in, go ahead and dream big
‘When a team can put up 26 points, hold a future Hall of Fame quarterback to 15 and not be at its best in doing so, well, that’s the sign of a really good football team.’
Bills, Josh Allen overcome slow start and roll past Steelers 26-15
‘After looking grisly on offense – and we’re talking circa 2018 offense – for most of the first half against a tremendous Steelers defense, the Bills were energized by a game-changing play from their defense and used that sudden momentum swing to roll to a 26-15 victory over Pittsburgh in front of a national TV audience in empty Bills Stadium.’
Bills’ AFC East division-clinching chances get boost from Dolphins loss
‘As for the Bills’ playoff chances, they received all they help they needed around the league as the Dolphins, Patriots and Raiders all lost. If the Bills win and Baltimore loses to Cleveland Monday night, the Bills will clinch their third postseason berth in four years under Sean McDermott.’
Bills report card: Resilient defense comes up big, makes Roethlisberger look pedestrian
‘The game certainly didn’t start the way Allen and the Bills had hoped. It looked like their high-octane passing game had finally met its match as Allen couldn’t get anything going for the first 25 minutes or so. But then Allen started to find his groove and marched the offense to a field goal, and in the second half he was back pretty close to looking like the field general he’s been all year.’
Stefon Diggs takes over on SNF stage, leads Bills to win over AFC rival Steelers (Instant observations)
‘The Bills gave up a bunch of draft picks – a 1st, two 4ths and a 5th – to trade for Stefon Diggs. There was plenty of folks pushing a narrative that the Bills gave up too much, but all Diggs has done since the season started is make plays. He’s proven that he was worth that haul of picks and maybe even more. He couldn’t be guarded on Sunday Night Football. It didn’t matter who Pittsburgh assigned to cover Diggs, they couldn’t stop him from making catches and running after them for extra yards. Twice in the third quarter a defensive back fell to the turf after a Diggs fake during his route. He single-handedly injected life into a Bills offense that was held to a disappointing 102 yards of total offense in the first half. He had four catches for 42 yards on the Bills’ touchdown drive to open the third quarter and finished it off with a touchdown after making cornerback Steven Nelson fall.’
Bills best Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers on Sunday Night Football in dominant defensive performance (11 reasons to be encouraged, 1 reason to worry)
‘How would the Bills help Daryl Williams in his matchup against T.J. Watt? Would they leave an extra blocker in to help Williams or perhaps run right at the defensive end? The answer, for the most part, was neither. Buffalo simply let Williams go one-on-one with one of the NFL’s best pass rushers and the results were impressive.’
Bills defense took it personal when JuJu Smith-Schuster danced on Buffalo’s logo
‘“We felt the momentum of the game swing,” Poyer said. “And I ain’t going to lie. Seeing them dancing on our logo pre-game and seeing all that, that turns you up a little bit. It kind of gives you a little second itch to come out and play with some extra fire. We were hyped up on the sideline, we had a big win. And we were just having fun.”’
Bills’ win over Steelers shows team is legit Super Bowl contender (Week 14 report card)
‘Buffalo’s offensive line was pushed around on Sunday night by the Steelers’ defensive line. Pittsburgh has one of the NFL’s best defensive lines so that should not come as a surprise, but Buffalo needed to make some adjustments after the Steelers’ pressure led to an early interception and what should have been a fumble that was ruled an incomplete pass.’
Bills vs. Steelers inactives: Tyler Kroft, last year’s SNF hero, inactive
‘Kroft has found himself as the odd man out as Buffalo looks to get Dawson Knox going ahead of the playoffs. Knox enters tonight’s game with touchdowns in two consecutive games. Lee Smith, the Bills’ top blocking tight end, and special teams standout Reggie Gilliam are also active at tight end.’