Tag: bills steelers

Bills’ Sean McDermott on CB JaMarcus Ingram: ‘Real proud of him’

#Bills’ Sean McDermott on CB JaMarcus Ingram: ‘Real proud of him’

It’s not uncommon for Bills head coach Sean McDermott to throw his support behind a depth player on Buffalo’s roster.

It’s also not uncommon for it to be a member of the team’s defensive backs group.

On Saturday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he liked what he saw in how hard CB Ja’Marcus Ingram played, and spoke about it to the press afterward.

“He practices the same way,” McDermott said. “His teammates love him, they respect him for the way he works and all of the work he puts in physically, all of the work he puts in on the mental part of the game. I’m just real proud of him.”

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Ingram signed with Buffalo as an undrafted rookie in 2022 after playing in college as a walk-on at Utah State, as a transfer at Texas Tech, and then finishing with the University at Buffalo as a Bison.

He’s played in five games over the last two seasons and has been on and off the Bills practice squad, released and re-signed at times, and endured finding himself in a position to now be the team’s fourth cornerback behind starters Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford, and Kaiir Elam.

Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich views him as an example of the Bills approach to player development.

“Ja’Marcus, his development is really, to me, one of the cool things that when you coach, you’ve got different tiers of players. But here’s a guy that I believe came to try out at camp,” Babich said. “Came in at like 170 pounds, as tall as he is, and put in so much work and grinded and worked while he waited, and those types of things.

“And it’s just really cool to see a guy like Ja’Marcus really growing and developing in a way that you see clear dividends from the hard work he’s put in.”
As for the corner, he too pointed to some of the work he’s put in and the results it has produced after focusing this offseason on his press footwork, agility ladders, and pedaling.

“Just really all the base fundamentals,” Ingram said per The Buffalo News, “and that puts you in position to make plays.”

He also set out to work on writing a children’s book called “The Little Player That Could” that will be out around Thanksgiving of this year.

“It’s based on my story,” Ingram shared. “I want to teach kids or inspire kids to have perseverance and resiliency in life and whatever dream that they’re chasing.

“But the story happens to just be about me and what I kind of went through my career to get to the point where I’m at. But I want people – well, kids – to be able to be inspired by my story, to just persevere through anything and whatever it is that they want to do in life.”

“I felt like that was something that that I could leave for my son,” Ingram said. “He just turned 1, so I’m reading him books and stuff like that. I feel like that was something that I could leave behind for him, but also be able to inspire others with the platform that I have and something that could, like, leave my work, long after I’m gone.”

Local Buffalo LB Joe Andreessen on opportunity with Bills: ‘Nothing to lose’

Local Buffalo LB Joe Andreessen on opportunity with #Bills: ‘Nothing to lose’

Western New York native Joe Andreessen is playing his way into competition for making the Bills’ 53-man roster thanks to a strong performance in preseason action against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

On Saturday the rookie was calling and leading the Bills defense on the field against a pro offense led by a Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Russell Wilson.

He would finish the game leading the team with 12 tackles.

“It was kind of nice,” Andreessen said to the media after the game. “They didn’t surprise me with it or anything like that. … I’m an undrafted guy, and I kind of looked at it as an opportunity, like nothing to lose.”

While he is one of the newer faces on the roster, he is a familiar one to Buffalo. Andreessen is a Lancaster, NY native and played college football at the University at Buffalo before signing with his hometown team in May following a successful rookie tryout.

“A lot of people aren’t really expecting me to make the team,” he continued. “You know, I’m a rookie tryout guy, so it was just something to take full advantage of, and hopefully I showed it to people out there today.”

Starting weakside linebacker Matt Milano is out for much of the regular season with a bicep tear and Terrel Bernard, who played in his place during an injury last season, was held out of this weekend’s game as a precaution at the position.

That opened the door for Andreessen to see playing time with Buffalo’s starters in only his second career game.

