Ed Oliver joins in on a sack of Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during the third quarter Sunday at Bills Stadium.
James P. McCoy/Buffalo News
The Buffalo Bills’ turnover tear continued in Sunday night’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Interceptions by Taron Johnson and Levi Wallace of Ben Roethlisberger helped secure the 26-15 victory. The Bills now have 14 takeaways in their last seven games after getting seven in their first six games.
Buffalo now is tied for fourth in the NFL in takeaways with 21. Miami and Pittsburgh lead with 25 and Indianapolis is third with 22.
“We know Ben’s going to get the ball out quick,” Jerry Hughes said. “Who’s going to be the first person to get a turnover? And for our secondary to come up big and the way that they did, not only to get a turnover but to add points on the board, that’s something we talk about as a defense.”
The big plays by the defensive backs highlight this week’s Bills position grades, based on video review and on a scale of 0 to 5.
Defensive backs (5.0): Johnson’s pickoff changed the game and was the big play of his three-year career. Wallace was beaten for a 19-yard TD by James Washington on a skinny post route. It was a good route and a sharp pass into a tight window by Roethlisberger. But Wallace also had two pass breakups, and made a good reaction to the ball in the air on his interception. Roethlisberger was just a tad late recognizing where to go with the pass, another example of the good coverage disguising by safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde. Roethlisberger did not complete a pass longer than 20 yards. Tre'Davious White had textbook deep coverage early on an incompletion for Chase Claypool and made a heads-up play to bat down a third-down pass near the line. White and Siran Neal got picked on the fourth-quarter TD pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Defensive line (4.5): It was another stout outing in the middle for Ed Oliver and Vernon Butler. And Harrison Phillips played his second solid game in a row. Phillips only played 13 snaps, but he helped produce four good run stops up the middle. Oliver had three hurries and a tackle for loss. Butler knocked backup guard Kevin Dotson flat on his back – his cleats were pointing to the sky – on a 1-yard run. A qualifier: The Steelers’ run game is in a mystifying slump. The Bills held them to 47 yards and 2.8 a carry. The past seven games, Pittsburgh is averaging 54 yards and 2.9 a carry. All the quick passing didn’t provide much chance for sacks.
Linebackers (4.0): The Bills seemed to have a good job-share going with A.J. Klein (30 snaps) and Matt Milano (27). Milano rushed the passer seven times and produced four hurries and a sack. Tremaine Edmunds rushed the passer eight times. The Bills blitzed on 11 of 39 drop backs (28%).
Quarterback (4.0): After a rough first half, Josh Allen played a virtually perfect third quarter to put the Bills in command. Allen used play-action fakes to suck up the Steelers' linebackers and create voids in the zone defense in the third quarter. Allen was 5 for 5 for 66 yards on play-actions on the two third-quarter TD drives. The TD pass to Gabriel Davis was high-level manipulation of the cornerbacks with a shoulder fake. Allen made a nifty step-up in the pocket vs. pressure and a dead-on throw to Isaiah McKenzie for a key third-down conversion.
Receivers (4.5): If you’re going to rush five, you’re going to have to trust someone in underneath coverage on Stefon Diggs. Steven Nelson and Cameron Sutton couldn’t stop the Bills’ star, who went seven for 92 in the second half. Dawson Knox couldn’t come down with a good throw by Allen in the middle of the field, then fumbled on the next play. He did make four catches for 34 yards. The Bills need Knox to pull his weight. As expected, Lee Smith saw prime time (29 snaps) to help the pass protection.
Offensive line (3.5): Daryl Williams and Dion Dawkins shined. Ike Boettger had some trouble with the brilliant Cameron Heyward in the first half. Boettger gave up at least four hurries, but he did a good job pushing Heyward past Allen on the McKenzie play. Heyward beat Mitch Morse to hit Allen’s arm and cause the early interception. Tyson Alualu beat Morse for a sack. Jon Feliciano looked like he was having fun getting push in the run game.
Running backs (3.5): The final drive that ate up 7:11 was encouraging, and Zack Moss showed his power running. He ran over Marcus Allen on a late, 13-yard run. Blitz pickup was a strength again. Devin Singletary blocked Ola Adeniyi on the edge on the TD to Davis. Moss had at least four good blitz pickups.
Special teams (4.0): The Bills needed a strong game from Corey Bojorquez, who had a net average of 45.6 yards on six punts against Ray-Ray McCloud, who ranked No. 1 in the NFL on punt returns. That included a 52-yard net punt with a 5.1-second hang time in the first quarter. Tyler Matakevich set a good tone with a big tackle at the 10-yard line on the opening kickoff. Andre Roberts had a 15-yard return that would have been 25 if not for a hold on Neal.
