Everyone was wondering how the Bills would play after an emotion filled week. Would they come out inspired or flat? The answer was given very quickly in this one as the Steelers dominated from start to finish in a 26-3 rout that could have been much worse.
The defense continued their bend but don't break philosophy that started in the preseason. In the first half they kept the Steelers contained but they broke in the 2nd half. The Steelers had four long drives in the first half all of them ended in field goals. The defense stiffend after allowing numerous third down conversions in the opening half. That allowed the Steelers to have scoring drives of 13, 14, 10, and 10 plays. The only stop in the first half was a Jim Leonhard interception.
The 12-0 lead could have been much worse if the Steelers found the end zone a time or two in the first half. They did hit the end zone twice in the 2nd half as Ben Roethlisberger threw a one yard scoring pass and Willie Parker had an 11 yard touchdown run. The run defense looked like last year with a few good stops for losses or little gains and many long runs as Parker ran for 126 yards. The pass defense gave up too many completions down the middle. As a whole, they only gave up 26 points but they gave up 420 yards in the game.
Offensively wasn't any better in fact it was worse. J.P. Losman had the deer in the headlights look that he had his first year as a starter. He was very indecisive and seemed hesitant to pull the trigger. For the most part he had decent protection but held on to the ball too long and was sacked four times. The run defense looked pretty good at times as Marshawn Lynch ran for 64 yards on 18 carries but the team failed to get the tough yards in the first half. They had a 2nd and 1 and a 2nd and 2 on back to back possessions and never got the first down either time. They didn't move the football at all, their lone field goal was setup by a 63 yard kickoff return by Terrence McGee. They got a break on that return as he clearly stepped out of bounds earlier in the run back.
The team said the Kevin Everett situation didn't effect them they just got beat. That is the case they got whipped but their emotions ran hot. Lee Evans lost his cool which is very surprising for the normally mild manner reciever. He was called for back to back unsportsmanlike conduct penalties late in the game. Dick Jauron is also normally mild mannered but was yelling at the officials on the sidelines. Losman let his emotions get to him in the post game press conference when he wouldn't bite his tongue and said they need to open up the offense more, taking a shot at the gameplan.
Losman has no right to take a shot at the gameplan. Can you blame them from keeping the ball on the ground? They ran with some success but have had no success through the air in the first two games if you take out garbage time. Losman should be quiet right now but instead he's mouthing off and starting some finger pointing. That's what this team needed, a bickering battle on top of the pathetic play. At 0-2 this season is an utter chaos and has the chance to go down the tubes in a hurry.
Here are our exclusive gameballs and goats from the Bills game against the Steelers:
