TONY’S TAKE – A PREVIEW OF BILLS-STEELERS
- Tony Fiorello
- 6 days ago
- 20 min read
by Tony Fiorello
Welcome to Week 13 of the 2025 NFL season. Here at Buffalo Sports Page we will attempt to inform and educate our readers about the Buffalo Bills’ upcoming opponent and what each team might do to emerge victorious.
The Bills’ 12th game of 2025 will take place at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as they face the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here’s what you should know:
STEELERS COMPETING WITH NEW FACES ON OFFENSE
While some things have stayed the same about the Pittsburgh Steelers, others have changed tremendously. Because of many factors, Pittsburgh’s offense has done an about-face in recent years but head coach Mike Tomlin and company have navigated through those issues (especially at quarterback and offensive coordinator) to consistently finish with winning records.
Following little success with former play callers Randy Fichtner and Matt Canada over the last few seasons, Tomlin hired ex-Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith a year ago. While Smith struggled to figure out how to use his offensive weapons effectively while in the NFC South, he did have some success as the coordinator of the Tennessee Titans from 2019-20 so Tomlin is banking on him rekindling that magic.
While with the Titans and Falcons, Smith employed a version of the Shanahan-Kubiak-McVay branch of the West Coast offense that has taken the NFL by storm in recent years. It emphasizes a running game built around zone-blocking (especially to the outside on “stretch” plays) and passes that are created off the threat of run-action.
The system is a philosophy that can create a lot of big plays down the field from craftily designed routes that work off one another, and the skill position players often line up in reduced splits to the line of scrimmage to become both extra blockers on runs and to have more room to run routes on the field. However, Smith has been operating a passing game that has relied almost exclusively on three-step drops, a quick passing game and the lowest number of intermediate throws in the NFL.
After the retirement of future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger after 2021 and churning through a few options in his wake (Mitchell Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson), Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan acquired future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers to run this system this past summer.
Nearly 42 years old, when healthy Rodgers is as strong-armed, accurate and intelligent as he was earlier in his career, but what’s interesting about Rodgers is at times he won’t play “on schedule”, as coaches like to put it. Sometimes he will try to play sandlot football – meaning not looking at his first receiver and holding onto the ball for too long to try and make a greater play than what the original call designed – but that approach may be working against him now as his mobility is diminished thanks to a torn Achilles tendon suffered two years ago and a torn MCL last season.
According to former MMQB/SI writer Andy Benoit: “Though he is capable of beating defenses with presnap reads and quick throws, Rodgers frequently passes up open receivers and leaves clean pockets, which would warrant a reprimand for most QBs. But he’s so exceptional that he often goes on to make a better play.
“The tricky part is that Rodgers’s approach is more conducive to spread formations and isolation routes which, when relied upon too heavily, can lead to dry spells in the passing game. The challenge is to find the proper mix.”
Pittsburgh features a downhill running game with multiple tight end sets and lots of concepts involving “duo” (a form of inside zone), double-trap draws and outside zone-toss plays. The Steelers have a pair of threats at running back in Jaylen Warren – who has some juice to his game – and ex-Eagle Kenneth Gainwell, a receiving threat out of the backfield.
They run behind a line that has also undergone a makeover the last few years. With longtime stalwarts like David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey and Alejandro Villanueva all gone, their replacements have included the likes of Troy Fautanu, Issac Seumalo, Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick and Broderick Jones (out for Sunday). This group struggles from time to time to get to the second level in the run game.
Pittsburgh’s pass catchers are led by a gifted wideout in D.K. Metcalf. Metcalf can run slants, posts, “sluggos” (slant and gos) and go routes from the boundary ‘X’ position (the single receiver on the opposite side of a formation while others line up on another). While not especially quick, he has excellent body control and size and can make contested catches along the sidelines.
Metcalf is joined by the smaller but speedy Calvin Austin III, Roman Wilson and Scotty Miller. Supplementing them are tight ends Pat Freiermuth – who reminds some of former Steeler Heath Miller in that he is a reliable third-down weapon and can contribute in the red zone – the well-traveled Jonnu Smith and Darnell Washington, an excellent blocker and a mountain of a man at 6’7” and 264 pounds.
