Ryan’s Bills do dirty work for Steelers; No. 1 seeds set

Going against former coach Rex Ryan and the division foes the Buffalo Bills, New York suffered a 22-17 loss in a turnover-laden contest.

While no one wants to see the Browns rush into a hiring, the more time they take the shorter the list of potential candidates (which may already be pretty short) will naturally become. They lost to the Ravens 30-17.

“It’s been a tough, 16-week fight for us, but we’re where we want to be”, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.

“Last week we didn’t answer the call”, safety Mike Mitchell said. We will approach the search for our next football coach and executives to lead our football operations with a clear vision regarding what we need to do to build a successful organization. We’re one of the teams that has an opportunity to hold up the Lombardi, and that’s the goal.

The Steelers knew that if they were going to punch their second straight ticket to the playoffs that they’d have to focus exclusively on what they could control: disposing of the Browns, a team they’ve now beaten in 10 of their last 12 meetings. Cincinnati is the No. 3 seed and will host AFC North rival Pittsburgh in a wild-card game on Saturday night, while AFC South champion Houston is the No. 4 seed and will host Kansas City, winners of 10 consecutive games. New England played a conservative game offensively as Tom Brady completed 12 of 21 passes for 134 yards and no touchdowns.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) is tackled by Cleveland Browns linebacker Karlos Dansby (56) after a pass reception during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. But they’re a good team.

It wasn’t all good news for the Steelers against the Browns.

Sure, much like a year ago, when Pittsburgh prepared for its wild card game knowing Le’Veon Bell was going to miss it with a hyper-extended knee, the days leading up to the date with the Bengals will surely be dominated by news of the health of running back DeAngelo Williams, who left the regular season finale with an ankle injury and didn’t return. He was taken to the locker room and later returned to the sideline.

“It’s probably been as hard as any season we’ve been a part of”, said 13th-year Dallas tight end Jason Witten, who scored his first touchdown since getting two in the opener.

Ryan and the Buffalo Bills stopped the Jets from making the playoffs Sunday and gave the Pittsburgh Steelers the final playoff spot in the AFC. Yes, the sack total is impressive, and the unit had four takeaways on Sunday to add to a double-digit fumbles recovered and passes intercepted on the season.

“We still put up points and found a way to win”, Roethlisberger said. Yet as with the historical yards that Brown was forced to forgo without Roethlisberger, there were also the historical catches. Brown caught 13 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown. Both Brown and Jones tied for the league lead with 136.