Thud.
That’s the sound Sunday made.
Thud.
All of the build up. So much anticipation after an entire regular season with no fans, and only a little more than that at a pair of home playoff games.
Super Bowl LVI favorites, and a fat new contract for quarterback Josh Allen.
An opponent, who when we last saw them, clearly appeared to be heading in the opposite direction of the Buffalo Bills. A new AFC power ascending, and an old guard champion going the other way.
It was all set up for a party at Highmark Stadium, but instead turned into, well, whatever the opposite of a party is supposed to be. I’d say a wake or a funeral, but that would imply that something more serious happened on Sunday than just a Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Still though, thud.
So what happened?
Well for starters, Allen was off just enough to miss on some opportunities. The fourth-year signal caller wasn’t exactly under siege all day, but the the Bills' holding penalties on the offensive line tell you they had their hands full up front.
Still, even though it wasn’t the game Bills fans were expecting for the first half, a 10-0 lead and an entirely stifled Steelers offense maybe had you feeling at least decent, if not festive.
Even into the fourth quarter, you might have had a lot of company if you were thinking one big play from the Bills offense and everything would get right in our little football world.
But that play never came.
Eventually, the Steelers got a pass interference call in their favor when Bills cornerback Levi Wallace was penalized, and that lead to a touchdown. Shortly after that, a blocked punt was returned for another touchdown, and that was pretty much it.
The game swung on those two plays and the Bills were not able to recover.
Allen was just a little bit off just about all day long. He overcooked a great long look to Emmanuel Sanders in the first half, and had a tough time with his accuracy pretty much all day.
Our own "Sneaky Joe" DiBiase tweeted during the game at some point that Allen was having a day from 2019. Not bad, necessarily, but not really the MVP candidate who emerged last season either. Yes, the Steelers' pass rush had something to do with that, but there were plays there to be made that Allen either didn’t see or simply failed to make.
Like any time a team loses in the NFL, we’ll look closely at some decisions and play calls.
There were a couple of fourth-and-short punts in the first half of this game that were, at the very least, questionable. 4th-and-1 from the Bills' 46-yard line was the first one, and then on the very next series from the Pittsburgh 43-yard line, the Bills chose to kick the ball away on 4th-and-3.
This could be something to keep an eye on. When last season ended in the AFC Championship Game, the Bills elected to kick a couple of chip shot field goals when head coach Sean McDermott lost his nerve. This is notable, because Buffalo led the NFL in 2020 with an 80% conversion rate on fourth downs before turtling in the biggest spot.
Now here comes 2021 with all the expectations and Allen armed with a new contract that makes him the second-highest paid quarterback in the sport, and you’re choosing to play field position?
Thud.
Then, when the Bills did decide to go for it on a 4th-and-1 from the Pittsburgh 41-yard line, we got an attempt at some misdirection and a pitch to running back Matt Breida that blew up in the Bills' faces for a seven-yard loss.
Brian Daboll gets major points for his creativity when he’s got wide receivers throwing touchdowns to Josh Allen, so I’m not inclined to clobber him for trying something there. But it obviously did not work, and it doesn’t help that the game pretty much turned in Pittsburgh’s favor from there on out.
Even with that said, the Bills had the Steelers in a 3rd-and-7 situation at mid-field before Wallace got dinged for pass interference, which is where this column began, sort of.
So, what now?
Well, a road trip to Miami awaits in Week 2, and let’s just see how the Bills respond to falling flat in the most anticipated home opener, maybe ever. For starters, I wouldn’t expect the Bills to have as hard a time blocking Miami up front.
Hopefully that puts Allen a little more at ease and helps the Bills get their Super Bowl plans back on track.
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