Wild Card Weekend – Pittsburgh Steelers vs Buffalo Bills
By DJ Harding
After being scheduled on Sunday at 1:00 PM a snowstorm in Buffalo pushed the game back to Monday at 4:30. The field was cleared for some Buffalo playoff football but there was still a winter wonderland in the stands.
Many Bills fans threw snow in the air throughout the game as Buffalo booked their ticket to the divisional round against Pittsburgh in a 31-17 win. Coach Sean McDermott postgame spoke about the fans saying “Bills Mafia showed up.”
Buffalo entered the game with the same momentum they used during the game. The Bills had won five straight before the playoffs and six of their last seven regular season matchups. A week 18 win over the Dolphins propelled them into the two seed giving them a home playoff game.
Pittsburgh meanwhile won their last three games to sneak into the playoffs and have a winning record which gave coach Mike Tomlin his 17th straight season without a losing record.
The Bills started off the first quarter scoring two touchdowns which went to their tight ends. Dawson Know scored first on a nine yard pass before Dalton Kincaid caught a 29 yard pass of his own to give Buffalo a 14-0 lead. Kincaid, a rookie, scored his first career playoff touchdown while Knox caught his sixth which is tied for the second most playoff receiving touchdowns in franchise history.
The lead only got bigger for the Bills as then in the second quarter Josh Allen had a 52 yard rushing touchdown which is the second longest by a quarterback in NFL History. The history-making touchdown gave Buffalo a 21-0 lead.
Pittsburgh eventually got on the board right before halftime as Dionte Johnson was on the receiving end of a 10 yard touchdown. Coming out of half the Steelers scored again with a 40 yard Chris Boswell field goal.
After the 10 unanswered points by the Steelers Buffalo scored late in the third quarter with a Tyler Bass 45 yard field goal. This brought the score to 24-10. The two teams then traded touchdowns to finish out the game.
Calvin Austin caught a seven yard passing touchdown from Mason Rudolph to give the Steelers 17 points, then Khalil Shakir scored the final touchdown of the game on a 17 yard pass. Shakir mentioned postgame “I was in the right place at the right time.” That right time brought the final score to 31-17.
The Buffalo Bills advance to the Divisional Round of the playoffs hosting a home playoff game. The Kansas City Chiefs will come to town on Sunday January 21st with kickoff scheduled for 6:30PM.
