Steelers News: INSTANT REACTION After 26-7 LOSS vs. The Bills | The Wheels Are Falling Off, Folks…

Steelers News: INSTANT REACTION After 26-7 LOSS vs. The Bills | The Wheels Are Falling Off, Folks…

In a critical moment and a great opportunity for the Pittsburgh Steelers to take back control of the AFC North. One week before the Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens in a crucial interdivision matchup, they completely crapped the bed and had probably not even probably, it was their worst performance of the 2025 season to this point, losing to the Buffalo Bills at home by a final score of 26-7. Offense couldn’t move the ball. The defense couldn’t get off the field. It was overall from start to finish the worst overall game the Pittsburgh Steelers have played this season and this late into the year at home to have this caliber of performance against a potential playoff opponent. If the Steelers somehow find a way to make the playoffs certainly doesn’t feel good being a Pittsburgh Steeler fan right now and this team’s chances of doing something that this team has not done in the better part of a decade at this point and that is to win a postseason game. And honestly, it just feels like we’re right back to the same old spot that this team is always in under head coach Mike Tomlin. Welcome into the Steelers Talk postgame show, guys. It feels like the wheels are coming off uh the train here uh in Steelers Nation. We’re going to talk about it. I’m going to take give you guys my takeaways coming out of this game. But make sure you guys click that subscribe button because we’re going to get you guys extensive coverage uh tomorrow overreaction Monday along with uh my film analysis. It’s not going to be pretty, I’m guessing, after I watch the film tomorrow. Uh, but we also have two live shows this weekend. You guys ready for Ravens week? Um, you know, Steelers still have a lot of opportunities left in front of them. They get the Ravens twice if they can somehow find a way to turn things around at this point. Um, you know, the AFC North is still there for the taking, but man, losing five out of your last eight games uh or seven games I should say at this point. Wow. It just it’s just it’s just been a complete collapse here in the middle of the season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Let’s talk about this game, man. 26-7 is the final. Bills possessed the football for over 40 minutes of game time. Let me repeat that. 40 plus minutes of time of possession in this ball game. So, in order to do that, you need two things to happen, guys. The offense has to get off the field extremely quickly and not really do anything all day. And then the defense has to not be able to get off the field and possession downplay, all that different stuff. And you know, the second half of this ball game, guys, was probably the worst I’ve ever seen this Pittsburgh Steelers team play from start to finish in a half this entire season. Offense couldn’t move the ball. You gave up a defensive touchdown on literally the first play in the second half. It was the second half from hell. All right. And that is the lasting impression that we have of this Steelers team is now we head down a very crucial home stretch where you are now tied at the top of the AFC North. You’re playing the Ravens twice and you give up a ton of rushing yards to James Cook today. We’ll talk about the run defense today. But how are we supposed to expect this Steelers team to stop Derrick Henry uh over the next, you know, two times over the next five weeks. All right. Weren’t able to do it last year. Certainly didn’t show an ability to to stop a really good running back today and James Cook. I mean, just look at the disparity on possession downs and total yardage. All right? like you had two great turnovers in the first half just like you did against Chicago last week and then you get two turnovers in the second half that bury you and you don’t even possess the football for 20 minutes of the game clock today. That’s an absolute joke plain and simply guys. Now before I get into some takeaways here, some injuries, Patrick Queen left the game with a hip injury. Honestly wasn’t playing all that well in the game before the injury. Uh and the Steelers do have decent depth at linebacker. Cole Hulkcom was able to come in. Pton Wilson taking over green dot duties. Honestly, I’m not even sure if this defense takes a huge step down with Patrick Queen out of the lineup at this point in time. Uh he’s been that bad this season. He leads the league in miss tackle rate, all that different stuff. I obviously hope Patrick Queen gets better. Um and I never want people to get injured, but um certainly hoping that he gets better soon. Then James Pierre left the game with a concussion. Hopefully he can get back on the field soon, but Asante Samuel Jr. did get on the field in the second half. A lot of it felt like garbage time just because it never felt like the Steelers really had a chance in that second half. Um it was just all downhill from the literally the first play onward in the second half. So we’ll see what Asante can do uh at outside corner in the weeks to come. There’s a reason why they elevated him and made Darius Slay a healthy scratch. So I’m sure we’ll see more of Asante in the weeks to come. Um and we’ll see when James can get back out on the field. And if so, is Asante just the