When Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he believes the team’s defense can do “historic things,” this probably isn’t what he meant.
Against the Bills on Sunday, the Steelers allowed 249 rushing yards to the Buffalo Bills. It was the most rushing yards allowed by the Steelers at home in 50 years.
It happened on September 28, 1975. It was the home opener, the first game in Pittsburgh after the Steelers put the Vikings in a stranglehold for a 16-6 win in Super Bowl IX. And that game also involved the Bills.
O.J. Simpson had 227 rushing yards that day. Jim Braxton added 80. In all, Buffalo shredded the Steel Curtain for 310 rushing yards, in a 30-21 win.
The Steelers rebounded from that embarrassment, losing only one more game the rest of the season before beating Dallas in Super Bowl X. That same outcome to the 2025 season is extremely unlikely at this point. The playoffs currently feel like a long shot.
Said linebacker T.J. Watt, after the 26-7 loss that dropped the Steelers to 6-6: “I’ve never seen a team run the same play that much and have that kind of success.”
It speaks to the depths of the hole the Steelers have dug for themselves. Fans were chanting, “Fire Tomlin!” They booed during Renegade. Given the uncharacteristic, all-in moves made by the Steelers in an effort to win a playoff game for the first time since the 2016 season, it was the low point of the season.
And it can get lower. They face the Ravens on Sunday, in Baltimore. The Steelers have a home game on December 15, against the Dolphins.
They may not have to worry about chants or boos that night. They have to worry about the fans not showing up.
The Bengals placed linebacker Brian Asamoah II on injured reserve, the team announced Monday.
Asamoah, a fourth-year player, injured a knee in Cincinnati’s Week 13 win over Baltimore. He appeared in four games with no stats, seeing action on 58 special teams snaps.
The Bengals now have only four linebackers left on their roster.
In a corresponding move, they signed cornerback Jalen Davis off the practice squad to the active roster.
The fifth-year player spent the first 13 weeks of this season on Cincinnati’s practice squad. He was elevated from the practice squad to the active roster for the past two games.
Davis has six tackles and one sack in 79 defensive snaps.
Bills defensive end Joey Bosa came up with one of the biggest plays in Sunday’s win over the Steelers when he forced an Aaron Rodgers fumble on the first play of the third quarter, but his outlook for Week 14’s game against the Bengals is uncertain.
Bosa limped off the field later in the second half and head coach Sean McDermott said on Monday that he’s dealing with a hamstring injury. McDermott said, via multiple reporters, that “we’ll see where that goes” in terms of his availability this week.
Cornerback Christian Benford recovered Rodgers’ fumble and returned it for a touchdown that gave the Bills a lead they would not surrender. It was Bosa’s fifth sack and fifth forced fumble of the year.
McDermott said that left tackle Dion Dawkins remains in the concussion protocol. Tight end Dalton Kincaid, linebacker Terrel Bernard, right tackle Spencer Brown, and wide receiver Josh Palmer are all improving after missing Sunday’s game with an injury.
The Bengals got quarterback Joe Burrow back in the lineup in Week 13, but defensive end Trey Hendrickson missed their win over the Steelers and he’s likely going to miss their Week 14 date with the Bills as well.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters on Monday that Hendrickson is considered doubtful to make his return to action next Sunday. Hendrickson has missed the last four games and five of the last six with hip and pelvis injuries.
Taylor said that the team considers Hendrickson week-to-week in terms of his return timeline.
Hendrickson had 16 tackles, four sacks, and a forced fumble when he was able to play. Joseph Ossai leads the team with five sacks and is the only player on the team with more sacks than Hendrickson.
The Bengals also played without wide receiver Tee Higgins in their win over the Ravens. He remains in the concussion protocol, but could be cleared in time to face Buffalo.
Referee Alex Kemp’s crew had a very interesting day in Pittsburgh, on a fairly basic matter of penalty enforcement.
After the Steelers’ first touchdown of the day, receiver DK Metcalf was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kemp announced that the 15-yard foul would be enforced on the kickoff (pushing the spot of the kick to the 20) and not on the try (making it a 48-yard PAT attempt).
CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore said on the broadcast that the officials had erred, that a penalty after a touchdown is always enforced on the try. After halftime, Steratore corrected himself, explaining that a post-TD penalty occurring after the ball has been made ready for play on the try is enforced at the option of the other team — on the try or on the ensuing kickoff.
He’s right. Which means Steratore was initially incorrect when he said the officiating crew got it wrong.
And then, amazingly, it happened again.
After Buffalo’s second touchdown of the second half, Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward was flagged for taunting. When announcing the penalty, Kemp said it would be enforced on the kickoff.
This time, Steratore was not brought in. This time, no mention was even made of a potential enforcement error. And, this time, a clear error occurred.
The penalty, as PFT has confirmed through multiple sources, happened before the ball was declared to be ready for play on the try. The penalty should have been enforced on the try, giving the Bills the choice of kicking with the snap from the 7.5 yard line or going for two from the one. (The Bills missed the PAT, with the snap from the 15.) Instead, the Bills kicked off from the 50.
And so the first incident, which Steratore said was a mistake, wasn’t a mistake. And the second incident, despite CBS’s silence on the issue, was a clear mistake.
It’s a bizarre outcome. The mistake wasn’t fixed by the replay assistant or the league office, which surely was aware of the questions raised about the mistake that wasn’t made earlier in the game. They should have been paying extra attention to the issue.
Instead, everyone was asleep at the switch.
