Bell runs Buffalo to the edge
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — When Big Ben doesn’t have his ‘A’ Game, the Pittsburgh Steelers showed they have a more than capable Plan B in continuing their late-season playoff push. That’s ‘B’ as in Bell. With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger struggling once again with his accuracy on the road, the Steelers resorted to handing the ball off to Le’Veon Bell in sparking a 27-20 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Despite a slick, snow-covered field, Bell had no trouble with his footing to score three times and set a franchise record with 236 yards rushing.
The Steelers (8-5) won their fourth in a row to keep pace in the AFC playoff hunt.
“How much can I appreciate it? About as much as any Steeler fan. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome,” Roethlisberger said of Bell’s performance. “When you’re running the ball as well as you do, might as well stick to it.”
After Roethlisberger threw two of his three interceptions in the first half, the Steelers opened the third quarter fully committed to feed Bell.
He delivered by rushing nine times for 72 yards and cap an 82-yard drive by waltzing into the end zone untouched from 5 yards out to put the Steelers ahead 21-7 . Add in 62 yards receiving, Bell accounted for 298 of Pittsburgh’s 460 yards, and he single-handedly outgained Buffalo’s 275 yards.
The loss left Buffalo (6-7) on the fringes of contention and placed the team in jeopardy of extending the NFL’s longest playoff drought to 17 seasons.
The Bills faltered on both sides of the ball, raising questions about the futures of both coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Tyrod Taylor beyond this season.
Ryan was noncommittal in saying, “we’ll see,” when asked whether Taylor will remain his starter.
Ryan was defiant when asked about whether he deserved a shot to continue on the job beyond his second season.
“What do you think I’m going to say? You’re dang right I do,” Ryan said. “It hasn’t gone exactly the way I wanted it to go, that’s obvious. But we have three games left and we’ll try to win every one of them.”
The Bills had minus-1 yard through two series in the first quarter, becoming the NFL’s first team this season to have negative yards through the first 15 minutes.
Buffalo didn’t get into positive yardage until its first snap of the second quarter, when LeSean McCoy had a 9-yard run.
Buffalo combined for seven first downs and 87 yards net offence on its first nine possessions. That included Sammy Watkins’ 8yard touchdown catch set up by Stephon Gilmore returning Roethlisberger’s second interception to the Pittsburgh 7 midway through the second quarter.
Taylor finished 15 of 25 for 228 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
“Definitely didn’t play my best,” Taylor said. “I let the team down a couple of plays, but gotta move forward.”