OL Cody Ford
As a unit, the Bills offensive line played much, much better against the Steelers as compared to their outing against the Ravens just a week earlier. Baltimore had six sacks on Josh Allen and 12 total quarterback hits. Scheme and playcalling had something to do with it, but Allen got the ball out quicker and the Steelers just simply didn’t get into the backfield all that often compared to the Ravens. So why Cody Ford?
This is a nod toward the whole unit, yes, but Ford drew TJ Watt in this one. Watt is having a hell of a season and had a good game against the Bills, he did force a fumble, but that wasn’t on Ford. On paper, it looked like Watt, Pro Football Focus’ top-rated edge defender who has 13 sacks this season, would cause havoc. He didn’t… thanks to Ford.
WR John Brown
After a few short weeks of doing little-to-nothing, John Brown came back to the stat sheet in a big way. Brown had seven catches for 99 yards, including his 40-yard catch which he fought through defensive pass interference to make.
In the three games combined prior to Week 15, Brown only had 91 total yards. Wideouts don’t put up numbers weekly, but at one point Brown was, and it went quiet. He’s back now and over 1,000-yards receiving, the first time a Buffalo receiver has done so since 2015.
DE Trent Murphy
Like Wallace, Trent Murphy isn’t having a productive season and due to the finances of things, he’s not exactly a feel good story and he could be a cut candidate this offseason. But only time will tell. Regardless of that, against the Steelers, Murphy had his best game of the season. Along with three total tackles, Murphy had a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and he forced a fumble which about five Bills players jumped on. Jordan Poyer ended up being the one to grab it, but that was a game-changing play as the Steelers were driving and poised to score until Murphy decided otherwise.