Tag: bills steelers

Josh Allen, Ben Roethlisberger exchange huge compliments ahead of Bills-Steelers

QB Josh Allen, QB Ben Roethlisberger compliment each other ahead of Bills-Steelers in Week 14.

Hard to find any professional athlete in 2020 just throwing any guy on the opposing team under the bus. Heck, if it avoids ruffling any feathers, they’d probably call the other team’s water boy Bobby Boucher.

But ahead of their two teams meeting on Sunday Night Football in Week 14, Bills quarterback Josh Allen and longtime Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger went above and beyond with the warm and fuzzy feelings this week.

“What he’s been able to do in his career, winning a couple of Super Bowls, just the consistency that he’s been able to do it on, too,” Allen said via video conference. “He’s been doing it a long time, he’s had a lot of success and I’d argue that he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer.”

“Very humbled to be named in the same conversation as him,” Allen added.

While Allen isn’t quite going to be a Hall of Famer any time soon because… well, he’s only 24, Roethlisberger did toss the love back in a more age-appropriate manner. Earlier in the season, some speculated Allen could be in the MVP race. Since then, he’s mostly fallen off. Don’t tell that to Roethlisberger, though.

“They’re a very good football team, they’re playing with a lot of confident. They’ve got a quarterback that’s playing at an MVP level,” via video conference.

Roethlisberger wasn’t along in thinking highly of the Bills (9-3) QB. Also in his video interview, All-Pro defensive end Cam Heyward did bring up a tale as old as time. Perhaps due to the ol’ Buffalo-Carolina connections, we hear Allen compared to Cam Newton a lot. Alas, there are some who did the same with Roethlisberger. Heyward did just that.

“Josh Allen is a great quarterback. He’s a heck of a competitor, competes every play. He’s very similar to a young Ben who can extend plays in the pocket, and make plays with his feet as well,” Heyward said.

In Heyward’s assessment, there is a keyword, though. A “young” Roethlisberger. In 2020, Roethlisberger can still use his size to get away from guys, he hasn’t shrunk or anything. But in 2019, he missed all of the season, including a 17-10 loss to the Bills, due to an elbow injury. Now in 2020, Pittsburgh (11-1) QB’s game has changed.

He dinks and dunks the ball a lot more instead of extending those plays. It’s Roethlisberger 2.0 while Allen is the original Roethlisberger.

Regardless of comparison and compliments, both quarterbacks will know how important a potential win against one another will be on Sunday. Both side have likely locked up playoff berth, but seeding is very much up for grabs still in the AFC.

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Steelers activate James Conner from Reserve/COVID list

James Conner returns from Steelers Reserve/COVID list ahead of Bills in Week 14.

James Conner is back for the Steelers.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, ahead of their Week 14 meeting with the Bills on Sunday Night Football, the Steelers have activated running back James Conner from their Reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday.

The Steelers (11-1) suffered their first lost of the 2020 season just last week against the Football Team, 23-17, and they were without Conner for the matchup. Conner also missed the one prior to that in Week 12. Conner had previously tested positive for the virus.

Against Washington, the Steelers had only had 21 total rushing yards in the loss. Anthony McFarland Jr. mustered 15 of those. Conner has five touchdowns and is averaging 4.4 yards per carry in 2020.

In addition, the Steelers previously placed starting center Maurkice Pouncey on the same designation as well. At this time, Pouncey remains on the Reserve/COVID list.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on Tuesday that both Conner and Pouncey have a chance to return to their lineup against Buffalo (9-3).

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Steelers activate James Conner from Reserve/COVID list

James Conner returns from Steelers Reserve/COVID list ahead of Bills in Week 14.

James Conner is back for the Steelers.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, ahead of their Week 14 meeting with the Bills on Sunday Night Football, the Steelers have activated running back James Conner from their Reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday

The Steelers (11-1) suffered their first lost of the 2020 season just last week against the Football Team, 23-17, and they were without Conner for the matchup and their one prior to that in Week 12. Conner had previously tested positive for the virus.

Against Washington, the Steelers as a team only had 21 rushing yards.

