The lead lasted for the second-half kickoff. On the first snap of the half, Joey Bosa sacked Rodgers while he was attempting to throw. The ball came loose, was scooped up by Christian Benford, and returned 17 yards for a Bills touchdown and 10-7 lead with 14:44 left in the third quarter.
Mason Rudolph replaced Rodgers, who was injured on the play, and was intercepted on his second pass attempt. The Bills drove 56 yards for a 1-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Keon Coleman on a fourth-down play to push their lead — with the missed extra point — to 16-7 with 8:49 left in the third quarter.
Rodgers returned for the Steelers’ ensuing possession but couldn’t move the offense. The Bills then embarked on an 83-yard touchdown drive that took 8:14 off the clock and ended with Allen running for an 8-yard touchdown on a third-down play. The score put the Bills ahead 23-7 with 14:08 left to play.
Rodgers drove the Steelers to the Buffalo 7, but on fourth-and-2, Gainwell was stopped for a loss of 2 yards and the Bills took possession with 10:11 remaining.
The Bills then ran 9:04 off the clock and kicked a 37-yard field goal to secure the win.
The Bills finished with 249 yards rushing, while the Steelers finished with only 58. The Bills led the time of possession 41:59 to 18:01.
“Run it, pass it, we just weren’t successful enough today to sustain any time of ball control or produce enough points to be functional today, and that’s just the reality of it,” said Tomlin.