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Steelers Wire breaks down what Pittsburgh must do in order to beat the Bills.
Last week the Pittsburgh Steelers were handed their first loss of the year at the hands of the Washington Football Team. There was no time to sit around and feel sorry for themselves because the Steelers have to turn around and go against the 9-3 Buffalo Bills.
Here are the Steelers keys to victory this week.
The majority of NFL pundits and experts think the Bills will beat the Steelers on Sunday.
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Last week the Pittsburgh Steelers were handed their first loss of the season after 11 straight wins. This week the Steelers are hoping to get back on track but standing in the way is the pesky Buffalo Bills. Oddsmakers only see the Bills as 2.5-point favorites at this point but NFL pundits don’t seem to have as much faith in the Steelers this week.
According to the good folks at NFL Pick Watch, 64 percent of the expert picks across the internet are calling for the Bills to hand the Steelers their second-straight loss.
If this game were in Pittsburgh, and not after all the turmoil since Thanksgiving, it might be a different story. But Pittsburgh is a team that has taken a hit by injuries and COVID-19 and are limping into this game hoping to secure a playoff spot.
But I want to hear everyone’s predictions. Let us know what you think the final score will be in the comments below.
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The Steelers shuffled linebackers on Saturday ahead of this week’s game against the Buffalo Bills.
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The Steelers will be without Robert Spillane at least three games. The Steelers put him on IR on Saturday afternoon, but activated ILB Ulysees Gilbert III.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) December 12, 2020
The Pittsburgh Steelers announced another pair of moves ahead of this week’s game with the Buffalo Bills. The team has opted to put linebacker Robert Spillane on the Reserve/Injured list while he deals with a knee injury he suffered last week. By rule, the earliest Spillane will be available to play this season is in the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns.
Pittsburgh also activated linebacker Ulysees Gilbert from IR, which means he should be available to play as soon as this week. Getting Gilbert back really helps the depth of the team’s inside linebackers with Spillane and Vince Williams out.
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The Steelers are traveling a day later this week to try to give the team a little extra rest.
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For the first time since 2012, the Pittsburgh Steelers will travel for a road game on gameday. The team announced they have been given the approval to travel to Buffalo for their game against the Bills the day of the game due to the multiple short weeks.
Here is the team’s official statement:
“Due to a number of schedule adjustments which resulted in the Steelers playing on a short week 2 weeks in a row, we requested and were approved by the League Office to travel on game day to Buffalo for our Sunday night game. Our preparations and meetings will be conducted in Pittsburgh Saturday evening, and the team will then fly to Buffalo on Sunday morning and continue day-of-game preparations upon arrival in Buffalo.”
The Steelers currently sit at 11-1 and are looking to get back on track after suffering their first loss last week against the Washington Football Team. The Steelers’ entire season has been turned on its head since early on when their game against the Tennessee Titans had to be moved due to a COVID-19 outbreak with the Titans.
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Steelers Wire reaches out to our friends at Bills Wire for our weekly Q&A.
This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers are going on the road to take on the Buffalo Bills as the Steelers look to get back on the winning track. We needed to get the inside scoop on Buffalo so we reached out to our friend Nick Wojton at Bills Wire for the latest on this week’s opponent.
Steelers Wire gives you everything you need to make sure you don’t miss this week’s game.
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Here is everything you need to know so you can watch, listen to or stream this week’s Pittsburgh Steelers game. The Steelers are headed to Buffalo and try to bounceback from their first loss of the season against the talented Buffalo Bills. Pittsburgh gets running back James Conner and center Maurkice Pouncey back this week but is decimated by injuries on defense. This is a game you don’t want to miss.
Pittsburgh Steelers (11-1) @ Buffalo Bills (9-3)
Kickoff: Sunday, December 13th, 8:20 pm ET
Venue: Bills Stadium
Weather: Rainy with temps in the 50s
Television: NBC
Al Michaels (play-by-play)
Cris Collinsworth (analyst)
Michele Tafoya (sideline)
Online: You can also tune in online with NFL Game Pass and FuboTV (try it for free).
Radio: Westwood One and Steeler Nation Radio will have the game, as well as WDVE 102.5 FM & WBGG 970, AM local.
You can also follow the game with us @TheSteelersWire and of course here on Steelers Wire with our live updates during the game, along with highlights of all the key moments from this week’s game. Join us straight after the final whistle for more in-depth coverage, injury updates, and analysis of all the action.
The Steelers will get two offensive starters back for Sunday’s game with the return of C Maurkice Pouncey.
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Another boost for the Steelers ahead of Sunday's game: Maurkice Pouncey has been activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) December 11, 2020
The Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line got some good news on Friday when starting center Maurkice Pouncey was activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Pouncey has missed the past two games on the list. Pouncey joins running back James Conner coming off the Reserve/COVID-19 list in time to take on the Buffalo Bills this week.
Typically, being available for practice determines participation but with Pouncey being quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s comfort blanket, there’s no doubt he will be on the field this week.
The return of Pouncey and Conner should help give the Steelers better opportunities to run the football this week against Buffalo.
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Is Avery Williamson ready to take over the play-calling duties for the Steelers this week?
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Avery Williamson said on Zoom call that he wore the green dot after Rob Spillane was hurt against Washington, and he expects to call the plays against Buffalo now that Vince Williams is also out.
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) December 11, 2020
Linebacker Avery Williamson has been a Pittsburgh Steeler for four games. In those four games, he has played 81 defensive snaps. In Williamson’s eighth game in Pittsburgh, he will be in charge of making the defensive play calls against the Buffalo Bills.
But due to last week’s injury to Robert Spillane and the loss of Vince Williams to the Reserve/COVID-19 list, Williamson is the next man up in terms of running the defense from his inside linebacker position.
I’d love to say this is no big deal because obviously if the Steelers coaches are confident in Williamson to call the defenses and this won’t be an issue. But we saw last week some communication problems against the Washington Football Team in the second half that led to some big plays. Let’s hope a full week of practice as the playcaller will help Williamson and the entire defense get on the same page before they take on a very talented Bills offense.
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The Steelers got Steven Nelson back at practice but still no Joe Haden and Robert Spillane on Thursday.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers continue their preparations for Sunday night’s showdown with the Buffalo Bills as they look to get back on track after the embarrassing 23-17 loss to the Washington Football Team last week.
Pittsburgh put out its Thursday practice report and a few notes really stood out. Here is the full report:
CB Joe Haden (concussion) DNP
LB Robert Spillane (knee) DNP
WR Chase Claypool (illness) DNP
The fact that Haden and Spillane didn’t practice is no surprise. It’s highly unlikely either plays on Sunday. But to see Claypool missing practice with an illness on the same day the team puts linebacker Vince Williams on the Reserve/COVID-19 list is disconcerting.
The good news is cornerback Steven Nelson, who missed last week’s game with a knee injury was a full participant. The same goes for kicker Chris Boswell who was a full participant after missing last week with a hip injury.
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Steelers Wire looks at what kinds of problems the loss of Vince Williams creates.
Bad news on Thursday as the Pittsburgh Steelers announced starting linebacker Vince Williams was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. This, compounded with the loss of the other starting inside linebacker Robert Spillane last week means Pittsburgh is scrambling for healthy bodies.
Here is what the loss of Williams means for Pittsburgh.