The Steelers ended 2023 27th in scoring, 13th in rushing and 25th in total yards and passing yards, and 2024 was more of the same, as they were 23rd in total yards, 27th in passing, 11th in rushing and 16th in points. 2025, alas, hasn’t been any better as Pittsburgh ranks 27th in both total and rushing yards gained, and 22nd in passing. But they’re 11th in scoring.
PITTSBURGH NOT LIVING UP TO “BLITZBURGH” NICKNAME
For many years, Pittsburgh has been known as “Blitzburgh” – an aggressive, complex defense to figure out for any opponent due to their zone-blitzing scheme that has more or less stayed the same since Bill Cowher, Dom Capers and Dick LeBeau took over the team in 1992. Tomlin and current defensive coordinator Teryl Austin have continued to employ those tactics over the last few years.
Pittsburgh ended the 2024 season 12th in total yards, 25th against the pass, sixth versus the run, eighth in points allowed, tied for 16th in sacks and tied for first in takeaways but 2025, however, has seen this unit take a nosedive. So far they’re just 20th in points surrendered, 28th in total yards allowed, second-last against the pass and 15th versus the run (although they’re fifth in sacks and tied for second in takeaways).
The biggest reason for its falloff? The Steelers’ secondary. Employing a ton of veterans who some might consider to be long in the tooth, there have been multiple instances of blown coverages, poor communication and too many voids in Pittsburgh’s zones this year – three-level passing concepts and motions to stacks and bunches have been particularly effective.
Attempting to execute defensive coordinator Teryl Austin’s preferred Cover One, Two and Three-robber (sometimes Cover Six) pass defenses are ex-Eagle Darius Slay, the inconsistent Joey Porter Jr., Asante Samuel Jr. (currently on the practice squad) and slot corner Brandin Echols. Three-time All-Pro Jalen Ramsey has been moved to safety and is still adjusting to the position. He’s accompanied by Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, Chuck Clark and DeShon Elliott (injured).
At inside linebacker are the underrated Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson, who has become a nice sub-defender in pass coverage. On the edge, Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt – the younger brother of future Hall of Fame defensive end J.J. Watt – are one of the most disruptive pass-rushing tandems in football (Watt tied Hall of Famer Michael Strahan for the NFL’s single season sack record with 22.5 back in 2021) and they can also cover and stop the run at a high level. Watt is also the only defender in league history to lead the league in sacks three different times.
Playing in front of Watt and Highsmith are defensive linemen Cameron Heyward (who combines great technique with high-level quickness and strength), nose tackle Keeanu Benton and rookie Derrick Harmon (out for Sunday).
BUFFALO’S DEFENSE USUALLY GOOD, BUT HAS HAD A ROUGH 2024 AND ‘25
For most of head coach Sean McDermott’s time in Buffalo, the Bills’ defense was one of the league’s best. Points allowed (fourth in the NFL in that category in 2023), total yards per game allowed (ninth), passing yards given up (seventh), rushing yards surrendered (15th), takeaways (third), interceptions (tied for fourth) and sacks (fourth, tied for second-most in their history with the 2014 team) have generally been the categories that the Bills have excelled at over the years, with 2023’s sack total being the best of the McDermott era.
2024, however, was a year of transition for the Bills on defense. Due to age and salary cap complications, out the door were longtime veterans such as Jordan Poyer and Tyrel Dodson (Miami Dolphins), Tre’Davious White (Baltimore Ravens), Leonard Floyd (San Francisco 49ers, who had 10.5 sacks in 2023 – the most of any Bill since Lorenzo Alexander in 2016), Linval Joseph (Dallas Cowboys), Tim Settle (Houston Texans), Kaylon “Poona” Ford (Los Angeles Chargers), Dane Jackson and Shaq Lawson (Carolina Panthers).
Especially when one includes names from the past on the defensive line such as Kyle Williams, Marcel Dareus, Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison, Star Lotulelei, Quinton Jefferson, Carlos “Boogie” Basham, Trent Murphy, Vernon Butler, Justin Zimmer, Efe Obada, Harrison Phillips, Dawuane Smoot, Austin Johnson and Casey Toohill – that’s a lot of turnover during the last eight years. The answer, according to McDermott, general manager Brandon Beane and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, is youth and cheap veterans to provide cost-effective depth (Buffalo made it to the AFC title game last year with the third-most dead money on the salary cap in the NFL and used just 71 percent of the cap).
