by Bo Marchionte
Orchard Park – It was a raucous crowd at Highmark Stadium. Football is a great game, but the fans make the atmosphere special, and few NFL stadiums capture the spirit of calculated chaos more than the Bills Mafia. The 69,787 fans in attendance made the old normalcy and fresh reality to see come to life again.
“It wasn’t looking pretty early,” joked Ben Roethlisberger in a slim fitted rose-colored suit after the big road win 23-16 over the Buffalo Bills. “That’s a hostile place. Those fans are awesome. They were loud. It was very very loud. A lot of environmental factors, that’s fans, that’s weather, that’s a really good defense, a good team.”
A big return 75-yard return by Buffalo’s Isaiah McKenzie on the game opening kickoff ignited an already gasoline saturated fanbase into an inferno. The Bills were the highest scoring team in the AFC last season with MVP candidate Josh Allen taking over on the Steelers 24-yard line, shook the core of even the most steadfast Steelers fan.
Pittsburgh’s defense rose to the occasion, allowing only five-yards on the opening drive and force Buffalo into a chip-shot field goal from second year kicker Tyler Bass.
“The ability to collectively smile in the face of adversity,” was the way Coach Tomlin described his team after one daunting stop after the next. “I thought the defenses ability to quell that and hold them to three was significant.”
Buffalo landed a big jab early, but Pittsburgh withstood the blow and for much of the first half this type of exchange unfolded time and time again. The Bills nearly doubled the time of possession (9:36), in the first half over the Steelers (5:24) that kept Roethlisberger and company at bay, while the defense fought to keep the game close.
In the closing seconds of the second quarter, Allen found Gabriel Davis in the back of end zone for a three-yard touchdown pass. A 10-point lead looked like a secure amount even with another half of football to be played, especially with the memory of last year’s lopsided affair that saw Pittsburgh lose 26-15 with zero offense.
Déjà vu was setting in before the teams headed to the locker room.
“They stood up in the face of not playing well early,” said Roethlisberger improved his overall record (5-1) against the Bills. “We didn’t make the big mistake either and that was huge. We didn’t do what we wanted to do but we didn’t turn the ball over. We didn’t do anything catastrophic, so the fact that we come in at halftime and there wasn’t a big rah-rah no one really spoke and acted crazy. It was just ok, this is what we are going to do in the second half and lets go do it.”
Pittsburgh drove 69-yards one ten plays at the onset of the third quarter and walked away with three-points. A long drive that kept the defense fresh was a plus but with so much time and no touchdowns, not even LL Cool J was calling it a ‘Comeback’ at that point.
Buffalo went for it on fourth down three times in the second half, converting one attempt and allowing significantly better field position for an offense that was slowly finding a rhythm for Roethlisberger and company.
Methodically, Pittsburgh began inching back into the game in the third quarter.
A field goal early put Pittsburgh on the board, trailing 10-3. A failed 4-and-8 attempt by Buffalo led to another field goal by Pittsburgh. Buffalo elected to try another fourth down try that yielded a seven-yard loss after a bizarre pitch from Allen to Matt Breida.
Pittsburgh would capitalize with a quick strike drive of 52-yards on four plays to take the lead 13-10.
What happened next is written only in Hollywood. Pinned deep on their own territory, Pittsburgh’s special teams would come up with eh play that change the game.
“We needed a splash play like that,” said Tomlin. “Like I mentioned we spotted them three points to start the game. So, at halftime I heard a lot of the core special team players Derek Watt and other saying we have even the score from that perspective. We needed splash in that phase of the game and boy did they deliver and deliver big.”
Back-up safety Miles Killebrew blocked Matt Haack’s punt that was scooped up and returned nine yards into the end zone by linebacker Ulysses Gilbert III.
Twenty unanswered points, put Pittsburgh up by 10, while quieting a fortress of Bills Mafia taking to the exits early with over nine minutes left in the final quarter of action. Maybe they knew the outcome or are just lousy fans, none the less, some began to exit.
An exchange of field goals did little to impact the damage done by Pittsburgh in the second half. The final score of 23-16 appeared on the giant Mitsubishi scoreboard.
In the end, silence filled Highmark Stadium. Silence filled the Bills locker room.
Ironically the loudest noise was coming out of the victorious locker room of the Steelers. It penetrated the walls of an overcrowded and stuffy media room where sweat was as abundant as the cheers and screams from the players who won the game.
“Like I said, guys understand what just happened,” said Roethlisberger who replied to the joyous scene going on behind closed doors of the Steelers locker room. “We played a really good football team. They returned a lot of players. They were really good last year. And it wasn’t looking pretty early. But we persevered, we fought through it, and we found a way to win.
“Yeah, guys were excited.”
Game Notes
Ben Roethlisberger is 5-1 against the Buffalo Bills, but historically below average. Prior to today’s game his career 94% passer rating drops by almost 25% (24.8), when facing Buffalo. His respectable lifetime completion rating of 64.4 dips to just 58.7 versus the Bills. In the win today, he managed a slight to post an 83.7 passer rating but completed only 51% of his passes. The first stat in the paragraph is the most important, he is 5-1 lifetime against the Bills.
Najee Harris becomes the most productive rookie first round running back in Steelers’ history. Ok, let me explain. The Steelers have drafted six running backs in the first round. Franco Harris, Tim Worley and Rashad Mendenhall all has ten carries in their first NFL game and Harris had 16. Worley led all runners prior to Harris’s debut with 36-yards, but Harris would fight hard to put 45-yards in the box score.
T.J. Watt signed a new five-year contract, the team announced on Friday. On Thursday, multiple reports surfaced saying the two sides agree to a four-year, $112 million contract extension with $80 million guaranteed, making him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player. Watt would finish with two sacks and a huge forced fumble on Josh Allen. After one week, Pittsburgh got a return on their dividends.
Photo Credit Frank Hyatt