PITTSBURGH — Less than two years before he died, O.J. Simpson claimed the best game of his career came in Pittsburgh.
Simpson gashed the Steelers for 277 yards and a touchdown, while the Buffalo Bills ran for 310 as a team in a 30-21 win Sept. 28, 1975. He had bigger statistics, but that was against a defense with five Hall of Famers and it was coming off their first Super Bowl.
It’s been over 50 years since that game and big names are scattered across the Pittsburgh defense, but Steel Curtain it is not. If it wasn’t obvious that it wasn’t 1975, 1995 nor 2005, Bills right tackle Alec Anderson mistakenly called them the “Iron Curtain.”
Anderson was born eight years after the Cold War ended, so the gaffe is taken in jest. The scene Sunday in Pittsburgh was surreal nonetheless.
Boos erupting midway through the third quarter, loud chants of “Fire Tomlin” mixed in and “Renegade” played to a half-empty stadium with 10 minutes remaining. The Bills punked the Steelers in their own stadium.
“It was an ass-kicking in all areas,” Steelers star linebacker T.J. Watt said.
In fact, the Bills beat the Steelers like few teams have been able. Buffalo ran for 249 yards — the most Pittsburgh allowed in 24-year-old Acrisure Stadium — in a 26-7 win.
It was an ugly win, but one the Bills needed and not just because a loss would have knocked them out of a playoff spot had the season ended after Week 13. The Bills were embarrassed and bullied 10 days earlier against the Houston Texans and it was obvious that didn’t sit well.
“(The Steelers) pride themselves on playing great defense and a physical brand of football,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I’ve known (Steelers coach Mike Tomlin) a long time and he takes a lot of pride in that. And I respect it. But we’re not going to be out-physicaled and our guys know that. They know what we stand for as well and what Buffalo Bills football’s about.”
Playing without starting offensive tackles Spencer Brown and Dion Dawkins — against a defense ranking in the top-five in sacks and blitz percentage — running the ball was going to be imperative. Josh Allen and the passing game still remain a mess, with Allen not hitting 100 yards until nine minutes left in the game.
But left tackle Ryan Van Demark and Anderson were plug-and-play against the run. James Cook set a career-high with 32 carries, running for 144 yards. And Ray Davis, who had 44 yards all season, ran for 62 on nine attempts, averaging 6.9 yards per carry.
“It was a very physical game,” Anderson said. “(Expletive) line it up and run it, run it downhill. That’s what I love to do.”
The Bills claimed they could feel the Steelers defense begin to break in the second quarter — a veteran group with future Hall of Famers like Watt and Cameron Heyward, who claimed after the game that Allen purposely kneed him in the stomach.
Even more bizarre is that the Bills would have undoubtedly been showered with boos had they trotted into the locker room down 7-3 at Highmark Stadium. It was an ugly offensive performance that included a terrible Allen interception and a foolish fumble by Cook and a drive that reached the Pittsburgh 4-yard line with 55 seconds left in the second half that fizzled into a field goal.
“You can feel them breaking, you can feel them bending,” Van Demark said. “And I think we just took advantage of that. … It just seemed like we were moving the ball really well.”
But perhaps the Bills wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity for the offensive line to stuff the Steelers into a locker had it not been for the defense. What if the Steelers turned Allen’s first-drive interception into points instead of a punt or if they scored on the opening possession of the second half?
It didn’t matter because Joey Bosa turned the corner on left tackle Andrus Peat and belted quarterback Aaron Rodgers — who played with multiple fractures in his left wrist — in the back in the third quarter’s first play from scrimmage, jarring the ball loose. Not only did cornerback Christian Benford return the fumble 17 yards for a touchdown, but it knocked Rodgers out of the game.
Rodgers was only gone four plays, but it was long enough for backup Mason Rudolph to sail a pass intended for tight end Darnell Washington and into the hands of Benford. Rodgers finished just 10 of 21 for 117 yards, the only points coming after Cook’s fumble gave them the ball at the Buffalo 39.
The Bills surrendered a season-low 58 yards on 3.2 yards per carry. Sure the Steelers have the 27th-ranked rushing offense in the NFL, but the Bills were coming off three consecutive games in which they allowed 169 yards to opponents who entered the game in the bottom-10 in the league in rushing.
It was the most complete defensive performance of the season for a team that’s played terribly in one half and terrific in the next or from game to game. The defense needed that performance heading into a matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals, who put up a ton of points and just got quarterback Joe Burrow back.
“It’s something we wanted to key on — start fast and stay on them,” Bills linebacker Dorian Williams said. “Having a stifling defense out there, that’s something that we need to get back to.”