5 takeaways from the Bills’ 26-15 win over the Steelers

Takeaways from Bills’ Week 14 win over the Steelers.

Taron Johnson #24 of the Buffalo Bills. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)

Bills defense gets big turnover

While our early focus was on the offense, the defense still earned their praise and we’re going to do that right here. The only reason why Buffalo was in this game, in the slightest, was an huge start for Buffalo’s defense.

The highlight moment came via cornerback Taron Johnson. The slot cornerback, who later left the game due to a concussion, jumped a pass from Ben Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster and took it for a touchdown. That play came just before halftime. It was the first time the Bills defense scored in a game in 46 outings.

Early in the fourth quarter, cornerback Levi Wallace had a late interception as well, but in between there was just solid, overall good defense from Buffalo. Tre’Davious White tipped a third-down pass at the line of scrimmage and on other third down had a flag on him picked up because he was in perfect coverage on Diontae Johnson. Aside from a couple of grabs from JuJu Smith-Schuster and touchdown for James Washington, Buffalo’s defense played the pass well in this one. Heck, the guys even in coverage against those two Steelers playmakers, Johnson and Wallace, recorded both of the Bills’ interceptions. Redemption kind of night.

While the pass defense was the most impressive thing from the Bills against the Steelers, the run defense continued their recent surge as well. Steelers running back James Conner and center Maurkice Pouncey returned to the lineup but the the Steelers’ running game didn’t go anywhere in the one. Conner only had 17 rushing yards in the first half and as a team, the Steelers had 47 in the game. That’s the fourth time in the past five games that Buffalo’s defense held an opposing team to under 100 yards rushing in a game. What a turnaround there.

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