Cleveland Browns rivals forge lead in the AFC North

Steelers coinhabit first place by winning ugly in Buffalo

This fan picked the Steelers to win outright at Buffalo and was sort of right. Pittsburgh beat a top team in the Bills, but in doing so, they did not look like an invincible team that the Browns can never beat. In some ways, the Steelers showed weaknesses while also showing why it is that they can beat anyone on any given Sunday.

Namely, Pittsburgh still has a tenacious defense and great special teams, and it’s difficult to see why a team with a top defense should have a losing record. It’s as simple as that. The offense just needs to hang onto the football and let the defense win the game, and more often than not the other team will break down and give them a win.

Special teams came up big with a blocked punt and a touchdown. That’s so typical Steelers.

As great as Josh Allen is, if you cover his receivers and make him throw before he is ready, Buffalo can be slowed down. Much ado was made over Allen’s supposedly surprisingly improved accuracy (give any quarterback Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley to throw to, and you will be amazed at how accurate they are). Even in college, Allen had lousy receivers and was never inaccurate. Few sportswriters actually watched Wyoming Cowboy football; they just looked at his low completion percentage and assumed he was scatter-armed. It was never true.

But back to the Steelers. They gave up a few uncharacteristic big plays to Devin Singletary on the ground. Overall, the Bills gained 117 yards on the ground and averaged 4.7 yards per carry. They also gave up yardage through the air.

Allen went 30 for 51 for 270 yards and one touchdown. The Steelers sacked him three times but did not pick him off. The Bills went for it on fourth down three times and came up empty twice. Hence the Steelers gave up 371 net yards but only 16 points.

On offense, the Steelers totally stunk up the joint in the first half, and it looked like there was no conceivable way that they could win. The new offensive line was not opening holes for rookie running back Najee Harris. Pittsburgh had only seven rushing yards in the entire first half. Roethlisberger was sacked twice and had only 57 yards passing.

In the second half, he added 131 yards, which is not great, but it was enough to put up 16 points on the board. The blocked punt was the signature play, however. It gave the Steelers a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

Pittsburgh was not exactly dominant, but anytime a team can take on a team that many experts regard as a Super Bowl contender and beat them on the road, it is an impressive win.

Questions about the offensive line are bigger than ever, but there they are at 1-0. To make a long story short, this fan thought that last year’s offensive line was way overrated, so I didn’t really see how the offensive line could be decimated by the retirement of supposedly key veterans. However, the new players were even worse, at least for the first game. They seemed to pull it together in the second half a little bit. We will have to wait and see if they improve, but they at least need to get Najee Harris four yards per carry.

That was the world’s ugliest win over a top team on Sunday, but ugly football does indeed win more often than not with a good solid defense and an offense that does not turn the ball over. They showed nothing to make us think that they would go 17-0, but neither did they do anything that would lead us to think they cannot post a winning record.