The Buffalo Bills defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-15, as the Steelers logged their 3rd game in 12 days. This is only the Steelers 2nd loss in 13 games, yet the feeling in Steelers Nation is nothing close to what one would expect for a team with a 11-2 record halfway through December.
- Perhaps that’s as it should be.
It’s not so much that the Steelers lost to the Bills. It’s the way that they lost. This game hinged on Ben Roethlisberger’s pre-half time pick-six. It was, as commentators love to tell us a “momentum changer.” The question now is this: Was this just a momentum changer for just this game or did it change the momentum for the entire season?
Taron Johnson’s hauls in his lethal pick six. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Contradicting the Conventional Wisdom: Steelers Strong for First 29 Minutes
Roll your eyes all you want. But in this scribe’s estimation, the Steelers actually looked pretty good for the game’s first 29 minutes. Was Pittsburgh perfect? Hardly.
- Diontae Johnson promptly dropped the first two passes thrown to him
- Eric Ebron dropped one thrown at him on third down, no less
- Jordan Berry had punted five times before the 20 minute mark
- James Conner had been stuffed for 1 yards, zero yards or negative yards several times
- The Steelers had failed to turn a Mike Hilton interception into money
Clearly, Pittsburgh’s problems had not gone away. But it was also clear that the coaching staff had taken steps to address those problems. And those measures were working, at least on some level.
- Jet motion returned with a short pass to Chase Claypool
- Tyson Alualu kept the Steelers sack streak alive
- Diontae Johnson’s drops earned him a trip to the bench
- Jaylen Samuels was playing and making noise
- Benny Snell logged some respectable runs
- Cameron Sutton recovered a fumble and James Washington scored a touchdown 3 plays later
Cam Sutton recovers a fumble. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla
Perhaps, best of all, late in the 2nd half Josh Allen brought the Bills into the Steelers Red Zone and some stout play up front by Cam Heyward and Steven Nelson in the secondary helped the Steelers force a field goal. Holding a 7-3 lead while on the road against an all but certain division champion with 1:42 left in the game hardly implies domination.
But when you consider that the Steelers were without Joe Haden, effectively starting their 4th and 5th string inside linebackers and had lost another starter in the first half, a 7-3 lead was a good place to be.
The Steelers had control. Tenuous control certainly, but control nonethless.
- And Mike Tomlin, to his credit and as his habit, wasn’t content to settle for that.
Ben Roethlisberger got the ball back and proceeded to move the Steelers to midfield with just over a minute left to play. Then Ben Roethlisberger made a bad decision to force a throw to JuJu Smith-Schuster. He made an even worse throw. Taron Johnson took it to the house and put Buffalo up 9 to 7.
The game wasn’t over, but the momentum had changed.
Allen and Diggs Pull Pittsburgh Apart
The Bills got the ball back to start the second half and credit Sean McDermott and his staff for making the ever important “second half adjustment.”
Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs proceeded to pull Pittsburgh apart and in the process they burned 5 minutes off of the clock in their first touchdown drive. The Bills did it again the next time they got the ball, and by time the 3rd quarter was over, Buffalo was up 23 to 15.
Rally, Roethlisberger Fall Short
Things looked bleak. The Bills had scored two touchdowns and the Steelers had done nothing other than send Jordan Berry out to punt twice. But for whatever else you want to say about the Steelers, no one can say they folded.
Ben Roethlisberger and JuJu Smith-Schuster got the Steelers on the board early in the 4th quarter. Eric Ebron atoned for his previous drop by hauling in a 2 point conversion. Suddenly the Steelers were with in 8 points.
Sure the Bills responded with a field goal, but on paper a win was still within the Steelers grasp.
Alas, that was not to be. On third and long, Ben Roethlisberger tried to go deep targeting James Washington. Washington was wide open, but Ben Roethlisberger put the ball frankly in the only spot on the field were Levi Wallace could get it.
He did, and the Bills nickel and dimed the Steelers by running 12 plays to kill the clock.
Ben Roethlisberger passes during the Steelers loss to the Bills. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Rebound or Reckoning?
After the game Ben Roethlisberger minced no words, explaining “Right now, we’re not playing good football, and it starts with me.” When asked if he and the Steelers had time to right the ship, Ben did not blink, “I hope so. If I don’t play good enough football, I need to hang it up.”
The first time Ben Roethlisberger uttered the “R” word was after the Steelers 2016 AFC Championship loss to the Patriots. After his 5 interception debacle against the Jaguars in October 2017, he openly mused about “Not having it anymore.”
- That sounded ominous at the time.
But Ben Roethlisberger responded by playing some of the best football of his life in the 2nd half of 2017 and that saved the season as Ryan Shazier’s loss left the defense reeling.
- Can history repeat?
It would make for a nice story. But NFL season rarely evolve like movie scripts.
The reality is as simple as it is stark. The Steelers defense is depleted. Pittsburgh lacks both the running backs and the offensive line to field a balanced attack. All of that means that hope for any rebound rests squarely with Roethlisberger.
- If he can deliver, the result will be worthy of a Hollywood movie.
If not, then perhaps its time for Pittsburgh to begin reckoning with how they will manage the post-Roethlisberger era.