Some of those younger players – albeit young veterans since they are in their fifth and sixth professional seasons, respectively – who have been asked to take on a greater role include Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa, who can both line up on the edge and go inside in passing situations. Da’Quan Jones, perhaps their best run-stuffing lineman, is effective on T-T stunts with Ed Oliver (out for the rest of the regular season), an excellent gap penetrator.
They are backed up by familiar faces in Lawson and Jordan Phillips and second-year men Javon Solomon and DeWayne Carter (Carter is out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon) while rookies Deone Walker, T.J. Sanders and Landon Jackson (currently injured) learn the ropes of the NFL. Ex-Charger Joey Bosa, a five-time Pro Bowler and 10-year pro, fills the role that future Hall of Famer Von Miller settled into after a torn ACL 11 games into his first season compromised his play on the field. Additionally, veterans Morgan Fox, Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoecht provide valuable depth (Hoecht, out for the season after tearing his Achilles tendon, is an intelligent and versatile chess piece who can be deployed in multiple ways).
Over the years Buffalo has been inconsistent in two areas – creating a consistent pass rush and stopping the run. The run issues are mainly caused by poor tackling (their missed and broken tackle percentage has been among the highest in the NFL for years), a lack of gap integrity and ability to get off blocks, subpar eye discipline, inefficient communication and an inability to handle motion and misdirection (which causes issues with leverage, spacing and run fits). Perhaps the infusion of new faces this season can eventually put those issues to bed once and for all, but they’ve reared their ugly heads yet again in 2025.
Schematically the Bills’ defense mostly relies on basic zones after the snap (they’re typically among the top units in the NFL in usage of coverages with two high safeties such as Cover Two, Four and Six, although they’ve used more single-high man coverages recently so they could put more bodies in the box to stop the run and to limit communication) but before the snap it is complex. Safety rotations to disguise their intentions keep opposing quarterbacks guessing and selective pressure looks at the line of scrimmage and coverage exchanges are the team’s calling cards.
Those blitz looks usually happen in the A-gaps with the smaller, but smart, speedy and athletic Matt Milano and Terrell Bernard to confuse opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks, but Buffalo rarely sends five or more pass rushers – their favorite blitz tactic besides A-gappers are four-man zone exchanges. In 2024’s regular season they were 27th in blitz rate but Buffalo blitzed Lamar Jackson on 15 out of 31 drop-backs (48.4%) in the playoffs, their fifth-highest blitz rate in a game under McDermott and their highest in a game since Week 15 of 2021, according to Next Gen Stats.
Bernard (out for Sunday) has become a good blitzer and coverage ‘backer – his 6.5 sacks in 2023 were the most by an off-the-ball linebacker in Bills annals and he became the first NFL player since Seth Joyner in 1991 with six sacks, three picks and three fumble recoveries in a season. He and Milano are also adept at being used to spy quarterbacks – they spied Jackson on every third down in last year’s postseason – but Bernard, like most of the Bills, has dealt with injuries and hasn’t quite looked like himself.
For the third straight year, Milano suffered another major injury – this time a pectoral problem (although he’s healthy enough to play as of now). When he misses time, Dorian Williams usually picks up the slack. Williams has displayed flashes of quickness and burst but is sometimes slow to key and diagnose at the line of scrimmage. He also takes many false steps and needs to process better while in coverage, but is athletic, long and fluid and has improved with more experience game by game. He had increased playing time in the playoffs to stop Baltimore’s running game, as evidenced by being on the field for a third of Buffalo’s snaps.
Additional depth comes from former Carolina Panther Shaq Thompson and Joe Andreessen. Andreessen, a University at Buffalo product who hails from nearby Lancaster, showed excellent diagnostic skills at the line of scrimmage in the preseason while also displaying strong hands, a quick downhill trigger that allows him to shoot gaps well and some speed and range. It helps that he played in a similar role as Milano while in college. Thompson, meanwhile, has turned back the clock with some strong performances in pass coverage.
The Bills have mainly utilized nickel personnel, as evidenced by Buffalo using five defensive backs between 90 and 100 percent of their snaps since 2020 but their percentage of 4-3 base personnel has gone up this year to combat the run. When Milano is out with injury, they also increase their usage of dime personnel with three safeties to help offset his loss in pass coverage and in the past, that setup featured Poyer near the line of scrimmage, Micah Hyde and ex-Ram Taylor Rapp on the back end.
