Bell Tolls 3 Times for Steelers in 27-20 Over Buffalo Bills

“At the end of the day we want to reflect balance”, said Mike Tomlin.

If Rex Ryan’s job is on the line, here and now, on this day and under these circumstances, then the real questions about the Bills shouldn’t be for him, or for Doug Whaley, or for Tyrod Taylor.

“I think it is going to affect you”, Ryan said. “Today was just an awesome feeling when you get a running back over 200”. A week earlier, Buffalo blew a 15-point third-quarter lead in a 38-24 loss at Oakland.

The only thing that’s close to being certain is the Bills (6-7) are all but eliminated from playoff contention, closer to extending the NFL’s longest active postseason drought to 17 years following a 27-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Taylor’s shortcomings have raised questions about whether the Bills should opt out of the lucrative contract extension they gave Taylor prior to the season.

Now with a 6-6 record and the playoff outlook looking a bit bleak – barring a four-game winning streak to end the season – it makes the upcoming conversation about Taylor’s future even more dynamic.

“This experience right here could be the start of something new”, Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. “It’s cheesy, it’s corny, yeah, I know”. The Bills have not hit on any since Marv Levy left.

In that sense, sticking with Taylor is a losing outcome for Ryan, as is the alternative: Ryan opting for Manuel or Jones as his starting quarterback. He missed a sack possibility on Taylor at one point in the second half and the elusive quarterback continued to run around in the backfield, avoiding sack attempts by three other players until he was chased down from behind by Dupree.

Taylor has regressed this season, though his production has been hampered by an injury-depleted group of receivers. His numbers are similar whether the Bills win or lose. Against the Giants, Roethlisberger threw two touchdowns and had 289 passing yards on 24/36 completed passes. Brown caught six passes for 54 yards, while Eli Rogers caught one pass for 18 yards. They have the stigma of being a run-first team, yet the Bills have thrown the ball on 52.2 percent of their offensive plays in 2016. “Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome”, Roethlisberger said of Bell’s performance. He gained 296 yards rushing in a 2007 game.

WINTER WONDERLAND: Snow’s in the forecast this weekend, and that’s fine for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

“I played high school football in this weather”, he said. “It hasn’t gone exactly the way I wanted it to go, that’s obvious”.

At the quarter pole, the following statistical projections (personal ranking in parenthesis): Ben Roethlisberger 4,179 yards (fourth), 33 touchdown passes (first), 21 sacks (one more than last season); Antonio Brown 117-1,870-15 (fourth-first-first); Le’Veon Bell 1,180 rushing yards (second), 91 receptions (first), 1,904 yards from scrimmage (second); and Lawrence Timmons 119 tackles (same number as previous year, fifth consecutive 100-tackle season, sixth in last seven seasons).

“It’s very hard to swallow”, cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman said. He added a 16 yard run too before Ben threw his first interception.

“Obviously we’re trying to end the game and obviously they know that”, Bell said. “I’ll be out there with no sleeves on”. Drafted by Buffalo in 2014, he was cut loose in the 2015 preseason and picked up by Pittsburgh.

“But I’m here to contribute and I want to play and set (those feelings) aside”. “As soon as we did that, guess what?” And I don’t even consider using the franchise tag on him.

ST: “Details. If everybody details their work like we’ve been doing the last couple of week, we’ll be just fine”.