About an hour ago
In the third of December straight in Pittsburgh, it didn’t seem like a very festive thank you to Festive Steelers.
They lost three times in five weeks in December 2018. Last year, between December 15-29, the team dropped three in a row.
Now Mike Tomlin’s team (11-2) lost 26-15 to the Buffaloes on Sunday night. The second straight defeat and the third straight game in December have a point below 20.
As a result, our “broadcast of grievances” after this defeat against Bills (10-3) is thicker than Grandpa’s Egnok.
“High octane”.
End of second quarter: Welf. It was a good 25 minutes for the Steelers in the first half. But could not get them fast enough for half an hour.
At 7-0, the Buffalo started a movement with five minutes left in the second quarter. It featured a 23-yard link between quarterback Josh Allen and receiver Stephen Dix, where Minka failed to fold Dix after a Fitzpatrick catch. It happened in the third and 3rd.
Then the Steelers defensive lineman Henry Montaux saw the call of a terrible passerby. The driver reached a field goal.
When the next Steelers were in possession, Ben Rothlisberger threw an interception, which turned for a touch by Darren Johnson.
To. The. House.
#PITvsBUF: https://t.co/x0Ul68YDP8 pic.twitter.com/yApEtpWw1K
– Buffalo Bills (ff Buffalo Bills) December 14, 2020
Bills missed the extra point. However, a 7-0 lead suddenly turned into a 9-7 half-time deficit.
Interesting to hear NBC analyst Tony Dunky say halfway through, Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frasier told him how he punched the defensive back to sit in the Steelers’ narrow pass paths. Chris Collinsworth said over and over again that Johnson knew how to make it look like he knew it.
Of course, he did. Why doesn’t he know? That’s all the Steelers have been doing for a month now.
Bent. And then broke: Despite injuries and absence, the Steelers defense was excellent for most of the first half, allowing that field goal movement.
But then it fell under the weight that the whole team had to bear due to the heinous crime.
Last week, coordinator Keith Butler’s division received 10 receptions for J.T. Presented to Mexico. This week, the broad receiver Dix just roasted the team. He had 10 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown.
We dig it out
#PITvsBUF: https://t.co/x0Ul68YDP8 pic.twitter.com/BMixfToyrB
– Buffalo Bills (ff Buffalo Bills) December 14, 2020
Allen completed 11 straight passes to open the second half. Do you think the team missed Joe Hayden in second place? Or Devin Bush and Butt Dupree on Linebacker?
That game looked great last year when Devlin Hodges and Mason Rudolph were quarterbacks. In that case, the whole season takes that look.
A protection inspired by a crime of wearing thin by a crime that cannot sustain any speed. If the defense allows more than two attacking touchdowns, the game is cooked up.
Things were worse at 26-15 for Pills’ field goal drive in the fourth quarter. The dull Steelers offense finally hit a second attack to pull it into eight points.
However, when the buffalo were next in line, Allen rallied 11 plays for 61 yards and kicked that field goal.
Along the way, Butler’s troops allowed a third and 10 passes to move the chains. Plus the tight end Dawson Knox dropped Mike Hilton deep on defensive backs, forcing another pass in the Steelers’ five-yard line-up to interrupt the call.
Sorry, but security in that order should be better than that. It must either withdraw the ball via turnover or force a ball.
Is this a long game over three weeks?: No change in Steelers offense yet. This has been the case for most of the month now.
It cannot be run. It does not want to run. This week, the pass-run split was slightly lower (37-17). But when co-ordinator Randy Fitchner’s team put it on the ground, they averaged just 2.8 yards to 47 yards per car.
Rothlisberger is not a great effort, it averages 5.1 yards per attempt and a team total of 177 yards.
It’s funny now: It was as if receiver Dionde Johnson and the tight Eric Efron had taken the last two games out of place.
They both had first half drops. Johnson actually had two. One of the first throws of the game.
Very… first throw.
That’s after the team joined for 15 drops (by conservative number) in the last two weeks.
At least Tomlin followed the threat to bench those who dropped the pass.
Johnson was largely replaced by James Washington. Washington caught a touchdown in the first half.
Johnson had some receptions at the Steelers’ second touchdown drive. He was injured with four catches for 40 yards. Efron had two catches for 30 yards.
Beat fast forward: Alex Heismith seems to be looking at Dubree’s game tape.
Unfortunately, he seems to have been watching the tape since the first three years of Dubrey. Not his last two.
Like Dubree at the start of his career, Heismith has so far been less than right-wing impact outside of Line Baker. Like Old Dubrey, you can see how much Heismith works on the field in his bass rush and sometimes takes himself out of the play.
Someone has to tell Heismith that good things are not so deep in the archives. Look at the last two years for pointers. Ola Adenie is not exactly “surprised” in her extended photos.
Also, there was not much juice in the DJ vat on Sunday night, two tackles. Stephen Duet did not either. He was completely empty.
It will not stop: The rash of Steelers wounds continues.
The Steelers lost guards Kevin Dodson and Matt Feeler during the game. Sux left the game for a while to deal with Okorofor. So the team was below its last attacking line-up Gerald Hawkins.
No, they did not throw at him this time. O’Groats at least, came back.
In defense, Haismith collided twice during the game. Running behind James Connor seemed limited to getting 10 carries for 18 yards.
Tim Pence is a Tribune-review staff writer. Tim can be contacted at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets can be re-posted. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise noted.
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