Bills' defensive starters outshine offensive starters vs. Steelers

Much like their first preseason game, the Buffalo Bills came out onto the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers with most of their starters, except for some key names. Linebacker Terrel Bernard was kept on the sideline by Sean McDermott to avoid any potential injury to another starting linebacker, and Josh Allen did not get any playing time as well.

The Bills starting defense showed up big time against Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh’s starting offense. Buffalo forced back-to-back three and outs and both Greg Rousseau and Ed Oliver each had a sack in the first four plays. The Bills would then force yet another Steelers punt after Rousseau captured his second sack of the game on third down. 

The Buffalo starting offense once again came up with nothing but disappointment. After it was announced earlier this week that the starters would be back in action against Pittsburgh, that was not the case for Josh Allen. When the offense took the field, it was Mitch Trubisky running out on the field with the starters. Due to the major storm that occurred before the game started, the field became slippery and there was no chance that the Bills were risking Allen.

Buffalo’s first three possessions ended in punts and then Trubisky threw a horrible interception on the fourth possession. Trubisky finally managed to drive the Bills down the field on his fifth drive but they could not get into the endzone once again. Instead, Tyler Bass kicked a 27-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead in the 2nd quarter. Trubisky would be taken out of the game and it was reported by Dom Tibbetts that Trubisky may have even had some leg injury pop up.

The Buffalo Bills starting defense shined while the starting offense disappointed

For the second week, the Buffalo starting defense was the better side of the ball compared to the offense. The defensive line was wreaking havoc against Pittsburgh’s offensive line and we saw flashes from linebackers Dorian Williams and Joe Andreessen.

The offense was once again limited because of Trubisky’s play. He felt the pressure and didn’t respond well. He finished the game 9/13 for 86 yards and one interception while getting sacked twice. The Bills may have some trouble brewing at the backup quarterback spot and if Trubisky is not able to make some sort of improvement throughout the rest of preseason, Buffalo needs to strongly consider getting some competition in.