One of Buffalo’s leaders on defense, pass rusher Greg Rousseau, spoke about how Andreessen was not fazed by any big moments or by playing in front of a big stadium crowd.

“He’s that guy,” Rousseau said. “You couldn’t sense any fear with Joe. He stepped up to the plate, called it with the ones, and it was great seeing him flying around here and making open-field tackles. He was doing his thing.”

Baylon Spector and vet Deion Jones are who Andreessen is competing with behind Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams in the linebacker’s group. Still, the rookie is making a case on the field for consideration.

And his new head coach had good things to say about him as well.

“He did [have a game],” McDermott shared. “Yeah, he did. When a young guy gets an opportunity and he makes the most of it, it’s just fun to watch. Watch a young man like that, especially a local guy. I think I met his aunt in the elevator in the hotel. She was excited, was on the phone with Joe’s mom, who had just called in at the time. You love stories like that, right? Real happy for Joe.”

During the second half on a fourth-and-2 run by Steelers quarterback Justin Fields in Buffalo territory, Andreessen tackled him in the open field to end their drive with a seven-yard loss to give the Buffalo offense the ball back.

“I was telling the guys on the sideline I was super nervous,” Andreessen noteed. “That’s a very athletic guy out there and there was a lot of room. … I was just in my zone and he broke contain. I was trying to track the near hip and I didn’t want him to cut back on me and I didn’t press it super hard.”

Bills’ Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox were taken aback by Josh Allen touchdown run

Bills’ Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox were taken aback by Josh Allen touchdown run:

The Bills welcomed the Steelers for a Wild Card round matchup at home in Orchard Park on Monday night

And Buffalo ended Pittsburgh’s season with a final score of 31-17

And the first several big scoring plays for Buffalo came by way of three of their biggest offensive players in the passing game.

Tight ends Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid created mismatches with their size while providing big targets for quarterback Josh Allen, who found each for the Bills’ first two touchdown catches of the game.

Knox came through when his number was called for a touchdown play for the second consecutive week, and is now tied for the second most postseason TD catches in Bills franchise history.

“I was surprised it was that open” the veteran noted after the game, as he and Kincaid fielded press conference questions on their respective scores.

“It was the look we wanted,” added Kincaid about his touchdown play. “I don’t want to say I knew right away, but I had a pretty good feeling pre-snap and then post-snap it’s exactly where we wanted them to go to and Josh threw a great ball.”

The rookie led all receivers with 59 yards and the score amidst a well-spread-out passing game.

The two catches for scores gave Buffalo an early 14-0 lead. It was the first time that two tight ends for a team caught first-quarter touchdown passes in NFL postseason history

Allen was firing on all cylinders. He went for 203 passing yards with three touchdown tosses and 74 yards on the ground including a 52-yard scoring run which was good for the longest carry of his career. It was also the second-longest quarterback run in postseason history.

“It was third and long they played man,” the Bills QB said while breaking his play down for the press. “Didn’t have a great man call on so I decided to try to find a lane and got 15, 20 yards downfield and there’s a lot of guys screaming ‘slide’ and I didn’t slide and scored, so it worked out that time.”

The breakout rushing play impressed both Bills’ tight ends as well.

“It’s almost normal now, him making a crazy play like that almost every single game,” Knox added. “Sometimes you just can’t help but sit back and be a fan.”

The Josh Allen experience is still a newer one to the rookie Kincaid.

“It’s still surprising to me,” Kincaid said of Allen’s big plays. “Like ‘how does he stay up? How does he get the extra yards?’ and then tonight was ‘how did he score that touchdown?’, so I don’t know when it’ll get normal but it’s cool to watch.”

The Bills quarterback was firing on all cylinders. He went for 203 passing yards with three touchdown tosses and 74 yards on the ground including a 52-yard touchdown run which was good for the longest carry of his career.

“He’s a special player,” Kincaid added. “Best quarterback in the league for a reason.”

