Sunday’s Buffalo Bills’ game was similar in a lot of ways to last week’s game in Cincinnati. In the first half the Bills were totally dominated by the Steelers, who methodically marched up and down the field and controlled the clock. The Bills offense was shut out but really had little opportunity to get anything done since they rarely had the ball. The defense wasn’t terrible but couldn’t stop anything on third down. To their credit, despite being dominated the defense only surrendered one touchdown, minimizing the damage to a 13-0 halftime deficit. The Bills missed a chance to get back in the game when they took the second half kickoff and drove down the field, only to turn the ball over in the red zone on a fumble by Lee Evans. The play of the defense, just like in last week’s game, improved immensely in the second half. They managed to get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger, taking advanatage of Pittsburgh’s patchwork offensive line to record 5 sacks and draw numerous holding penalties. Jairus Byrd came up with a turnover, and Kyle Williams continued his push toward a Pro Bowl bid with a monster game, totaling 10 tackles and 2 sacks. Ryan Fitzpatrick did another admirable job directing the offense, spreading the ball around to all his receivers. Fred Jackson started the Bills on the road to another comeback by taking a screen pass 65 yards for a touchdown. It looked as though the Bills were left for dead when Troy Polamalu made a spectacular diving interception at his own 1 yard line to kill a Bills’ drive toward at least tying the game, but coach Chan Gailey used his timeouts well, and the defense held to give Fitzpatrick one more chance to deliver. Fitzpatrick, who continues to lock up the team’s starting QB job, did just that, driving the team to give Rian Lindell a chance to kick a game-tying field goal with 2 seconds left and force overtime.
There is no denying that the play of the game was the dropped pass by the Bills’ Steve Johnson in the overtime that would have given his team the upset win. It was another example of what the Bills have been doing all season – finding new and creative ways to lose. It’s really a shame that Johnson wound up being the goat, since he has been a huge bright spot in a losing season this year for the Bills. It was encouraging to see Johnson man up and face the media after the game, and to take individual responsibilty for the loss, calling the drop inexcusable. It’s important to point out, however, that Lee Evans fumbled away a scoring opportunity early in the game, and also dropped a pass in the OT. Jackson and Leodis McKelvin both fumbled but were bailed out by teammates who recovered them (Evans redeemed himself somewhat by recovering Jackson’s fumble). Paul Posluszny and Chris Kelsay missed opportunities for sacks with poor tackling, and Arthur Moats tripped up McKelvin on the overtime kickoff when it appeared he had a chance to go the distance. Games are never really won or lost on one play, and Buffalo certainly blew a lot of other chances to make plays at various times that could have made the difference. Unfortunately, Johnson’s drop was the most glaring, and he’ll surely be crucified for it all week in the media.