full-time starter now? But then we get to our takeaways here and last week I thought Arthur Smith had one of if not he his best overall game plan uh for Mason Rudolph and that in the Steelers offense and you know the run game was going all that stuff. The screen game was going today. They came out against a team that is really good against the pass and really bad against the run and you know I know that the run game wasn’t great today but they passed the ball so much even in the first half. I mean, they had five more pass attempts in the first half than rushes. And they really leaned in on Aaron Rodgers today. And once again, like I understand he’s hurt and all this different stuff, but Rogers once again was lackluster in his performance. All right, plain and simply, we haven’t seen Aaron Rogers play at a high level, like a genuinely good level since he lit it up on Thursday Night Football versus the Cincinnati Bengals. Ever since then, since the Green Bay Packer game onward, Aaron Rogers has not been a good starting quarterback in this league. He’s probably been a bottom 10, maybe even bottom five starting quarterback in the league. It’s not like Mason Rudolph is going to be coming in and saving the day and he’s going to be way better and he’s going to save this season either. Like this season is banked on Rogers playing highlevel football and he hasn’t done it in over a month at this point. Pretty much a month and a half at this point. And I I just don’t know if I see uh you know it getting to the other end there where it’s we’re we’re seeing the first half version of Aaron Rogers that was a pretty decent quarterback. And then the run game today, Jaylen Warren, three and a half yards per carry. It’s not terrible, but only 10 carries on the game obviously is not exactly what you want to see. I thought Kenny Gainwell had some nice plays once again today. Um, that’s obviously the strength of this Pittsburgh Steelers football team. Yet Arthur Smith came out with a quarterback with a literally fractured wrist in three different spots and said, “We’re going to pass the ball a lot today.” Terrible offensive game plan coming into this game plain and simply. And it can’t be, you know, there’s no excuses. It was just it’s just straight up terrible from Arthur Smith. But also the quarterback problems continue like I talked about guys. Uh you know it’s been since the Bengal game like I talked about since we’ve had a good starting quarterback play for this team. And if you can get that version of Rogers back at some point maybe we can start talking about this team you know doing some things down the stretch. But until that version of Rogers returns and at this point I certainly can’t guarantee you it’s going to return. All right. Like he’s he’s going to have to deal with this wrist injury for probably the rest of the season. I can’t tell you with certainty or with any really any hope that Aaron Rogers is going to turn it around for the rest of this season. And uh that’s unfortunate. And then also it’s another blown first half lead. I believe this is the fourth game this year where you had a first half lead this season and you lose the ball game. And that’s that’s that points to a lack of adjustments. That points to a lack of coaching. That l that that points to a time of possession battle and losing that and getting tired on defense as the game goes on. It just points to a lot of deficiencies with this team, man. And it all starts at the top with Mike Tomlin. Speaking of Tomlin, his defense ran out of gas again. Now, listen, man. The first half, once again, this defense showed up. It reminded me a lot of the Charger game or in the first half, you’re doing pretty decent. You’re getting stops, you’re getting turnovers, you’re rallying to the football. You come in with a decent, you know, starting defensive plan. All right, you made Josh Allen look really uncomfortable. Then in the second half, you know, obviously you’re on the field for just so goddamn long that you just run out of gas eventually. And you know, this is a problem with Steelers defenses over the last several years is that the Steelers never win the time of possession battle. U and by the end of the season defense, their defenses are gassed and they get absolutely uh destroyed in the playoffs. So even if the Steelers sneak into the playoffs this year, guys, it just feels like it’s going to be more of the same. It’s going to be another blowout loss in the playoffs cuz this defense has run out of gas by the time we make it to the postseason. And I’m sick and tired of this being, you know, the the norm here in Pittsburgh, which has been the status quo for multiple multiple multiple seasons at this point, over a half decade at this point here in Pittsburgh. It’s frustrating as hell. Now, I got more takeaways uh coming up later in today’s show, guys. But do me a favor. Great today’s performance from the Steelers. If you’re not giving this performance an F, I don’t know what is an F. This is one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a Pittsburgh Steelers team in many seasons. All right? And for it to come this late in the season in such a tight AFC North race where every game matters, it just sucks. It just really sucks, guys. So, get your Fs down there in the comment section for today’s pin question. Just a second here. I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today. While