SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The ‘Buffaloed’ Edition

Good Monday to you Steelers fans.

We now know the opponent and we now know the time. The Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to Buffalo to take on the AFC East Champion Bills at 1pmET on Sunday. As of this writing, it is scheduled to be 22 degrees with winds to 25mph. In other words, it is playoff weather. The Bills punched their ticket at the same time the Steelers did Sunday when Jacksonville lost but needed a comeback win Sunday night over Miami to clinch the two seed. For the last several weeks, the Bills have been the team that “no one wants to play” as they’ve been in ‘win now’ mode for the last month. Josh Allen will be a huge challenge but he will also turn the ball over too and the Steelers have to take advantage.

Watt

Could T.J. Watt play next week? I wouldn’t put a damn thing past this guy to be honest but a grade 2 sprain of the MCL is fairly severe. My guess is that if the Steelers advance, he might be available for the Divisional Round but even that is asking a lot.

The Formula

I’ll get into this much more as the week goes on but the Steelers’ best chance to advance is by running the ball, controlling the clock and getting some turnovers on Defense. Easy enough right? Well, opposing defenses and offenses get a lot better now so the challenge will be huge.

Thoughts on Atlanta-New Orleans

Atlanta Head Coach (now former) Arthur Smith was not pleased with Saints’ Head Coach Dennis Allen at the end of their game yesterday. With New Orleans way ahead and the game no longer in doubt, the Saints had the ball down near the Atlanta goal line. Here’s where it gets interesting. Smith was pissed off because he felt that Allen was running up the score. Many football fans disagreed saying it’s the Falcons’ job to stop the Saints from scoring. I agree with that 100% WITH one exception. The Saints lined up in “victory” formation which until this point, had always signaled to the opponent that you are taking a knee and running out the clock. Instead, Jameis Winston handed the ball to running back Jamaal Williams who scored. Allen admitted after the game the players, led by Winston, overruled their Coach who told them to take a knee. Allen was apologetic and rightfully so. While it was a dick move and poor sportsmanship the bigger question might be about the lack of respect the Saints have for their own coach. Smith had every right to be upset.

The Biggest Change Since Canada?

I get this question a lot for football fans. What is the Steelers’ offense doing differently since Matt Canada was fired? Number one, you can’t dismiss the Mason Rudolph effect from the last three games. Stats and facts do not lie… Overall however, I’d say the biggest change is that Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner have gotten the unit much more “North and South.” This isn’t to say that the Steelers have completely abandoned sweeps and tosses out wide, but getting the ball between the tackles much more often is the biggest shift in my opinion. That also includes pulling guards and tackles more often as well which I love.