The Bills’ safety position is currently manned by the aging but still capable Poyer and Cole Bishop (an underrated and cerebral athlete). Rapp, who is better playing near the line of scrimmage and the rangy and physical but inconsistent Damar Hamlin are both on injured reserve.
At the boundary cornerback spots are White (who, like Poyer, is back after a year away to replace Rasul Douglas) and Christian Benford and they are backed up by the tall and physical Ja’Marcus Ingram, Dane Jackson (another experienced face back on the practice squad) and speedy rookies Max Hairston and Dorian Strong (also on injured reserve). Slot corner Taron Johnson remains strong in the quickness and tackling departments and he’s backed up by Cam Lewis and rookie Jordan Hancock, who can both fill in at safety too.
2024 saw the Bills end the regular season 11th in points allowed, 12th against the run, 17th in total yards, tied for 18th in sacks and 24th versus the pass. They were also 29th in third down percentage, gave up the most completions, yards and touchdowns in the NFL on screen plays and allowed nine touchdowns on plays of four seconds or longer – the most in the league according to Cover 1’s Eric Turner. However, they were third in takeaways and were fifth-best in allowing plays of 20 yards or more.
Yet the team’s start to the 2025 season has been quite uneven. Although they’re first versus the pass, they’re just 17th in points allowed, 13th in total yards given up and third-last versus the run. Clearly McDermott – who has had a bigger say in play-calling on gameday lately – and Babich have their work cut out for them on this side of the ball.
BILLS’ OFFENSE IS UPPER-ECHELON, BUT QUESTIONS PERSIST ABOUT PASSING GAME
For five consecutive seasons, the Bills boasted one of the NFL’s elite offenses for the first time since the K-Gun was running roughshod over the league more than 30 years ago. Led by quarterback Josh Allen’s improved processing skills both pre and post-snap, ball placement, patience within the pocket and touch on passes and a cadre of gifted pass-catchers, those factors allowed Buffalo to become one of the most feared attacks in pro football (last year Allen was ninth in passer rating and rushing touchdowns and tied for seventh in passing scores).
In 2023 the Bills were sixth in scoring, fourth in total yards, seventh in rushing and eighth in passing. They were also fifth in red zone efficiency, yet their offense performed poorly over a six-game stretch where they averaged just 20.5 points per game. It resulted in then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey getting the boot in favor of quarterbacks coach and former Carolina Panthers play-caller Joe Brady.
Like their defensive counterparts, the Bills went through changes on this side of the ball because of age, the salary cap and a new coordinator. With Brady taking over the role full-time, the biggest philosophical question on offense for Buffalo was how to retain elements of what made them so good in the first place while adding new and fresh concepts.
Between 2018 and ‘23, Buffalo’s offense was an Erhardt-Perkins system brought in from New England by then-coordinator Brian Daboll. It was built upon concepts involving option and crossing routes from the slot, downfield routes from the outside, run-pass options (especially in the red zone), designed quarterback runs to take advantage of Allen’s mobility and alignments that created favorable matchups and some trick plays with jet/orbit motion and sweeps. It was mostly out of “11” personnel groupings (one back, one tight end and three wide receivers) and “10” personnel (one back, no tight ends, four receivers) – and they would also go no-huddle from time to time to limit the opposition’s defensive calls.
The Bills’ multi-receiver sets were traditionally their offensive calling card. In 2020 they used four wide receivers or more 155 times – the second-most in the NFL at the time – and they utilized someone in motion on 43 percent of their offensive snaps, a huge increase from their 25 percent rate in 2019. Daboll, the ex-head coach of the New York Giants, also called for a passing play on 64 percent of their first downs, according to ESPN Stats and Information (no team with a winning record in the prior 20 years did it more than Buffalo) and that rate continued in 2021 and ’22 with “11” personnel used on nearly three-quarters of their plays.
Daboll’s successor, Ken Dorsey, got away from some of those concepts and tried to rely on the talent at his disposal winning one-on-one matchups instead of having the scheme get them open. Once Brady was promoted, the Bills returned to them. He also included more under-center formations and play-action (which can still stand to increase after being a top-four team in run-fakes in 2020 and ’21), pre-snap shifts, motions and designed passes to running backs and route combinations with defined reads for Allen so he can play within timing and structure, but he does need to be better at creating spacing in his route concepts – especially at the intermediate levels.
