PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – When the matchup was first confirmed Sunday night, the Bills opened a seven-point favorite. It quickly jumped to nine-and-a-half and has stayed pretty much at a 10-point spread. Pretty remarkable from the standpoint that the teams are separated by one win.
Pretty understandable when you think about Buffalo being a preseason Super Bowl favorite with five straight wins including at Kansas City and Miami and beating Dallas by 21 points. The Bills also have Pro Bowler Josh Allen at quarterback.
It doesn’t mean the Steelers team, who needed three straight wins and help to get into the playoffs, are concerned about a point spread. QB Mason Rudolph said he’s not a gambler and wasn’t aware, adding they are a pretty confident group.
“We don’t really care about 10-point underdogs,” said Steelers captain Cam Heyward. “That’s for Vegas and all the other naysayers out there. We are excited to be in this opportunity.”
The last time Heyward was a part of a Steelers playoff win was in Kansas City on January 15, 2017. Since that time, four playoff losses and three seasons not making the postseason. It’s been a bumpy season, but the 13-year veteran said it’s just about getting here. It’s about focusing on right now and not worried about what has happened previously either this season or others.
“We got depth,” Heyward said. “We got a lot of hungry dudes that are just relishing this opportunity. We can create turnovers and we are excited for this moment. On offense, we have a great group that’s growing. We like where we are trending.”
The Steelers three-game winning streak all came against teams that were still alive for the postseason when facing them, including the best team in the AFC, even if Baltimore was resting some players for that home matchup. Heyward said you can ride with the Steelers, or not. They are just excited for a shot after missing the post-season last year. He described it as a group of guys ‘salivating for this opportunity to play ball’.
And he doesn’t care where the bets lie. He’s betting on his group.
“We understand the 10-point underdog doesn’t decide the game,” Heyward said. “It’s in-between the lines. It’s the team that executes. It’s the team that wins the turnover battle. It’s the team that wins the rushing battle. Those are things that matter.”
“The 10-point underdog is just a whole lot of nonsense to us.”