Takeaway-savvy Steelers defense eager to face fumble-prone Bills QB Josh Allen
Bud Dupree’s eyes lit up when someone asked him if he knew how many times Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen had fumbled this season.
“Is it a lot?” Dupree asked, glowingly.
Yes, Bud, it is — 14 times, in fact, the second-most of any player in the NFL.
“Oh yeah, that’s good,” Dupree said, through laughs. “That’s good, definitely that’s good.”
Allen and the Bills are coming to Heinz Field for an AFC showdown Sunday.
“That’s great, man,” Dupree said of Allen’s propensity for fumbles (22 in 25 career games). “That will be an opportunity for us to even add to our repertoire.”
Thought Brandon Graham had a great all-around game & made some big splash plays.
This forced fumble & fumble recovery on Josh Allen kicked off a 28-6 run for the Eagles. pic.twitter.com/jDJHmEEF8g
— Michael Kist (@MichaelKistNFL) October 28, 2019
And the Steelers are building quite the reputation for forcing fumbles. Steelers opponents have fumbled 27 times — tops for any team’s collective opponents in the league. The Steelers’ 15 takeaways via fumble ranks second to the Seattle Seahawks among NFL teams.
Steelers opponents have fumbled 14 times (losing eight) over their past seven games — seven by the Steelers dynamic outside linebackers duo of Dupree and T.J. Watt.
This isn’t by accident. Although he insists he doesn’t over-think it, Watt takes a cerebral approach to forcing fumbles. For example, Watt notes that at Steelers practice he pursues quarterbacks Devlin Hodges and Paxton Lynch differently.
Just how they drew it up ?
Josh Allen recovers his own fumble for the first down...
— Action Network NFL (@ActionNetNFL) November 28, 2019
“Paxton comes from a little bit lower and ‘Duck’ is a little bit higher,” Watt said. “You kind of look at that stuff when you look on film (at opponents). But I don’t think you can get caught too much in the small, specific, minute details too much, otherwise you will drive yourself crazy.
“But you do want to see how quick his release is because if he’s getting it out really quick, you don’t want to necessarily always go for the ball. That’s kind of gotten me in trouble a few times this year, because the amount of time (during a windup) a QB goes from (his hip) to (release point) is so quick, if you reach for that outside arm (midway in the motion)… (the ball) can (be released), and you just grabbed him when you could have had him.
“So I think it’s kind of a cat-and-mouse game there.”
Allen has nine fumbles in his past seven games, including two (one lost) during last week’s loss against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Bills have only five fumbles other than Allen’s. And Buffalo has lost only five fumbles; just three teams have fewer giveaways via fumble.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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