Brady got his start in the NFL working for the New Orleans Saints and then-coach Sean Payton. Payton himself came from a melting pot of a background including stints running the Erhardt-Perkins scheme for Bill Parcells in Dallas and learning the West Coast offense from Jim Fassel with the New York Giants and from Jon Gruden during their one-year stint together in Philadelphia in 1997, so Brady will bring a similar approach to the table while likely keeping some things the same in Buffalo.
Their biggest transaction on offense last year was trading the aging Stefon Diggs to Houston. Diggs (now in New England), while never a burner on the outside, was an exceptional route runner who specialized in making contested catches and operated well out of bunch and stack formations – leading him to re-write many of the Bills’ single season receiving records.
In addition to Diggs, Buffalo has let veterans like John Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Cole Beasley, Isaiah McKenzie, Jamison Crowder, Trent Sherfield, Deonte Harty and Amari Cooper walk over the years. Many of them were productive, but nothing can last forever – hence the overhaul of the Bills’ wide receiver room.
The Payton offense is built through having big, physical targets who can get open over the middle of the field, especially on deep in-cuts, or “dig” routes (although Buffalo hasn’t utilized them much). Payton has employed such players in those roles before like Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham, Michael Thomas and Courtland Sutton, and the drafting of Keon Coleman from Florida State last year fits the bill for Brady.
Coleman, whose game evoked comparisons to Colston, Brandon Marshall and Anquan Boldin coming out of college, brings size and physicality to the boundary ‘X’ position (and possibly the slot) with good body control and strong hands to make contested catches and has some run after the catch ability. He does need to work on his speed, quickness and ability to beat press coverage – along with learning how to be a pro athlete – but in time he may improve in those areas.
Along with Coleman is Curtis Samuel (out for Sunday), who can line up both in the slot and outside the numbers and take handoffs, free agent pickup Joshua Palmer and the speedy pair of Brandin Cooks and Mecole Hardman (out for Sunday). Shifty pass-catcher Khalil Shakir mans the slot with his quickness, sure hands and savviness to get open versus zone coverage, Gabriel Davis has returned to supply depth and Tyrell Shavers could prove to be a new weapon after making the team’s active roster out of training camp. Overall, this group doesn’t possess a ton of speed beyond Cooks and Hardman – which makes the ability to manufacture intermediate and vertical plays harder.
Tight end Dawson Knox is joined by Dalton Kincaid and their diverse skillsets have allowed the Bills to throw curveballs at opponents with multiple tight end sets. Kincaid (out for Sunday), who can line up as the boundary ‘X’ receiver in three-by-one alignments, lived up to the hype with 73 receptions as a rookie two years ago, the most of any first-year Bill and surpassed Pete Metzelaars for the most catches by a Bills tight end in one season. He also became the fourth rookie tight end since 1960 with 70 or more catches in a year.
The Bills’ offensive line is composed of Dion Dawkins (out for Sunday, replaced by Ryan VanDemark), David Edwards, Connor McGovern (taking over at center for the departed Mitch Morse), O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown (out for Sunday). This crew, along with fullback Reggie Gilliam has mainly executed outside zone runs along with zone-reads, pin-and-pull concepts, traps (especially with Dawkins as the puller), counters, sweeps, split inside zone/duo and sprint draw plays sprinkled in for running back James Cook. Cook, who boasts great vision, patience and burst, is backed up by physical second-year man Ray Davis and ex-Jet Ty Johnson brings solid receiving skills to the table.
The starting front five used to be iffy in providing push in the running game and in pass protection but has become a strength in recent years. In the past, most of the team’s rushing production came from Allen’s legs and few came from their backs – the Bills’ rushing attempts per game in 2022, 18.2, was last in the NFL but that number has jumped to the highest in the NFL since Brady was promoted. In 2023 Allen was taken down just 24 times overall in 17 regular season outings, the best mark in pro football, and the team again led the league with just 14 sacks allowed last year (tied for the sixth-least since 2000).
Buffalo also carried over their trend of using an extra offensive lineman to help in the running game. Now that Edwards has moved into the starting lineup, the sixth guy is currently Alec Anderson (who will start in place of Brown) and the Bills had the highest rate of offensive snaps with six linemen on the field in ’24 – with most of them being called runs, and were near the top of the NFL in yards per carry and yards per play with six linemen on the field (rookie tight end Jackson Hawes, an excellent blocker and the replacement for Quintin Morris, is being used more in this regard with “13” personnel looks which diversifies what they can throw at opponents).