In addition, the Steelers placed starting center Maurkice Pouncey on the same designation prior to their Washington loss as well. At this time, Pouncey remains on their Reserve/COVID list.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on Tuesday that both Conner and Pouncey have a chance to return to their lineup against Buffalo (9-3).

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ESPN’s Jeff Saturday, Greg McElroy think Bills can top unbeaten Steelers

ESPN analysts Jeff Saturday, Greg McElroy say Buffalo Bills can beat undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers.

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There’s at least two guys working for the world-wide leader that currently have some huge faith in the Buffalo Bills.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s roundtable morning program Get Up! was discussion another NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then the attention turned onto the Bills (7-3). Currently the lone undefeated team remaining in the league at 10-0, the two analysts, Jeff Saturday and Greg McElroy discussed who of the Steelers’ remaining 2020 regular season opponents could top them before the end of the year.

You probably guessed it by now, both of the former NFL players went though the Steelers’ schedule and said Buffalo is the team that’s going to give them the biggest challenge down the stretch.

“I think that road game in December, in Buffalo, on a Sunday night? Woo, that’s tough game,” McElroy said. “Phillip Rivers is starting to find himself, but it’s also at home [in Pittsburgh], too. I like their chances there at home. But going on the road to Buffalo on Sunday Night? In December? I don’t like their chances there.”

Saturday made a smart mention of one thing: The final game or two of the Steelers’ schedule. Could Pittsburgh be in a position to rest their starters those games? While going undefeated is cool, you don’t get a banner for that, so if things fall the right way, perhaps the Steelers could just rest their starters even if they are undefeated.

But in terms of selecting one of their final six games that could pose the biggest problem? The Bills are Saturday’s No. 1 pick, too.

“They got a shot at it [going undefeated], but you go Bills… and potentially Colts, both of them could give [the Steelers] a run,” Saturday said.

For what it’s worth, here’s who the Steelers are slated to play in their final six games:

  • Week 12 (TNF): vs. Ravens (6-4)
  • Week 13: vs. Football Team (3-7)
  • Week 14 (SNF): at Bills (7-3)
  • Week 15 (MNF): at Bengals (2-7-1)
  • Week 16: vs. Colts (7-3)
  • Week 17: at Browns (7-3)

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Brothers, parents keep Tremaine Edmunds motivated during offseason

Tremaine Edmunds, brother Trey, on the 2020 NFL offseason.

This NFL offseason is much, much different. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic keeping players and coaching staffs away from one another, spring workouts are being done virtually.

But Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds has a top-notch system keeping him in check.

His family.

Edmunds has two brothers, both rostered by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Being in quarantine with a couple of NFLers helps. But mom and dad are helping, too. Their father, Ferrell, is a former NFL player himself. But mother, Cookie, is a former track star and P.E. teacher.

According to the brothers, both are not letting the trio slack off one bit.

“Wouldn’t say [working out] is a challenge for us because we have two parents that stay on our backs about it,” Terrell Edmunds told WDBJ-TV.  “I really just hope we have a season, I think everyone would say that.”

The brothers are working out at a high school field near their hometown in Virginia. Both parents are incorporating workouts their respective teams have sent them to do, while also adding their own personal twists to it to make sure the boys are getting in their reps.

“Everybody is going through this, so we are trying to find ways to adjust to this every day, but I think it is very effective and we are getting something out of it,” said Tremaine Edmunds said.

While not ever wishing for such a pandemic to ever happen again, perhaps this could be a blessing in disguise for the brothers if they’re getting in some positive workouts thanks to their parents. Tremaine Edmunds is fresh off his second season with the Bills, a year which garnered him Pro Bowl honors. He’ll look to add to his resume in 2020 in what could be a big season for his team.

 

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By the numbers: 6 key stats from Bills’ playoff-clinching win over Steelers

Six stats to know from the Buffalo Bills’ Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Style points? Who needs ’em. Weak schedule? So what. Streaky quarterback play? No argument here.

Say whatever you like, nitpick all you want; the Buffalo Bills are postseason bound. This team wins ugly, sure, but it wins. 

Buffalo was on-brand Sunday night, outslugging the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-10 in a defensive standoff at Heinz Field to punch their ticket to the postseason on Sunday Night Football.

Here’s a look at how they got there with six key stats from the win:

Five

It’s been a common theme throughout the season for the Bills: it starts and ends with defense.