I tell you about our sponsor, give me an A, B, C, D, or F. And if you guys want to get this awesome Steelers sweatshirt, you guys can use uh our code cyber60 at our at our link chatports.com/pits salolute25 to get the officially licensed Steelers salute to service hoodie this year. Really like the classic army green design this year with the coloring nak camo on there obviously. Um then you got the Steelers logo on the on the on the chest patch with the American flag on the side there. So, if you really like this and you guys want to get this in your collection today or you want to get it for somebody in your life for Christmas, 25% off. It’s an excellent deal. Use cyber60 at chatports.com/pitsolute25 to get this hoodie in your collection today. Now, I will also say guys that the run defense was an absolute joke today. Um, you know, in terms of my biggest worry when going up against the Baltimore Ravens next week and in the season finale, guys, it’s not even necessarily Lamar Jackson because the reason why the Baltimore Ravens put belt to ass last year against the Steelers the final two games that they played each other was not because Lamar Jackson was necessarily like lighting them up. It was because Derrick Henry could not be stopped. And I watched the Steelers run defense today and it was soft as could be, man. Like they’re allowing easy perimeter runs. They’re not getting off blocks. They’re not doing a good job um you know filling their run fits. They’re out of position a lot. Linebackers in particular and James Cook ran for 144 on our ass today. How are we gonna stop Derrick Henry next week? Seriously, how are we going to stop, you know, Devon Achan in the Miami Dolphins in in two weeks? How are we going to stop Knuckles and Sonic in Detroit in a few weeks? Like if this Steelers run defense doesn’t get better, they might not win another game. Quan Judkins is a really good running back as well. They did a good job against him in the first game. But man, if Judkins can have a really good game in Cleveland in week 17, I I’m not even sure if I can guarantee that this Steelers team can win another game if this run defense plays as poorly as it did here today. And frankly, how it’s looked for many games this year. They’ve had good moments where they’ve had good games where they’ve shut down Jonathan Taylor and Josh Jacobs and some of these other guys, but they’ve given up over a 100red yards to Chase Brown, now over a 100red yards to J to James Cook. And it’s just like every single week you are giving up yardage on the ground. And it is a big problem with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, talking of a little bit more big picture here, I know a lot of people are going to want to go to Will Howard. All right, and I get it. All right, Rogers and Mason have not been good enough over the last, you know, several weeks. And I, you know, you want to see if the young kid can can can give us a spark. I understand that. But like, and I think if you know, the Ravens were like 10 11 wins at this point in the season, I think that’s actually probably what they would do. But because the AFC North is still so getable in terms of, you know, where the Steelers are in the playoff race, like we’re tied at the top of our division right now somehow, guys, with how inconsistent, how bad the Steelers have been. They’re still tied at the top of the division. And we still have to play the team that we are tied at the top of the division with two more times. The Steelers still have everything left in front of them, at least in terms of a opportunity standpoint. And until the opportunities run dry and until this team is like for sure not making the po postseason this year, Will Howard’s not going to play, guys. It’s going to be Aaron Rogers. It’s his season. As long as the season is still alive, Rogers will be the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And maybe, you know, final two games or so, if the Steelers lose their next several games in a row and there’s no chance of making the playoffs, maybe they give Will Howard a chance at the end of the year to show what he can do before they presumably draft another quarterback in round one of the NFL draft next year. Uh, but you know, until the Steelers are done and out of the playoff race, guys, uh, Aaron Rogers is going to continue at quarterback. Hopefully, he can turn it around and play better down the stretch. Uh, but I am starting to lose hope, guys. And you guys know me as this as the person that, you know, tries to stay optimistic and I and despite their inconsistencies, despite some of their uh frustrating performances this year, I’ve continued to say that, you know, this team, I think, has the talent to be able to do some things in the postseason this year, win the division, um win a home playoff game potentially. But I’m starting to lose hope of of that being a possibility. If you can’t stretch the field vertically on offense, uh, the way that the Steelers just haven’t been able to over the last several weeks, if you can’t stop the run on defense, if you can’t, you know, somewhat make the time of possession battle even, um, you know, we’ve seen this team at their highs beat teams like the number one seed in the AFC, the New England Patriots on the road. We’ve seen them kind of dominate the Indianapolis Colts, another team that might win a division this year. At