Two Bills Drive

‘Not only will the next six weeks determine whether this team can finally reach the NFL’s final game of the season, but the results may also determine the longterm direction of the Bills. Allen turns 30 in May. His coach, Sean McDermott, and general manager, Brandon Beane, are amid their ninth season in Buffalo. Both transformed the Bills from dysfunctional losers to perennial contenders, but the team has regressed with the NFL’s reigning MVP at quarterback. Even if no one will express the emotions tied to these high-stakes games, pressure is prevalent across the league as pretenders try to separate from the contenders.’

‘The Bills will be without both starting tackles – Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown – as they face a formidable Steelers pass rush. Coach Sean McDermott did not say Friday who would start in their place. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen said he was spending extra time on task with his offensive line this week to prepare for the challenge of T.J. Watt and company. “I’m having a big meeting with the O-line (Thursday), and just making sure that we’re relaying information,” Allen said Wednesday. “Again, just the biggest thing is communication and understanding when you have help, when you don’t, and it’s just my job to go out there and try to facilitate the football to our guys.”’

’15: The Steelers’ 15 sacks while blitzing is the third-best mark in the NFL, and they rush at least five defenders at the eighth-highest rate. The Bills will need to have success on early downs to avoid third-and-long situations that allow Pittsburgh to come after Josh Allen. Only five quarterbacks have been sacked more this season when blitzed, and Buffalo has taken the fifth-most sacks on third down. The Steelers have allowed at least 99 rushing yards in three consecutive games, and they will not have rookie defensive end Derrick Harmon.’

‘They are a bad road team with a quarterback who is banged up, an offensive line that could be without its starting tackles against T.J. Watt and a good Steelers pass rush and a run defense that has shown time and again it can’t stop other teams on the ground. add all of that up and it feels, for the first time this season, like we’re watching a team that very well could miss the playoffs. Steelers, 27-17.’

‘General manager Brandon Beane mentions frequently how the number of player moves – be it through free agency or the draft – that we hear about is really only a fraction of the total that are discussed. Let’s say that you’re right, though, and that the Bills weren’t interested. The obvious reason to point to is the numerous issues Pickens had in Pittsburgh – issues that included being late, getting into sideline screaming matches with his teammates and even getting into verbal altercations with fans. Pickens’ maturity was called into question during the pre-draft process in 2022, part of the reason he slipped to the second round.’

‘“For Buffalo to have Kathryn Smith and then me, no other team had had two female coaches,” said Schecter, who spent the 2017 and 2018 training camp with the Bills, and then joined the coaching staff for the full 2018 season. “They’re such a forward-thinking organization, because in the NFL, it’s about being 1% better. If you open up 50% of the gender pool, you might just have an opportunity to be 1% better.”’