Josh Allen on Bills facing Chiefs: ‘It’s going to take a team effort’

Josh Allen on Bills facing Chiefs: ‘It’s going to take a team effort’

The Buffalo Bills beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-17 on a snowy night at Highmark Stadium Monday in the Wild Card round to open their postseason campaign.

This after a 5-0 run of the table by the Bills, capped off by defeating the Miami Dolphins in South Florida to end the regular season and claim their fourth straight AFC East crown and the No. 2 AFC playoff seed.

Buffalo needed a victory to advance back to the Division round and host AFC rival and past playoff nemesis, the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday.

And they did just that.

A year after an unceremonious loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at home in the Divisional round, HC Sean McDermott and his team find themselves back on their home field with a shot at redemption and a chance to return to the AFC Championship game.

“That’s a heck of an opponent,” McDermott said about facing Kansas City. “We’ll have to regroup tomorrow as a staff and I know some of our staff has already been working on the Chiefs, and that’s kind of what you do as a position coach, you’re able to look ahead a little bit.”

Buffalo lost their two previous postseason meetings with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in contests where the Bills’ offense gave them leads late in games, only for their defense and special teams to struggle to get stops.

Bills QB Josh Allen knows all too well that they’ll need to compete in all three phases for them to have a chance for victory.

“It’s gonna take a team effort,” Allen said postgame via CBS. “They’re playing really good football right now. We know the type of team that they are and obviously the type of quarterback that they have in Pat over there. We’re gonna need everybody in Bills Mafia to be here and support us, and I’m just thanking God that we get another chance to play another game.”

For the second game in a row, the Bills were riddled with injuries and will await word on the status of certain players ahead of the division-round matchup.

“I hate to see guys go down on either side of the ball really, it’s one of the things I pray for before every game is making sure that both sides are safe from serious injury,” Allen said during his media session.

With this past weekend’s scheduled Sunday afternoon game being moved to Monday night due to weather, it leaves one less day of recovery for the Bills before their next game.

“I mean you guys have heard we got the 24-hour rule, but when it’s a short week it’s got to be even quicker than that,” TE Dawson Knox said about the Bills’ turnaround time. “That 24-hour window to kind of enjoy the win, it’s got to be a little shorter so you know we’ll be getting in the training room even tonight taking care of our bodies, we got some players banged up that we’ll need, so we’ll be turning the page pretty quick.”

A man of few words known as stoic by his teammates, RB James Cook who led the ground game with 79 yards rushing on Monday perhaps said it best when asked about the matchup with Kansas City. 

“Two good game teams ready to come and play. May the best team win.”

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Report card: Bills fall 27-15 in preseason loss to the Steelers

Report card: #Bills fall 27-15 in preseason loss to the #Steelers:

The Buffalo lost its second preseason contest of 2023 to Pittsburgh 27-15 on Saturday.

While the final score may imply that it was close, the points came late in the game for the Bills, who looked outmatched at least for the day by the Steelers, who competed effectively in all three phases.

Based on previous comments by head coach Sean McDermott about not focusing much on the Colts ahead of their first preseason game, but instead on themselves and what they need to do and evaluate as a team and roster, it may be nothing to worry about.

It is, after all, only the preseason.

Then again, the Bills starting offense struggled to get going in limited action, and their defense failed to stop the Steelers offense.

Here’s how Bills Wire graded Buffalo’s performance against the Steelers…

Bills’ Stefon Diggs breaks down successes vs. Steelers coverage

#Bills’ Stefon Diggs breaks down successes vs. #Steelers coverage:

Buffalo defeated Pittsburgh 38-3 over the weekend thanks in part to a dynamic day in the passing game.

The Bills took full advantage of their air attack in the win over the Steelers, and it sounds like it has a lot to do with familiar coverage schemes by opposing defenses.

The teams’ top receiver Stefon Diggs shared on how the offense is attacking and finding such windows of opportunities for big plays like the one that landed him a TD catch in the contest.

