Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 31-17 AFC Wild Card Round loss to the Buffalo Bills Monday evening.
WINNERS
Montravius Adams: If there was a positive in the first half, it was Adams blocking a Tyler Bass field goal, wedging himself in the A gap, to prevent Buffalo from going up 24-0. That led to a Diontae Johnson touchdown to make things 21-7 at the half, an important swing. A key special teams play to try and get Pittsburgh back into the game, something the Steelers needed getting pummeled otherwise.
Diontae Johnson: A nice day for Johnson, who got the Steelers on the board first with a touchdown before the end of the first half, a strong route to win inside on a slant for the score. Johnson helped move the sticks on third down, showing plus YAC ability and finally getting vertical instead of running laterally. Pittsburgh’s smartly changed his alignment and helped work him over the middle where the Bills were beat up by injuries at inside linebacker and slot corner.
Elandon Roberts: In large part for a great end-zone breakup in the fourth quarter to force Buffalo to settle for a field goal, setting the score at 24-10 (which set up a Pittsburgh touchdown to make it 24-17). Gotta give him credit for gutting things out, playing through his pec injury and probably still bothered by his pulled groin, and that was a high-level play downfield to break up that Allen throw. Under contract, I’ll happily have him back next year.
Jaylen Warren: A “softer” winner but he ran hard and chipped in a 16-yard catch in the screen game on an early drive. The better performance between him and Najee Harris, his quicker-hitting style a better fit for this game. Really solid sophomore campaign.
LOSERS
Running Game: Pittsburgh’s streak of a hearty running game froze up in the Buffalo cold. Though the Bills seemed vulnerable to the ground game, especially given their inside linebacker injuries and 4-2-5 personality, they knew they had to bottle up the Steelers’ rushing attack. Pittsburgh made some progress and Warren had a couple hard runs but it wasn’t what the team needed to win on first downs and stay out of third and long. For some teams, this outing might’ve been good enough. Not tonight for what Pittsburgh required.
Mike Tomlin: Once again, the Steelers came out flat. You can blame whoever you want, coaching, personnel, or both, but this is a repeat postseason performance for this team. In the first quarter of its last five playoff games, Pittsburgh’s been outscored 66-0. By halftime, the Steelers are in a 75-point collective hole. They knew they couldn’t play that kind of game against the Bills with their more potent offense and passing game. But it’s the same script as before. A better second-half game than some other playoff losses but once again, too little, too late, and the Steelers couldn’t execute their vision (run the ball, don’t turn it over, generate takeaways). They’ve been outscored by 68 points over their last five playoff games, all losses, and their drought continues.
Tomlin’s decision to let the first-half clock roll from 47 seconds to two before calling a timeout, despite Buffalo having an injured punter, was a highly questionable decision. If Tomlin didn’t want to risk the Bills getting a chunk play why even call the timeout? It seems like he and his staff weren’t even aware of the choice they had until they very last second.
Ball Security: During the week, Tomlin harped on the need to take care of the football post-catch. The Bills had 14 forced fumbles on the year, seven coming from their secondary. An aggressive group that looked to rip the ball out. And yet, Pittsburgh couldn’t hang onto the ball in the first half. WR George Pickens’ fumble proved costly, immediately leading to a touchdown that put the Bills up 14-0.
TE Pat Freiermuth also fumbled and luckily, somehow, the Steelers retained possession.
Defending Tight Ends: Pittsburgh’s defensive Achilles’ heel since suffering season-ending injuries to LBs Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander. On the year, the Steelers allowed nine touchdowns to opposing tight ends, eight of which have come since Week 13.
Miscommunication on the first score was followed by TE Dalton Kincaid beating Myles Jack down the seam on the second. LB Elandon Roberts had a great end-zone breakup, but Buffalo did its damage.
Tackling: Below expectations, to say the least. Didn’t feel like the defense rallied and swarmed hard enough. Patrick Peterson struggled in the open field. Damontae Kazee got run over by Josh Allen. Even Minkah Fitzpatrick, known for his great tackling, had a terrible miss on WR Khalil Shakir late in the game. Collectively, their open-grass tackling was shoddy, and it also hurt the run defense, which wasn’t good enough either.
Pressley Harvin III: Pittsburgh needs a new punter next year. Plain and simple and the team has to know it. They could’ve turned to Brad Wing and didn’t. Harvin’s first three punts, all open-air chances, were terrible, travelling 30, 31, and 42 yards. Missed chances to pin the Bills’ offense back. He’s not the answer and Pittsburgh must look for an upgrade in the offseason. They’ve seen this thing through long enough. Too long, arguably.
Myles Jack: I feel for the guy. There were some questionable calls on him. But you give up a touchdown down the seam and commit two penalties on a crucial fourth-quarter drive after Pittsburgh made it 24-17 midway through the fourth quarter. They were debatable, especially the holding. But they were big negative moments.
