ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Well, this might be a really good time for BillsMafia to pump the brakes on making those Super Bowl reservations.
The Buffalo Bills, a trendy pick by many to not only win the AFC but also win Super Bowl 56, are 0-1 after a lackluster offensive performance which led to a 23-16 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A sellout crowd at Highmark Stadium could not have been more excited to finally be back in person, en masse, to watch this team that won the AFC East and advanced to the AFC championship game last year. Unfortunately, that was not the team they saw.
This Bills outfit was a discombobulated mess on offense, one that looked nothing like the 2020 version that scored a franchise record 501 points. Josh Allen was off all day, never able to get comfortable behind an offensive line that was annihilated by a very good Steelers defense.
Quite frankly, the offense was unrecognizable. There was no rhythm, no big play ability, Allen was skittish in his decisions and his accuracy was circa 2018-19 on far too many plays. And though it played well most of the way, the defense never made a stop in the second half, yielding four scoring drives that yielded 16 of Pittsburgh’s 23 points.
The only way the game could have started better for Buffalo is if Isaiah McKenzie had taken the opening kickoff 25 yards further which would have put him in the end zone.
Because he didn’t quite get there, it cost the Bills four points as they wound up settling for a Tyler Bass field goal when the offense went three and out, a harbinger of things to come.
With the exception of their final possession of the second quarter when Allen pieced together a 13-play, 91-yard drive, culminated by a pinpoint 3-yard touchdown pass to Gabriel Davis crossing right to left in the back of the end zone, the offense was shut down.
Allen completed seven of eight passes on that drive and the lone incompletion was a throwaway out of the end zone. It pushed Allen’s first-half passing total to 152 yards on 26 attempts, and every bit of that came tough.
The biggest problem was the offensive line that was overwhelmed by a Steelers front seven led by T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Tyson Alualu and Melvin Ingram. There were four holding calls against Buffalo, though one was declined.
Things only got worse in the third quarter and it was only because of the defense that the Bills were able to maintain a 10-6 lead.
The Steelers got on the board with a 69-yard drive to Chris Bosley’s 24-yard field goal after they had first down at the 12, only to be stopped.
And after a Buffalo drive died when Allen misfired on a fourth-and-8 pass at the Steelers 36, Ben Roethlisberger put together another scoring drive, but again it only resulted in a Bosley field goal, this one from 20 yards. There, the Bills defense stiffened after the Steelers were set up first-and-goal at the 4.
The Buffalo offense continued to sputter early in the fourth and coordinator Brian Daboll made a disastrous decision on fourth-and-1 from the Steelers 41, a silly fake QB sneak pitch back to Matt Breida which the Steelers smothered for a seven-yard loss, giving them possession at the 48.
That play seemed to turn the tide for good in Pittsburgh’s favor because the defense finally buckled. Four plays later, plus one very big 24-yard pass interference penalty on Levi Wallace, the Steelers were in the lead.
Wallace was nailed for a 26-yard on third-and-7, and after Najee Harris busted off an 18-yard run, Roethlisberger threw a perfect five-yard TD pass in the back left corner to Diontae Johnson to give the Steelers the lead for good.
Things went from bad to worse moments later when Miles Killebrew blew right through the middle of the Bills’ punt protection to block Matt Haack’s punt and Ulysees Grant scooped it up and ran nine yards for a touchdown to make it 20-10 with just under 10 minutes to play.
The Bills finally moved the ball as three straight runs by Devin Singletary netted 46 yards and put the ball at the 10, but there the drive stalled yet again and Bass kicked a 25-yard field goal with 5:23 left.
Still alive with a stop, the defense couldn’t get it as Roethlisberger held serve and drove the Steelers to a third Bosley field goal with 2:42 left.
McDermott made the strategic decision to kick a field goal on first down with 46 seconds to go, and Bass delivered from 42 yards. However, the Bills could not recover the onside kick and that was it.
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