Bills Dominated by Steelers, Scoreless Headed into Halftime

The Buffalo Bills gave up big plays and struggled to generate some of their own in their Week 2 preseason showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Perhaps no NFL preseason is official until fans of a team are forced into a corner repeating the mantra "It's only preseason."

Buffalo Bills fans were granted that bittersweet sacrament on Saturday night as Acrisure Stadium: the Pittsburgh Steelers' starters scored on each of their first two possessions while the Bills' premier talents struggled to counter. A trio of drive-ending punts from the Bills' offense allowed the hosts to jump out to an 21-0 lead after 30 minutes. 

Bills (0)

PASSING: Matt Barkley (4-of-8, 69 yards, 2 INT)
RUSHING: Latavius Murray (6 carries, 26 yards)
RECEIVING: Dalton Kinkaid (3 rec., 45 yards)

Steelers (14)

PASSING: Mitchell Trubisky (10-of-13, 78 yards, 1 TD)
RUSHING: Jaylen Warren (1 carry, 62 yards, 1 TD)
RECEIVING: Pat Friermuth (1 rec., 25 yards)

Black and (Way Too Much) Yellow

Buffalo was charged with eight penalties for 59 yards. They failed to learn their lesson, racking up six yellow charges for 46 yards in the first quarter alone en route to 11 for 82 in the first half-hour alone. Buffalo got into Pittsburgh territory on its second drive, but blocking penalties on three consecutive plays (two on Spencer Brown) pushed them back into their own half of the field and set up a flabbergasting 34-yard second down (simultaneously wiping out a Gabe Davis deep grab that toed the sideline). Film study will not be an easy affair this week as Buffalo continues to ease its starters back into game action.

The Thin (Blue and) Red Klein

The Bills had linebacker Tyrel Dodson manning the middle in the earlier stages of the game but there's no doubt that things got easier once A.J. Klein came into the game. Whether it's because of his familiarity with the system or if he's taking a sustainable step forward at age 32 remains to be seen but his veteran prescience has to be comforting for the Bills. His skills in the open field could use some work and he was later called for a defensive pass interference penalty in the end zone but the Bills are slowly starting to gain some clarity in their quest to find Tremaine Edmunds' successor. Dodson and Klein split the first two drives with the Buffalo starters but Klein earned the right for attempt No. 3. 

To his credit, Dodson did recover to make a solid play on the final drive before the two-minute warning, cutting off Anthony McFarland from getting to the open field and limiting him to a single yard.

Klein's emergence was part of a quietly strong period for the Buffalo defense: though they let up two scores, the latter pair were set up by a decent Pittsburgh punt return. Gregory Rousseau earned a 17-yard take down of Mitchell Trubisky and Damar Hamlin earned a tackle and a quarterback pressure during his second period entry.  

To Play or Not to Play?

Josh Allen played a total of six snaps last preseason. Despite the Bills' offensive struggles and issues moving the ball, he more than doubled that tally tonight alone. It was always intended for the starters to play at least a quarter on Saturday and many likely assumed they'd hold out the premier men out of next week's finale in Chicago. But could their struggles might force a decision out of Sean McDermott and Co.: the Bills' top offensive playmakers have more than vindicated their statuses atop the NFL's fantasy football ratings. But would they be kept on the field for a drive against the Bears to get some fresh peace of mind going into the season? Not everything was negative for the Bills' offense on Saturday: Davis continued to flash his deep-ball potential while Dalton Kinkaid took full advantage of extended opportunities with the top group as they held Dawson Knox out of Saturday's action.

---

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

Thanks for reading our SI-powered coverage of your Buffalo Bills ... Bills Mafia!

You're a member of Bills Mafia hungry for more Buffalo coverage? Read here.