Steelers and Le’Veon Bell run to their fourth straight win after beating the Bills 27-20

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills went head-to-head in Week 14 action at New Era Field in Orchard Park, NY. The Steelers, 7-5, and Bills, 6-6, had a great deal to play for in regards to their AFC playoff positioning. Buffalo, playing for their playoff lives, and the Steelers hoping to keep pace with the Baltimore Ravens in the division.

At game time the conditions were less than ideal, with cold and snow covering the field. The Bills won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. Pittsburgh took the opening kickoff and drove into the Buffalo red-zone before Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception, stifling the drive and taking potential points off the scoreboard.

However, the Bills were unable to turn the turnover into points, and it took Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown hooking up with a big 40-yard pass to move the Steelers back into Buffalo territory. The drive ended with a Le’Veon Bell 3-yard touchdown run to give Pittsburgh an early lead. Chris Boswell, not Randy Bullock, nailed the point after touchdown to give the Steelers a 7-0 lead.

The Steelers defense was suffocating in the first quarter, notching three sacks of Tyrod Taylor, and forcing another punt. Pittsburgh’s offense continued to put the pedal down, and a tremendous drive ended with a 7-yard Bell touchdown, his second of the game. Another Boswell point-after put the Steelers up 14-0.

Just when it looked like the Steelers were going to run away with the game, Roethlisberger threw his second interception of the game, putting the Bills in the Pittsburgh red-zone. Taylor hit Sammy Watkins on third down for the score, cutting into Pittsburgh’s lead 14-7.

After half, Pittsburgh’s defense stood tall, and the game turned into the Le’Veon Bell show. A long drive featuring 9 running plays led to Bell’s third touchdown of the game to give the Steelers a 21-7 lead.

Roethlisberger threw his third interception, and second in the red-zone, to give the Bills hope, but Artie Burns claimed his third interception of the season to give Pittsburgh the ball back. The offense turned the turnover into a 37-yard Chris Boswell field goal to extend the lead 24-7.

Buffalo refused to go down easily, and Taylor was able to hit LeSean McCoy for a big gain, which set up a touchdown pass to Charles Clay. The Steelers displayed some horrendous tackling on the drive, but Dan Carpenter’s point after was no good and Pittsburgh continued to lead 24-13.

Boswell added another 39-yard field goal on the ensuing drive to give Pittsburgh a 27-13 lead.

With just over two minutes left in the game, Tyrod Taylor orchestrated a touchdown drive, capped off by a LeSean McCoy touchdown run. Carpenter tacked on the point after touchdown to cut Pittsburgh’s lead 27-20. The Buffalo onside kick failed, and the final score stood Pittsburgh 27, Buffalo 20.

The Steelers win marked their 4th in a row, and advanced their record to 8-5. After the win, the team now prepares for their final road trip of the regular season as they travel to Cincinnati in Week 15 to play the rival Bengals.