Quick Yinzing: Missed opportunities haunt Steelers in loss to Bills
“Quick Yinzing” is Steel City Underground’s post-game feature where there is no research, no extensive stats, all “Renegade” and reactions in recapping the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game performance.
In their final home game of the 2019-20 NFL regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers hosted a very competitive Buffalo Bills game in what had been predicted to be a battle between defenses and one where mistakes could cost either team a win. While the Steelers were given an opportunity late in the final quarter of the game to come back for a tie, possibly sending the game into overtime, or a win if they chose to go for a two-point conversion, due to a major penalty on the Bills it was for naught. Looking for a shot in the end zone, the pass was intercepted and the Bills walked out of Heinz Field as the victor, 17-10.
The Steelers defense did what they said they were going to do. They pressured, they were disruptive, they kept Josh Allen from beating them with his legs. T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward showed they could get to an all-new level, one that had already been soaringly high entering this game. Entering the fourth quarter, Watt had recorded four tackles, two tackles for a loss, two quarterback hits, defended one pass, grabbed 0.5 sacks and forced a critical fumble that Mike Hilton fell on. Heyward batted one Allen pass to the turf and was in on several key stops and big plays.
DT Cam Heyward registered his fifth pass defended of the season, which leads all NFL defensive tackles and ranks tied for fifth on the Steelers…#BertschyBits #HereWeGo
— Michael Bertsch (@SteelersPRMike) December 16, 2019
In the defensive backfield, Steven Nelson grabbed a tipped ball for an interception on the night, making things very interesting. Unfortunately, Nelson – atypically solid along the sideline (a good thing) – got burned on one pass play from Allen to John Brown for a big gain. On review, Nelson was an island with no over-the-top help and was able to redeem himself with solid coverage later (again against Brown) that forced the Bills receiver to play defender to keep Nelson from grabbing a second interception.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and the one above speaks volumes about the amount of pressure the Bills defense sent against Devlin Hodges. The rookie quarterback had little time to get set in order to make much happen in the passing game, although he took several shots that had good results. On at least two throws, Hodges hooked up with James Washington for nice gains. Hodges also found Diontae Johnson on a couple of critical plays. Unfortunately, “Duck” was put into a situation that most rookie quarterbacks aren’t familiar with and it came back to bite the Steelers.
While James Conner did grab a touchdown, the running back by committee approach seemed to be abandoned after the Steelers got the lead. Unfortunately, with Kerrith Whyte and Benny Snell as options in addition to Conner and even Jaylen Samuels, the Steelers did not take advantage of what was working. There were several run plays that didn’t go for much but it might have created more opportunities to keep Buffalo from stacking the box while allowing the receivers to take advantage of soft zone coverages at times. Missed opportunities and a slow start on offense led to Hodges being in a tough spot and the team down late in the game hoping for a miracle. That miracle never came to fruition.
Pittsburgh has its back to the wall, in a way, after this loss. They still have two games left in the regular season and they’re still in the hunt for a postseason spot but this game had to be emotionally overwhelming in several ways. The team was up, then down. They rallied to pull ahead only to allow a touchdown that put them in the hole. In the end, all the opportunities they took from the Bills were squandered due to opportunities they missed earlier in the game.
