Pittsburgh Review

The Steelers faced both positive and negative outcomes in their second preseason game against the Bills on Saturday night. The special teams showed improvement from last week's 20-12 loss to the Houston Texans, and the defense performed better as well. However, the first-team offense struggled significantly.

Russell Wilson, making his preseason debut, completed 8 of 10 passes for 47 yards but was sacked three times in five possessions due to poor protection. Backup quarterback Justin Fields also faced challenges, with the team managing only 219 yards in a 9-3 defeat at Acrisure Stadium.

The loss brings the Steelers' preseason record to 0-2, adding pressure for next Saturday's preseason finale against Detroit. "It was still not what we're looking for," said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. "It was better in some areas, but still JV in some others."

Wilson and Fields combined to complete 19 of 27 passes for just 139 yards. Wilson had been dealing with a calf injury sustained during training camp conditioning drills and saw his first action of the preseason. Buffalo's defensive end Gregory Rousseau sacked Wilson twice and shared another sack with defensive tackle Ed Oliver within the first three possessions.

"We didn't do a good enough job of protecting the quarterback," Tomlin admitted. "We've got to do a better job in pass protection that we did, not only on possession downs but just in general."

The Steelers were without outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith as well as defensive tackle Cam Heyward. The Bills also sat quarterback Josh Allen due to rainstorms before the game started.

Former Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky started for Buffalo and made an error leading to Pittsburgh's first scoring opportunity when safety Miles Killebrew intercepted him at Pittsburgh's 42-yard line. Despite advancing into field goal range, Chris Boswell missed a 52-yard attempt.

Buffalo capitalized on favorable field position later with Tyler Bass kicking a 27-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead late in the half. Fields then entered for Pittsburgh but could only set up another Boswell field goal to tie it at halftime.

In the second half, Buffalo added two more field goals by Bass while Pittsburgh failed to convert several key opportunities into points. A notable moment came when Fields connected with Dez Fitzpatrick for a significant gain but failed on fourth-and-4 from Buffalo’s 20-yard line.

Buffalo’s quarterbacks combined for just over one hundred passing yards while their rushing attack amassed most of their offensive yardage post-halftime.