Bills vs. Steelers 2013: Buffalo has ‘worst performance’ of season

Pittsburgh rebounded from an ugly defeat to top the Bills at home.

Nov 11, 2013, 3:56 PM UTC

Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Buffalo Bills 23-10 on Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field, keeping them on the edge of the AFC North race.

Pittsburgh climbed to 3-6 with the victory on the strength of a defense that only allowed 227 yards of total offense. Ben Roethlisberger only threw for 204 yards and a touchdown on 18 of 30 passing, but did enough to get the job done. Le'Veon Bell had a mediocre game out of the backfield, running for 57 yards on 22 carries.

Over at Behind The Steel Curtain, Anthony Defeo wrote about how important Jerricho Cotchery has been to the Steelers:

Not only is Cotchery a wise veteran who provides leadership, he has a way of emulating past veterans, such as Hines Ward. Early in Sunday’s game, the Steelers faced a third and five, when Roethlisberger connected with Cotchery on the sideline for a first down.
And instead of simply going out of bounds with the first down secure, Cotchery did a very Ward-like spin and turned up-field to turn it into a 26 yard gain. For the remainder of the day, Cotchery only had one more catch for five yards, but it was a catch off a fade pass that resulted in a touchdown for the 6’1 receiver--Ward would have been proud.

As for the Bills, the loss brings them to 3-7 and out of the AFC playoff picture. Buffalo finally got E.J. Manuel back but he could not get much accomplished on the road, only throwing for 155 yards on 39 attempts.

Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings writes about where the Bills are headed:

Buffalo was really bad in all three phases, and it showed in what was by far their worst performance of the season. At 3-7, the Bills should be in all-out evaluation mode when they return home to host the 5-4 New York Jets in Week 11.