Henry McKenna
AFC East Reporter
The Buffalo Bills might have slept their way through the third quarter, but as usual, the hot-and-cold team needed just three quarters of good football to pull off a comfortable 31-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round on Monday.
It shows how dominant the Bills can be when they’re at their best. And yet it also showed how easy it is for them to play below their best.
Because if they can’t figure out how to stay motivated in the playoffs, then when will they figure it out?
Credit to Mike Tomlin’s squad — the Steelers didn’t let up. They did their best to push Buffalo, which might have thought it could coast in the second half. But when Pittsburgh’s effort got the Steelers back within a touchdown at the end of the third quarter, quarterback Josh Allen slammed the door shut with a touchdown to receiver Khalil Shakir with six minutes left in the game.
Allen finished 21-of-30 for 203 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. He added 74 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Maybe the game taught the Bills a good lesson.
They have a habit of playing down to their opponent. Look at their wins over the Chargers, Patriots and the Dolphins to finish out the season. They all finished within a touchdown of those teams.
This kind of performance won’t work next week against the Kansas City Chiefs.
More on that in a second.
Against the Steelers, the Bills quickly made it clear just how much better they are, with a 21-point shutout lead at one point during the first half. You knew just how good of a first half they were having when Kaiir Elam managed an interception. Elam, panned as a first-round bust, began the game on the bench and jumped into the game after an injury. But he managed a pick in coverage, beating receiver Diontae Johnson to the spot in the corner of the end zone. And Elam made for an unlikely hero, wiping seven points off the board.
The offense scored on three of…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/bills-stay-hot-in-win-over-steelers-but-patrick-mahomes-is-a-next-level-test
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Publish date : 2024-01-16 01:24:17
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