The Bills will be without both starting tackles – Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown – as they face a formidable Steelers pass rush.
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1. Next (big) man up.
The Bills will be without both starting tackles – Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown – as they face a formidable Steelers pass rush. Coach Sean McDermott did not say Friday who would start in their place. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen said he was spending extra time on task with his offensive line this week to prepare for the challenge of T.J. Watt and company. “I'm having a big meeting with the O-line (Thursday), and just making sure that we're relaying information,” Allen said Wednesday. “Again, just the biggest thing is communication and understanding when you have help, when you don't, and it's just my job to go out there and try to facilitate the football to our guys.”
Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt celebrates a sack against the Eagles last season. Bills quarterback Josh Allen will need to keep tabs on Watt on Sunday.
Terrance Williams, Associated Press
2. Watch for Watt.
Allen said he has to know where No. 90, Watt, is at all times. But Allen and McDermott agreed that the Steelers' defense is more than just Watt, as good as he can be. The banged-up Bills have to be ready for the entire Pittsburgh defensive line. “High energy, plays with a high motor, intense,” McDermott said of Watt. “He’s not the only one they have, though. They’ve got three outside that do well together, and then they’ve got a couple guys going on the inside, including (Cameron) Heyward there. And they blitz well also from the linebacker position. So, they bring it from a lot of different areas, and it starts with that front.”
3. Don’t downplay the importance of Sunday.
McDermott was open that “the urgency is up” for this game. The Bills can draw on 2023, when they were 6-6 and then ran the table. Allen, who echoed an “extremely high sense of urgency,” looked back to that season as an example. “Yeah, just understanding that back against the wall mindset,” Allen said. “Feeling like we've been in a situation like this, if not worse. We'd love to be 11-0 right now, as would everybody else in the NFL. That's why we play the game on the field, not on paper. … Again, every week's an opportunity to go up there and prove to ourselves that we do have what it takes.”
4. Ready for Rodgers.
While Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ status was at one point in question, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on Friday that it’s now “all systems go” for the veteran quarterback. Rodgers, who is dealing with a fractured left wrist (his non-throwing hand), has missed a game and a half this season. He was a full participant in Thursday’s and Friday’s practices, and he has no injury designation for the game. Rodgers has completed 66.4% of his passes this season for 1,969 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s had three games with two interceptions, the latest in the Week 10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, where he looked shaky throughout the contest.
