Well, it looks like the Steelers defense continued their dominate ways with a 27-20 win over the Buffalo Bills.

Now, let’s take a look at how they did that.

Consistency out of our secondary

That’s one of the reasons this Steelers defense has been so successful as of late. I’m also going to start this off with Sean Davis, again.

That’s okay, right?

I mean, he has been an absolute beast lately.

On the Bills first offensive play, Sean Davis made his presence felt. He blitzed from the right side and took down Tyrod Taylor for his first career sack.

If Sean Davis has a ceiling, he’s going to tear it down.

Davis starts out in the box and recognizes the inside run, while Stephon Tuitt smacks around the Bills right guard (79).

This trend would continue throughout the day with various Steelers getting pressure.

Then there’s Artie Burns.

Let me say that I wasn’t expecting Burns to play much this year, at all. But I’m happy to admit how wrong I was. He’s been making plays, and he continued this trend in Buffalo.

The defense sets up in zone coverage, and Burns is able to drop and still make a play on the ball with this interception.

I can’t wait to see this guy continue to grow and develop.

Shazier

Ryan Shazier is a force… one that was missed dearly when hurt early on this season.

The Steelers claimed that the would not put a spy on the league’s best running QB, but that looks like smoke and mirrors on this play.

Shazier sits back in coverage initially, then recognizes Taylor taking off. Statistically, this didn’t go down as a sack, but it was a loss of two on the play: which again illustrates how the secondary has improved to help the front seven rush the passer. Because Taylor cannot find his reads open, he opts to run, and the play play is stopped dead for a loss.

Winning the battles up front

In order for a defense to be successful, they need the guys up front to win those one-on-one battles.

The Steelers defense did just that, which was a definitely needed, especially against the Bills #1 ranked run offense.

In the play below, Ryan Shazier shoots the gap, which led to second-year DE L.T. Walton to come in and ground LeSean McCoy.

Walton played roughly 1/3 of the game for the Steelers on Sunday, and made the most of his time. He could be another late round find…

Dupree

Another young player that made an impact was Bud Dupree. He finished this game with five tackles and two sacks. (Not only that, but he also played every defensive snap in this game, along with James Harrison.)

One of those sacks was on this play in the fourth quarter, where the Steelers D put a crazy amount of pressure on Tyrod Taylor.

Mike Mitchell comes off the edge with a safety blitz, while the above mentioned Walton sets the edge.

There’s a ridiculous amount of missed tackles here, and that can be attributed to Taylor being elusive, as well as the icy conditions, but Dupree eventually comes from his initial miss to chase down the Bills quarterback for his second sack of the game.

Conclusion

There isn’t a whole lot to this win. The Steelers defense did their jobs from the front to the back, and they looked good doing it.

Since the Ravens lost to the Patriots on Monday Night Football, the Steelers now sit atop the AFC North: all of their remaining games are against division opponents. T

he only team the Steelers have to really worry about are the Ravens, but I’m sure the boys in Black & Gold will be able to take care of them on Christmas Day.

(But that’s still two weeks away, and we have to take care of the Bengals first.)

So, get some rest Steelers fans, and let the trash talking between us, in Steelers Nation, and Bengals fans begin.

Here we go!