their highs, we’ve seen what this Steelers team is capable of. It’s just they’re at their lows way too frequently. And today they hit absolute rock bottom. And today certainly feels like uh you know how I felt after we lost to the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football two years ago um before Mason Rudolph saved the season. It feels the way that it felt when we started the season three and seven uh in the first year of the Kenny Picket, Mitch Trabiscy era and then they went on to somehow rattle off seven of eight wins or or six of seven weeks or whatever it was and they ended up you know putting themselves in contention to w to make the playoffs and get to nine and eight, right? um somehow they’re still alive. And you know, if I know anything about Mike Tomlin le teams is that you know, if you’re looking for some optimism here, and I’m not saying that, you know, I I think this is going to happen because with the way I’m looking at this team right now, I don’t think it’s going to happen. But like right when you think the Steelers are at their lowest is usually when they seem to turn things around and make that final push. And right now it feels like we’re at that rock bottom point. So, if you’re looking for, you know, some semblance of hope here, that’s where I think it would it would rest is that, you know, right when you think that this team is at its lowest, they they come back and they they get a big time victory. We saw it with the Colts win a couple weeks ago. Um, and, you know, certainly beating the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore next week would would suffice and meet that standard. But I I just don’t know uh based on the way that this team is playing right now unless there’s major changes and major improvements how they’re going to make the playoffs this year how they’re going to win this division. They still got the opportunities in front of them. Uh but right now it’s certainly uh you know butts are getting tight in Pittsburgh and you know Mike Tomlin uh Mike Tomlin’s butt should be redot at this point as far as I’m concerned. So point the finger at it for me down there in the comments section. Who’s the most to blame for today’s loss? I’m going to put it on Mike Tomlin today guys. Um Arthur Smith is is high up there as well for the offensive game plan that he put together today. Cobbled together. Uh it just wasn’t good enough from a coaching perspective from start to finish today in a very big game and a great opportunity was yet again squandered by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh so I’m going to put it on Mike Twin because he’s the head of the snake here. Uh the buck stops with him. Um and you know if he doesn’t improve this situation and drastically here down the stretch, I think that the Steelers definitely need to consider trading him during the 2026 NFL offseason. Just some final thoughts here before I say goodbye, guys. Um, this is the lowest point that we’ve been at this season. Obviously, you’ve lost five of your last seven games. You know, you’re two and five since you started four- one. That I mean, this is not a good football team right now. And until they get some semblance of a vertical explosive passing element to their passing game, which I don’t see on the horizon if I’m being honest with you, until they can stop the run consistently, which I can’t honestly say that I see on the horizon either until, you know, the defensive coaching and the offensive coaching and all this different stuff comes together in a in a consistent manner. This team is not going to do uh what they have the opportunity to do here in the last five weeks and win this division. So, we’ll see what they are what what this team is a is able to do over these next few weeks. We got a big one coming up next week. Um, but yeah, man, it’s going to have to be a lot better today if the Steelers want any shot of playing in the NFL postseason this year. That’ll be it for today’s postgame reaction. We’ll have overreaction Monday uh early in the morning tomorrow followed by film analysis in the evening. Uh, if you guys want that extensive content here on Steelers Talk for free, click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Till next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Buffalo Bills highlights and Steelers news & rumors after the Steelers lost to the Bills 26-7 in NFL Week 13. Aaron Rodgers highlights in the Steelers loss were not great as Rodgers left and returned in this one with a nose injury. Steelers injury news continues to pile in on Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Queen and James Pierre. After getting out to a first half lead, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers allowed Josh Allen and the Bills back into the game as the Steelers run defense struggled. The AFC North standings continues to be a close race between the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. Steelers Talk host Jack Sperry reacts to Steelers vs. Bills highlights on today’s show!

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Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Buffalo Bills box score:
– Aaron Rodgers: 10/21, 117 yards
– Mason Rudolph: 0/3, 0 yards, 1 interception
– Jaylen Warren: 10 carries, 35 yards, 1 touchdown
– Darnell Washington: 2 receptions, 45 yards

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