Steelers vs. Bills game preview: Controlling our destiny in Week 14

The Steelers are set to kick off an all-important game against the Buffalo Bills. Here’s how Pittsburgh controls their own destiny.

This week’s preview for our game against Buffalo is going to be short and sweet. What I talked about in my article,  Steelers need to do to help in winning against Washington rang true, nothing came about it. Pittsburgh had a good lead at halftime. There was a wrong, but legal clock stoppage for Washington then they blew it in the second half, a punt return that almost went wrong, receivers were still dropping catches for some odd reason, the running game was nowhere to be found even though more rushing attempts were made, and it looked like we played soft and weren’t really motivated to continue going undefeated.

The good thing that came about is that since this was an interconference matchup and it didn’t affect anything in the standings, thus the number one seed for the Playoffs and the lead in the AFC North remain intact. Will this change by the end of tonight? It is in the destiny of the Steelers. If they are able to go back to the plan when they won their first 11 games before Monday night’s loss they should be able to hold onto the lead.

Steelers Injuries

What has changed recently is that our injury report has been growing, and we’re losing our backups that replaced our original starters. That changes up the entire gameplan and playcall strategies. James Conner is back in the lineup tonight after battling from COVID, but the Offensive line has not been not opening the gaps that Snell and McFarland has needed (increased rushing attempts since the last game).

Pouncey was on the COVID list and is suited up to return. Remember Devin Bush tore his ACL on a freak play earlier in the season against Cleveland, Robert Spillane has been fantastic in the role since then but is now placed on the injured reserve list. We lost Bud Depree to another torn ACL injury, and linebacker Vince Williams replaced him on the depth chart, but he’s on the Reserve / COVID list, hopefully from being in a close-contact case than a positive one.

Joe Haden is out of tonight’s game for a concussion. We’re quarantined and banged up everywhere. Not that we can blame the loss on injuries and pandemic issues, but if other players don’t step up or try to perform better to fulfill the roles, our game performance will not be up to the par that it was earlier in the season. Buffalo is not all that better and has struggled a time or two this season resulting in 3 losses, but they’re in first place in the AFC East and would like to keep it that way. The Bills are hoping to win it for the first time since the late 90s.

Psychologically, the loss is a good thing because it reminds the Steelers they are human. Haters of Steeler Nation have been teasing the Steelers about the lack of strength in their schedule and due to close victories against sub .500 teams. Teams always build further when they realize they aren’t invincible. Washington’s loss was more like a gut check and I trust the coaching staff and the organization to complete a 180 turnaround heading into the playoffs. Here We Go!