“Every team is going to play you different,” Diggs said to the media after the game. “Some guys are going to call it and play, man, some guys have confidence in their guys, some guys want to play zone. Schematically, we’ve seen everything. We’ve seen the guys who crawl up and we get a lot of big plays. And then we see the guys who play it, we’re going to play zone, make ‘em move down the field one play at a time.”

Diggs would finish the day 8 for 11 with 102 yards and the touchdown.

The veteran knowledge and elite skill he brings to the offense has benefited Buffalo in more ways than one, as he’s notably played a part in the development of emerging star receiver Gabe Davis as well.

Even still, they along with their teammates and coaching staff know, no matter what type of defensive scheme is thrown their way, that there is always room for improvement.

“You learn a lot from your experience whether it’s positive or negative,” head coach Sean McDermott said on Monday via video conference. “You use it as you go forward and as a person individually, as a team in this case. When you’re in those games, just being in those games to begin with is a great educator for us as coaches, players, and our football team.”

The Bills will now turn their focus to an AFC rival in the Chiefs, who they’ll face in Kansas City next Sunday October 16th. It will be the teams first meeting since KC knocked the Bills out of last year’s playoffs.

With championship aspirations in their sights, Andy Reid’s team may be one of the final hurdles for Josh Allen and company en route to a Super Bowl appearance, so the game could once more preview yet another matchup between the conference heavyweights. 

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Bills rookies Khalil Shakir, James Cook score first NFL TDs: ‘Just took off’

#Bills rookies Khalil Shakir, James Cook score first NFL TDs: ‘Just took off’

The Buffalo Bills beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in convincing fashion Sunday, putting on an offensive display en route to a 38-3 victory.

While top target WRs Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis hauled in scoring tosses from Bills QB Josh Allen, there were plenty of opportunities to spread the ball around.

Two of the beneficiaries of that big day of offense were none other than two of the teams’ rookies they selected in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Just before halftime, WR Khalil Shakir caught a 24-yard TD completion.

“I just had a shoot route across the field,” Shakir said to the press after the game. “They were in man coverage, so I just noticed that and just took off.”

Later in the fourth quarter, RB James Cook got in on the action as well. Following a 41-yard catch by Diggs, the RB took a handoff from Allen all the way into the endzone on the next play for a 24-yard scoring run.

“I think it was a good read by him, good cut,” said head coach Sean McDermott to the media. “The O-line did a good job, and it looked like he had some blocking down the field.”

The TD marked the very first of the year for the Bills that didn’t come by way of a Josh Allen pass or run. Cook’s the first RB for Buffalo to score one rushing this season.

He celebrated with a leap into the arms of Bills fans in the stands.

“That’s great,” McDermott said. “Here’s a young man that played at Georgia, not really from around here, but he’s adjusting and (knows) enough to give Bills Mafia what they so deserve. And I think that’s pretty cool to watch a young man to have the wherewithal after his first touchdown and the awareness to celebrate that with the fans, so that’s special. It’s a feel-good moment, for sure.”

The coach wasn’t the only one to take notice of the rookies, as WR Stefon Diggs quipped “They did all right” during his press session alongside Shakir.

The Bills took the University of Georgia product Cook with their second-round selection in this year’s Draft, and Shakir out of Boise State in round five. With injuries on both sides of the ball, it was time for the rookies to step up to provide depth for the Buffalo offense, and they did just that and more.

For the passing game to continue to fire on all cylinders in the absence of weapons like starters TE Dawson Knox and WRs Isaiah McKenzie, Jamison Crowder and Jake Kumerow was significant and noticed by Allen.

“Talk about a guy like Shakir who gets thrown in the starting lineup,” Allen said during his postgame press session. “We’re down two slot guys, and he goes in there and has a great day.”

Another member of the receiver corps who has gone down a similar path is third-year WR Gabe Davis.

“Yeah, I mean I played that same role two years ago, my rookie year. I know how it is,” Davis said during his press conference. “It’s just a commitment and a certain type of discipline to this game. And Khalil has that, and he’s going to be a great player.”

The receiver sounded prepared for the role he was asked to play.

