On a drive that took roughly half of the second quarter and left just 51 seconds on the clock, the Bills fought their way into the red zone for the first time Sunday. At the Pittsburgh 11-yard-line, the Steelers kept Buffalo from converting on third down. By that point, the Bills were perfect on third down conversions. However, a tackle on wide receiver Gabe Davis led to a fourth-and-three situation. Buffalo took a timeout after an unsuccessful attempt at drawing Pittsburgh offsides, putting together a play call to pick up the three remaining yards and potentially a touchdown to tie the score.
Getting back on the field, an early jump and false start penalty pushed the Bills back five yards and brought up fourth-and-eight. Placekicker Matt Prater came onto the field helping Buffalo start climbing out of its deficit and put points on the board.
Buffalo’s offense moved quick from the jump, trying to get the ball out as soon as possible in the absence of starting tackles Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown.
After establishing the run game early with Cook, who cut back and veered right on the first snap of the afternoon for a 19-yard gain, Allen got wide receiver Brandin Cooks into the picture early. Cooks halted and turned around to make the catch with separation from cornerback James Pierre. The 13-yard completion got Buffalo into Pittsburgh territory, but the drive stopped shortly after.
Allen looked for Davis on third-and-nine. Cornerback Brandin Echols, though, shoved himself into the wide receiver and came down with the ball. The interception put the Steelers’ offense on the field, but their first drive of the game didn’t make it past midfield.
Benford took running back Jaylen Warren down two yards behind the line of scrimmage, then linebacker Matt Milano stopped Warren on the following play at the original starting spot. Successfully forcing a Pittsburgh punt, cornerback Tre’Davious White defended quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ pass intended for wide receiver Calvin Austin III without triggering a pass interference call.
Both teams continued sharing punts back-and-forth, leading to a scoreless first quarter.
When the second half rolled around, Buffalo came out onto the field with a new spark of energy, kept alive by Benford’s key defensive plays.
On offense, Cook wasn’t the only one cultivating the run game. Running back Ray Davis came into Sunday with 44 rushing yards to his name on the season. By the end of the third quarter, he had 48 essential yards on the ground picked up by chunk play after chunk play.
After Allen picked up 11 yards himself on the play before, Davis had consecutive 10-plus yard runs. The first went for 13 followed by a 10-yard gain. These two plays put the Bills at the Steelers’ 31-yard-line. Davis finished Sunday with nine carries for 62 yards.
The drive finished early in the fourth quarter with the offense driving Allen into the end zone after a decision of the quarterback to keep the ball. Offensive lineman Alec Anderson provided the last body to shove Allen past the plane, making it a two-possession game for Pittsburgh to catch up to at 23-7.
Buffalo finished the game with a field goal and a complete second half shutout on Pittsburgh, moving to 8-4 on the season.