Buffalo Bills at Pittsburgh Steelers Week 13 snap counts

The Buffalo Bills flattened the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-7 on Sunday afternoon, bringing their season record to 8-4. Buffalo now holds possession of the seven seed in the AFC, with the Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Jets all on tap for the final five games of the season.

The Week 13 injury report was rather lengthy, with offensive tackles Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown both sidelined, along with wide receiver Joshua Palmer and tight end Dalton Kincaid. On defense, linebacker Terrel Bernard was unable to suit up after sustaining an elbow injury in Week 12. Second-year wideout Keon Coleman was active for the first time since Week 10, and newcomer Brandin Cooks, who signed with the team last week, was also active.

Bills Week 13 offensive snap counts (74 snaps)

A.Anderson T 74 100%D.Edwards G 74 100%O.Torrence G 74 100%R.Van Demark T 74 100%J.Allen QB 74 100%C.McGovern G 74 100%D.Knox TE 53 72%J.Hawes TE 52 70%T.Shavers WR 45 61%J.Cook III RB 45 61%G.Davis WR 43 58%K.Shakir WR 36 49%K.Coleman WR 33 45%Ty.Johnson RB 20 27%B.Cooks WR 17 23%R.Davis RB 13 18%R.Gilliam FB 9 12%K.Latu TE 4 5%

Despite the 19-point win, the offense certainly still left points on the table. Buffalo’s first five offensive possessions went as follows: Interception, Punt, Punt, Fumble, Field Goal. Allen (100%) has turned the ball over seven times in just the last four games, while running back James Cook (61%) has fumbled twice in the same span. Cook kept the offense afloat; however, the back totaled a career-high 32 carries for 144 yards. Even Ray Davis (18%) joined in on the fun, totaling nine carries for 62 yards. The rushing attack was so efficient that it set a record for most rushing yards in Pittsburgh since Acrisure Stadium was first built in 2001.

It makes sense that the Bills leaned on the running game, too, given that both starting tackles were sidelined and the weather conditions were rather windy. This resulted in spot starts for both Ryan Van Demark (100%) and Alec Anderson (100%). While Anderson had some early hiccups, these two did a solid job in containing Pittsburgh’s powerful edge rushers, and Allen finished the game with zero sacks taken.

As a result of both tackles being sidelined, the Bills’ passing game suffered. Allen threw an interception in a tight window on the first drive of the game and finished with just 123 passing yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Brandin Cooks (23%) expectedly logged the fewest snaps by a wideout, but he hauled in his only target for 13 yards on a third-down play on the first drive. Allen’s interception came while targeting wide receiver Gabe Davis (58%), who finished with just one reception for five yards. The passing game was so lackluster that Cook led all pass catchers in receptions (3) and yards (33), with tight end Dawson Knox (72%) and running back Ty Johnson (27%) rounding out the top three. The quick-pass game was expected, but it’s still strange to see Allen finish with such a low yardage total.

Bills Week 13 defensive snap counts (43 snaps)

C.Benford CB 40 93%S.Thompson LB 40 93%C.Bishop S 40 93%J.Poyer S 38 88%M.Milano LB 35 81%T.White CB 33 77%G.Rousseau DE 28 65%D.Jones DT 27 63%Ta.Johnson CB 25 58%J.Bosa DE 24 56%A.Epenesa DE 21 49%D.Williams LB 19 44%D.Walker DT 19 44%T.Sanders DT 19 44%L.Ogunjobi DT 19 44%M.Hairston CB 13 30%J.Phillips DT 12 28%C.Lewis DB 8 19%J.Hancock DB 4 9%J.Andreessen LB 3 7%J.Solomon DE 3 7%B.Spector LB 3 7%

The Steelers’ offense operated similarly: the quick-pass game. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was already dealing with multiple fractures in his non-throwing hand, but the Bills didn’t make it easy for him whatsoever. Rodgers finished with just 117 passing yards and was strip-sacked on the first play of the second half by edge rusher Joey Bosa (56%), which was picked up and taken to the house by cornerback Christian Benford (93%). Bosa now leads the NFL in forced fumbles (5). Benford didn’t stop there, either, as he picked off backup quarterback Mason Rudolph the following drive, which completely tilted the momentum in Buffalo’s favor.

On the opposite end was cornerback Tre’Davious White (77%), who had been splitting series with rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston (30%) the past few games. White out-snapped Hairston by 20 snaps on Sunday, finishing the day with two passes defensed. Whether it was simply a defensive adjustment or the Bills were being a bit cautious with the rookie, who went through concussion protocol during the week, remains unknown.

With Bernard sidelined, veteran linebacker Shaq Thompson (93%) was LB1, and he has brought noticeable juice since he started wearing Bills’ colors. The linebacker play has been so up-and-down this season, but I feel pretty confident in the rotation of Thompson, Matt Milano (81%) and Dorian Williams (44%), who bring a solid mix of run stuffing and pass coverage abilities. While most of them didn’t show up on the stat sheet, the interior defensive line plugged up running lanes well against Pittsburgh’s rushing attack. The Steelers ran the ball just 18 times for 58 yards, and the Bills’ defense totaled four tackles for a loss.

Bills Week 13 special teams snap counts (20 snaps)

D.Williams LB 15 75%J.Andreessen LB 14 70%S.Franklin DB 14 70%J.Solomon DE 13 65%T.Shavers WR 12 60%C.Lewis DB 12 60%K.Latu TE 11 55%J.Hancock DB 11 55%B.Spector LB 11 55%M.Prater K 11 55%R.Gilliam FB 9 45%Ty.Johnson RB 7 35%M.Wishnowsky P 7 35%R.Ferguson LS 7 35%J.Poyer S 6 30%D.Walker DT 6 30%A.Anderson T 5 25%D.Edwards G 5 25%O.Torrence G 5 25%R.Van Demark T 5 25%C.Lundt T 5 25%S.Van Pran-Granger C/G 5 25%K.Shakir WR 4 20%R.Davis RB 4 20%J.Hawes TE 2 10%C.Benford CB 2 10%S.Thompson LB 2 10%G.Rousseau DE 2 10%D.Jones DT 2 10%C.Bishop S 1 5%Ta.Johnson CB 1 5%J.Bosa DE 1 5%T.Sanders DT 1 5%M.Hairston CB 1 5%J.Phillips DT 1 5%