Buffalo’s five takeaways established a new season high, after picking off Devlin Hodges four times and recovering a fumble off a botched wild cat rushing attempt. The Bills are now plus-five in turnover differential on the season and their 21 takeaways has them tied for ninth in the league. New England leads the league in both turnover differential (+24) and takeaways (36).

715

What would be prove to be Tyler Kroft’s game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter Sunday came 715 days after his last touchdown – on Dec. 31, 2017– against the Baltimore Ravens as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

That game, as you likely recall, helped Buffalo end a 17-year playoff drought, as the Bengals stunned the Ravens 31-27 to end Baltimore’s season and send Buffalo to the postseason.

Sunday’s 14-yard score was Kroft’s first as a Bill and the ninth of his NFL career. It was his second score against the Steelers, both of which came at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

1,007

John Brown snapped a three-game streak of failing to reach 50 yards receiving in style Sunday night.

Brown hauled in seven passes for 99 yards – including a season-long 40-yard reception in the fourth quarter to set up the game-winning score. Over his past three games combined, Brown had 91 total receiving yards.

Brown eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the season in the victory, and now sits at 1,007 yards and five touchdowns on 71 receptions. He is the first Bills receiver to surpass 1,000 yards in a single season since Sammy Watkins had 1,047 yards in 2015.

Nine

It was a lukewarm performance in the passing game for Josh Allen Sunday, as he threw for a season-low 139 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 13-of-25 passing.

While Allen was relatively unproductive through the air, he kept pace on the ground, notching his ninth rushing touchdown on the year. His nine rushing touchdowns ranks 8th in the league among all players and first among quarterbacks. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Houston’s Deshaun Watson each have seven rushing touchdowns.

Four

Sitting at 10-4, the Bills have clinched a playoff berth. To date, Buffalo has shown itself to be steady and resilient, going 4-0 following a loss.
In the four games following a loss, the Bills have outscored opponents 92-46 and have held their opponents to 10 or fewer points three times.

+6.5

There isn’t a tougher game on Buffalo’s regular season schedule than a late-December date with New England at Gillette Stadium thi supcoming Sunday.

That’s exactly what the Bills are up against this week, as they take on the division-leading Patriots with Buffalo’s slim AFC East title hopes on the line.
The Bills opened up as a 6.5-point underdog against a Patriot team who has won the last six games in the match-up; Buffalo’s last win in New England came in 2016, when the Bills shut out the Jacoby Brissett-led Patriots 16-0 in Week 4.

The Bills (10-4) are 9-4-1 against the spread, while the Patriots (11-3) are just 8-6 against the number.

Buffalo is 6-0-1 ATS on the road; New England is 1-6 ATS at home.
The over/ under is set for 38.5.

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Bills snap counts: Depth chart breakdown vs. Steelers

Buffalo Bills Week 15 snap counts against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In front of a lot of eyes, the Buffalo Bills clinched a playoff berth with a 17-10 win on Sunday Night Football.

It was a defensive showcase for most of it, but when needed in crunch time, the Bills offense ended up with more numbers on the scoreboard than the Steelers when it was all said and done.

Who took charge in both the good and bad of the game? Here’s a full depth chart breakdown via snap counts for the Bills against the Steelers in Week 15:

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. (AP Photo/Don Wright)

Offense

Notes:

  • Only Jon Feliciano, who briefly went down with injury, did not play in 100 percent of snaps along the Bills’ offensive line.
  • For the fourth-straight game, rookie Cody Ford played in every snap. Ty Nsekhe (ankle) was still injured and missed the game.
  • WR Robert Foster did not play a snap on offense. In Week 14 against the Ravens, he saw 25 percent of snaps on offense. The Bills used less 11 personnel, likely to help with blockers, as Isaiah McKenzie only played 46 percent of snaps after seeing 72 percent last week.
  • Over the past three games, respectively, WR Cole Beasley played in 99%, 89% and 81% of snaps. Against the Steelers, he only saw 69 percent of snaps.
  • OL Spencer Long filled in for Feliciano and played seven snaps in the game.
  • TEs Dawson Knox and Lee Smith both played in 48 percent of snaps, likely to help with blocking. Knox was playing in more than 72 percent of snaps over the past four-straight games prior to facing the Steelers.
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Stock up, stock down following the Bills’ win over the Steelers

Stock report following Buffalo Bills’ 17-10 Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Bills topped the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-10 in Week 15 to secure a spot in the postseason dance. Buffalo sits at the No. 5 seed, the AFC’s first Wild Card spot, with a 10-4 overall record.

