Happy Victory Monday, Bills Mafia! After being forced to deal with an horrible Week 12 game against the Houston Texans, Bills fans were treated to a beatdown of the Steelers by the Bills. Buffalo walked into Acrisure Stadium and completely stomped the Steelers, winning 26-7.
Buffalo needed this win and even though they got off to a rough start in the first half, they came alive in the second half to score 26 unanswered points and completely shutdown the Steelers. They move up to 8-4 and are still in the mix for a playoff spot going into the final stretch in December.
Just in the second half alone, there were a lot of positive takeaways that ultimately played a role in this blowout win for the Bills.
Winners and losers from Bills' huge Week 13 win
Winners:
RB James Cook
When you rush for 249 yards as a team against a defense like Pittsburgh, it deserves the spotlight. It was the most rushing yards that a team has had at Pittsburgh since 1975, where the Bills ran for over 300 yards, per the Bills’ PR team. The player who led the charge? None other than James Cook.
He rushed for 144 yards, averaging over four yards per carry. Cook was in his zone and he played a big role in keeping the Bills on the field rather than giving the Steelers more chances to score.
CB Christian Benford
Christian Benford is setting himself up to be the AFC Defensive Player of the Week with a great performance. He not only limited DK Metcalf to 32 yards, he also had a scoop-and-score touchdown after a forced fumble by Joey Bosa as well as an interception that was the biggest turning point of the Bills’ blowout.
LB Shaq Thompson
Shaq Thompson has been solid for the Bills defense and with Terrel Bernard missing this game, he stepped up big time for Buffalo. He led the Bills in tackles and was great at stopping the run. Thompson has been one of the best free agent signings the Bills made prior to the season.
OL Alec Anderson & Ryan Van Demark
With both Spencer Brown and Dion Dawkins out for this game, this put Alec Anderson and Ryan Van Demark in a big spot to keep Josh Allen clean in the pocket. While Anderson did have two false start penalties early on, this duo did a great job at holding their ground and they did not allow Allen to get sacked once. This was a true testament to the phrase “Next Man Up.”
DE Joey Bosa
Joey Bosa was the one responsible for the Bills’ turnaround performance. Early in the second half, Bosa hit Aaron Rodgers from behind and forced a fumble that was recovered and brought back to the endzone by Christian Benford that put the Bills ahead of the Steelers.
That was Bosa’s fifth forced fumble of the season, which tied a franchise record that was held by Aaron Schobel, who had five forced fumbles for the Bills in 2007, per the Bills' PR team.
QB Josh Allen
There was a moment when Josh Allen took a late hit and it wasn’t called a penalty that really changed the mood of the Bills for the better. Allen struggled a bit in the beginning, but then he started playing his version of football which included taking the ball and running it himself to move the chains.
Allen finished the game with 123 yards through the air, 38 yards on the ground, and 2 total touchdowns. Allen also broke Cam Newton’s record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in the regular season.
Losers:
DE A.J. Epenesa
It was a quiet game by A.J. Epenesa where is only highlight was costing the Bills 15 yards when he punched out the ball from DK Metcalf in the second half after the play was over. It was just unnecessary and it was the only thing that stood out about him in this game.
WR Khalil Shakir
Despite being targeted four times, Khalil Shakir had just one catch for five yards. It was a quiet night for one of Josh Allen’s go-to guys after he played a huge role in Buffalo’s almost-comeback win against the Texans last week.