Aaron Rodgers' return for Steelers puts pressure on shaky Bills defense in Pittsburgh originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Pittsburgh Steelers dodged a bullet with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whose wrist injury will only keep him out one game.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRodgers suffered what was diagnosed as a small fracture in his wrist in Week 11 and he wasn't able to get cleared for Week 12.
However, Rodgers practiced in full on Thursday and Friday and is now good to go for the Week 13 contest against the Buffalo Bills.
"He was a full participant today with no designation for the game," head coach Mike Tomlin said, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. "So it's all systems go."
Things will obviously be a bit more difficult for the Bills, who otherwise would've had to face backup signal-caller Mason Rudolph if Rodgers didn't play.
The Bills actually sport the stingiest pass defense in the NFL, with Buffalo ceding just 168.2 passing yards per game.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut it isn't just as simple as the Bills have an elite pass defense and that mark masks the issues Buffalo has had in the secondary.
Teams have been gashing the Bills on the ground, so Buffalo's opponents haven't had to throw the rock as much.
Buffalo currently sports the third-worst run defense in the NFL (148.9 yards per game), with only the New York Giants (157.2) and Cincinnati Bengals (153.3) having worse units.
At safety, the Bills are down two players in Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin, and at cornerback, the Bills have seen Christian Benford and Tre'Davious White struggle.
Benford has given up a completion rate of 65.8% and a passer rating of 125, and he has a lackluster Pro Football Focus coverage grade of 49.4, which ranks 98th out of 110 eligible cornerbacks.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe raw stats say White has been better than Benford, with a 55.9% completion rate and 85.7 passer rating allowed, and a 55.7 coverage grade, but the eye test would tell you otherwise.
Rookie Maxwell Hairston has returned from injury and provided another option for Buffalo, and while he has shown some flashes and has been good overall, there have also been warts, as you would expect for a first-year player.
Hairston has given up a completion rate of 46.2% and a passer rating of 71.0, and he has a strong coverage grade of 70.6 on the strength of three games with a coverage grade of 69.1 or higher, including one contest with a 91.4.
On the flip side, Hairston has two games with a coverage grade of 49.8 or lower, so clearly there's still some kinks to be worked out for the unproven cornerback.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRodgers and the Steelers have got to challenge these cornerbacks early and often, and especially White and Hairston. We also want to see Pittsburgh take some chances deep to challenge Buffalo's safeties.
The problem, of course, is the Steelers failed miserably at upgrading their wide receivers room this year and have DK Metcalf and not much else.
Second-year wideout Roman Wilson and veteran Calvin Austin have both failed to adequately step up, and the slew of tight ends the Steelers have haven't done much, either.
Look for the Steelers to start off by establishing the run and challenging Buffalo's biggest weakness.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIf successful, the Bills will be forced to bring more help upfront, which will in turn make things easier for Pittsburgh's wide receivers and allow Rodgers to attack the Bills' suspect secondary.
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