By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills did it again with the national spotlight on them. The Bills topped the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-10 on Sunday Night Football in Week 15.
It wasn’t smooth sailing the entire way, but when it was all said and done, the Bills proved themselves in front of the country.
Here are five takeaways from the Bills’ win over the Steelers:
Winning team, playoff bound
The Bills took lumps this season. The Bills took criticism this season. The Bills said to hell with all of that against the Steelers.
With their win over the Steelers, the Bills are in. Buffalo has locked up a 2019 playoff berth. It’s the second time in three seasons that the Bills have made the postseason under head coach Sean McDermott. Buffalo now sits at 10-4 with two games to play.
On top of that, the Bills have been knocked all year for not beating a team with a winning record. The only other one was the Titans, who still had yet to start Ryan Tannehill when the Bills beat them, much earlier this season. The Steelers entered this game at 8-5..
Folks might need to be awfully quiet following this one.
Big play Tre
Tre’Davious White knocked it out of the park for the Bills on primetime. From the second the game started, White took enter stage. First, his player introduction on Sunday Night Football, White decided to not say he went to LSU. Instead, White said he attended the “Tre White Goalie Academy” and it was awesome.
The only thing better was White’s play on the field. The Bills’ No. 1 cornerback had two interceptions against the Steelers and their quarterback, Devlin Hodges. His second helped the Bills tie the game in the fourth quarter as he jet up the left sideline, setting up a Stephen Hauschka field goal which tied the game. Even adding a little more, White was injured in the game, hurting his shoulder on a tackle. In a Buffalo, blue collar way, he returned to the game and later recorded that second interception. A fantastic game from White, hopefully giving him the national recognition he certainly deserves.
Clutch Josh
Overall? Not a great game for Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The second-year pro didn’t always get help from his guys as John Brown had a drop early and then Cole Beasley tipped a pass that lead to Allen’s only interception of the game. Overall, Allen was only 13-for-25 for 139 yards with a touchdown and interception. Allen also added 28 rushing yards on seven carries with a second touchdown run.
It’s going to be hard to argue that Allen isn’t cluch after this one. The Bills offense was lackluster throughout the game. Their last possession he hit a deep ball, the coveted pass he’s struggled with this year. Then he found Tyler Kroft, of all players, for the game-winning score, on an absolute bullet of a pass.
We can say it, we want to see 300-yards passing from Allen in a game, we still haven’t but Allen has his fifth game-winning drive of the season after this one. That’s tied with Russell Wilson for the NFL lead.
John Brown is back
John Brown was once the AFC leading receiver. Who saw that coming? Then Brown came back down to earth, seemingly as soon as folks started to take notice of him. Over the past three games, the Bills’ No. 1 wideout took a backseat to slot receiver Cole Beasley. That was not the case on Sunday Night Football.
Brown had one of his best games of the season with the Bills against a stout Steelers defense. On 10 targets, Brown had seven catches for 99 yards. Over his last three games combined, Brown had eight catches for 91 yards. Brown’s highlight catch came on a play where defensive pass interference was actually called, but he battled through the penalty to make an impressive catch. The Bills could still use help at the position in the future, but for now, Brown showed he’s big season isn’t over just yet against the Steelers.
Give-way-too-much-away
Against a team like the Steelers, the Bills had to avoid one thing and they did not. While the Bills defense is a strong overall unit, the Steelers are a defense that doesn’t stop yards, they take them. The Steelers entered this one leading the NFL in takeaways and only added to it.
The usual shore-handed running back in rookie Devin Singletary had two fumbles in this one. Quarterback Josh Allen ended up being down by contract, but he also lost a ball at one point. Plus, the typical safe Allen while throwing the ball did have an interception, although it was much more on wide receiver Cole Beasley. Allen’s pass wasn’t perfect, but it was also tipped.
Regardless, the Steelers are a team the Bills should have had an emphasis of not turning over the ball against. Instead, the Bills did multiple times, keeping their opponent in the game.