“I got plenty of reps throughout the week, so was just doing my job,” added Shakir about his day. “I look at it as: If Josh has enough trust to throw it up to me, with (that) many guys around me, then I’ve got to do my part, so he just threw it up, and honestly, just found the ball, made a play, and wasn’t trying to do too much or too little there- just trying to do my job.”

Davis seemed to know what they were getting in the rookie as well.

“We knew since Khalil came into OTAs that he was going to be a good player,” he continued. “He’s been consistent, he listens, he’s a smart player. To see him have games like that, it’s no surprise to us.”

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Bills to face Ben Roethlisberger, who restructures Steelers contract

Buffalo Bills will face QB Ben Roethlisberger in 2021.

Over the past few years, the Bills’ rise amongst the AFC ranks have placed Buffalo in some important head-to-head battles against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

For nearly two decades, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has lined up under center for the Steelers and in 2021, he’ll do so again for an 18th season. On Friday, Roethlisberger restructured his contract with the Steelers, which means he’ll be back again in the fold next season.

During 2021, the Bills are set to faceoff against the Steelers at home. If all goes according to plan in Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger will be there as well.

In signing this new deal, Big Ben saves the Steelers $15 million against the salary cap, according to Steelers Wire.

Roethlisberger, 39, did see his numbers dip off last season, though. After leading the NFL with 5,129 yards in 2018, the ensuing saw him only start two games before he was shut down for the 2019 season with an elbow injury.

Last year saw Roethlisberger only threw for 3,803 yards in 15 games played. Pittsburgh started the year 12-0 before a couple of late-season losses last year, including one to the Bills.

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Bills move into No. 2 seed in AFC after Steelers loss

Buffalo Bills are currently No. 2 seed in AFC after Steelers loss to Bengals on Monday Night Football Week 15.

A big week got even bigger for the Buffalo Bills in the late hours of Monday evening.

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost nothing short of a shocker on Monday Night Football to round out Week 15’s festivities in the NFL. The two-win Cincinnati Bengals, now the three-win Bengals, beat the Steelers 27-17.

Pittsburgh simply could not overcome a slow start in this one. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger only had seven yards passing in the first half.

The Steelers entered the game as 14.5 favorites in some sportsbooks, but still lost in Cincy.

After starting the year with 11-straight wins, Pittsburgh’s third loss of the year and in a row puts them in a tie with the Bills at 11-3 overall in the AFC playoff picture. But with the loss, the Bills move up from the third to second-seed in the playoff picture because of the head-to-head tiebreak Buffalo has on the Steelers. Buffalo topped the the Steelers, 26-15, on Dec. 13.

The loss to the Bengals is certainly the most alarming loss in the third-game losing skid for Pittsburgh, with the first two coming against Washington and Buffalo, respectively. The Football Team is, at minimal, in the fight to win the NFC East still. The Bengals were already looking toward the 2021 NFL Draft.

Heading into Week 16, the Bills can now clinch the No. 2 seed in the AFC postseason. To do so, Buffalo must beat the New England Patriots on next week’s Monday Night Football contest while the Steelers must lose to the Indianapolis Colts at home. Winning out would also do the trick for the Bills.

The Steelers’ loss is the cherry on top for perhaps the best weekend in Bills recent Bills history. Buffalo won their first AFC East title since 1995, while the New England Patriots were also knocked out of the playoffs this past weekend which… just feels nice.

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WATCH: Brian Baldinger blown away by Stefon Diggs route vs. Steelers

NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger on Stefon Diggs vs. Steelers.

NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger was nothing short of blown away by Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs on one route in particular against the Steelers in Week 14.

Just in an overall sense, Diggs was impressive with 10 catches, 130 yards and a touchdown in the 26-15 victory. But one route in particular against Steelers cornerback Cam Sutton caught Baldinger’s attention in one of analyst’s weekly “Blady Breakdowns.”

“I have never seen that before,” Baldinger said.

Check out the route here:

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