To get there, the Bills beat the team right behind them at the No. 6 seed and in front of a national audience.

With that audience in mind, here’s Bills Wire’s weekly stock report following the Bills’ win over the Steelers on Sunday Night Football:

Stock up
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

QB Josh Allen

In no way did Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen have a great overall game. He rarely does. Allen finished the game 13-for-25 passing for only 139 yards in the air with a passing score and interception. His interception went off a receiver’s hands. On the ground, Allen added another 28 yards and a rushing score.

But when it mattered most, Allen was there to increase his stock. On Buffalo’s game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, Allen was 2-for-4 passing, which included a 40-yard strike to John Brown down the sideline and a 14-yard touchdown to tight end Tyler Kroft to put his team ahead. Allen is not a complete product, but he’s tied with Seattle’s Russell Wilson for the NFL lead in game-winning drives this year. They both have five. This is a good thing.

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Bills-Steelers draws huge TV ratings

Television ratings for Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football.

When the Bills topped the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, it was the most-watched Thanksgiving football extravaganza in several years.

The Bills had another primetime win in Week 15, this time a 17-10 victory over the Steelers, and a lot of people watched that, too.

NBC Sports announced on Monday that the Sunday Night Football contest, the first the Bills have played in for more than a decade, was the No. 1 primetime television show, overall, for the week.

After back-to-back promising chunks of the ratings for the Bills on a national stage, could the club expect more spotlighted game in 2020? With a playoff berth already clinched, it’s a reasonable thing for Bills fans to expect.

But if those two weren’t convincing enough, this upcoming week the Bills are in the national spotlight of sorts once again. The Bills visit the Patriots for a 4:30 p.m. kick on Saturday.

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Bills defense says Steelers’ Duck Hodges fueled them to win

The Bills defense wasn’t playing games on Sunday Night Football against the Steelers. 

The Bills defense wasn’t playing games on Sunday Night Football against the Steelers.

The dominating side of the ball for the Bills held the Pittsburgh Steelers to 229 total yards in the 17-10 win for Buffalo.

Featured running back James Conner returned to the lineup and only had 42 yards rushing. Quarterback Devlin Hodges suffered his first loss as a starter in his career and was 23-for-38 for 202 yards in the game.

Hodges had a score, but four interceptions as well.

Following the game, two Bills defenders, Shaq Lawson and Jerry Hughes, said some comments motivated the Bills in this one. Comments made by Hodges.

Prior to the game, Hodges joked a duck, his nickname, would play better in cold weather on Sunday. He also didn’t have the biggest endorsement of the Bills defense.

“[Buffalo’s defense is] just a solid group. They’ve got really good players just all around, I don’t know if there’s anything they do that’s special, they’re just one of those solid, solid defenses that comes each and every week,” Hodges said.

Hodges didn’t say the Bills defense sucked, or even was bad, by any means. The damage was clearly done.

“When you’ve got Duck running his mouth throughout the week. That’s the extra motivation that we needed,” Hughes told reporters. “Like I said, he went out there, and he talked a big game and our secondary showed up and came up big.

“Guys were fired up. We’ve got a quarterback that’s out there talking trash, that’s what makes football exciting. You go out there, play the game, pin your ears back, and have fun,” Hughes said.

“I was quiet all week. I was quiet all week. I was going to wait till the game and talk my junk,” Lawson added. “I had to say some words to (Hodges). I said ‘duck, duck, goose.’ Just letting him know… you only start three games or how many games you started? You can’t just go out there and talk junk like that. He saw we’re a normal defense? A normal defense got five turnovers? How many sacks? So, I mean, that’s just not a normal defense.”

By clinching a playoff berth, the Bills secured at least three more games this season, including playoffs. From the sounds of it, you won’t find many opponents saying anything remotely negative against the Bills.

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