Another area the Bills needed to clean up was protecting the ball. They used to be one the league’s sloppiest teams – Allen had 14 interceptions and 13 fumbles in 2022 and he led the NFL with 18 interceptions in ’23. Last year Allen cut down on his interception total significantly with just six – a sign of progress in this regard (Allen became the third signal caller in NFL history to start a season with 10 touchdowns and no picks through his team’s first seven games).
In fact, the Bills tied the league record for fewest turnovers in a season with just eight (with the 2019 Saints). They also became the first team ever with less than 15 sacks allowed and fewer than 15 turnovers in the same season.
Buffalo ended the 2024 regular season second in points scored (the highest scoring team in franchise history) and red zone efficiency, 10th in total yards and ninth in rushing and passing and became the first team to ever have 30 passing and 30 rushing touchdowns in one season. They, along with the Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders, were also the top four teams in the NFL on fourth down conversion rate – so far they’re first in the NFL in rushing, third in total yards, fifth in points scored and ninth in passing. They also have the sixth-highest rushing percentage in the NFL with a mark of 48.5.
Ex-49er Mitch Wishnowsky is the team’s third punter this year and kicker Tyler Bass is out for the season due to a groin injury – with 41-year-old former All-Pro Matt Prater replacing him. Prater, who holds the NFL record for most 50-plus yards field goals in a career, also owned the league mark for longest career field goal after he connected on a 64-yarder in 2013.
12 STATS TO MUSE OVER
· Buffalo faced eight-man boxes 32 percent of the time in 2024, the most in the NFL according to Cover 1’s Erik Turner. It’s a stark contrast to the prior four years in which they went against them 16 percent of the time in 2020 (32nd), 18.6 in ’21 (27th), 20.4 in ’22 (20th) and 19.9 in ’23 (19th).
· Allen had 40 combined scores for the fifth straight year in 2024 – no other quarterback has done it more than three times (Drew Brees from 2011-13) – allowing him to be named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player by the Associated Press, an honor previously bestowed upon just two other Bills (Thurman Thomas in 1991 and O.J. Simpson in ‘73).
· Allen has tied Cam Newton for the most rushing touchdowns of all-time by a quarterback in the regular season.
· Buffalo has forced a turnover in 18 straight home games – their longest streak since a 31-game outing from 1988-92.
· Should Joey Bosa record another forced fumble this year, it would be his fifth of the year and would tie the franchise record for most forced fumbles in a season.
· Cook has over 1,000 yards on the ground this year and has joined the likes of Thurman Thomas and O.J. Simpson as the only Bills to accomplish the feat through 11 games of a season. The trio are also the only backs in Bills annals to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons.
· This will be the sixth time in the last seven years the Bills and Steelers have gone against one another including playoffs, and Buffalo has won four of the last five matchups. The Bills have also won in Pittsburgh just three times in their history – occurring in 2019, 1975 and the divisional round of the 1992 playoffs (each of the last four games between the two teams have taken place at Highmark Stadium).
· According to Joe Marino, Sunday will be the sixth time McDermott and Tomlin (former college teammates at William and Mary) will go against one another. The former is 4-1 and the latter will have his fifth quarterback in those six games (Duck Hodges, Roethlisberger twice, Pickett, Mason Rudolph and now Rodgers).
· Heading into their matchup with Pittsburgh, the Bills lead the NFL in percentage of passing plays with five-man protections schemes with a mark of 84.58 according to TruMedia Sports. The next closest team, Kansas City, has a mark of 79.65. If Allen, Brady and company prefer that approach to get as many receivers into pass patterns as possible, it would make sense but it didn’t work against Houston where Allen was sacked a career-high eight times and Dawkins and Brown both played through injuries.
· Buffalo’s road struggles continue – they’re just 2-3 this season and in all three of those losses they’ve scored less than 20 points. They’ve also averaged just 23.2 points-per-game on the road compared to 32.5 at home.
· Walker has had an excellent rookie campaign. He’s tackled the opposition for a loss or no gain on seven percent of rushes this year – the second-best mark among all defensive tackles per NGS.
· An interesting statistic – since 2021, the Bills have had a seven-game span where they went 3-4 four times (twice in ’21 and ’23 – both years they finished with 11 wins). Each time, including this season, it happened between Weeks Four and 12 and Buffalo won at least five of their next six games.