Football Footnotes: A 6-pack of matchups to watch in the Steelers-Bills playoff game

There are plenty of intriguing man-vs-man matchups in Sunday’s Steelers-Bills playoff game. But the most difficult showdown might be Man vs. Mother Nature.

Here’s a six-pack of X-and-O battles for this week’s “Football Footnotes.”

Man vs. weather

The biggest storyline coming out of this game may be which team handles the weather conditions better. In one sense, the elements could help the Steelers. The old football adage is that the underdog is often aided by bad weather because lousy conditions often narrow the gap between the opponents.

Then again, sometimes the lesser team just has a harder time playing under bad circumstances.

Last week, it seemed like both the Steelers and Ravens had issues in the heavy rain and gusty winds. The Steelers had fumble issues. The Ravens had some of those too, along with a few balls that slipped off the hands of intended receivers.

Aside from a dropped snap, quarterback Mason Rudolph seemed to cope with the bad weather fine in Baltimore, completing 18-of-20 passes en route to a 115 passer rating. A 71-yard TD strike to Diontae Johnson certainly helped.

“We’re being smart about it and being prepared,” offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner said of the weather. “You get in the stadium, you say, ‘OK, which way is the wind blowing, this quarter, that quarter? What are some of the advantages we can take of having the wind at our back versus not at our back in the game?’ Those are all things that go into the process.

“We have to find a plan that’s going to help us be effective in moving the ball.”

Meanwhile, Josh Allen’s howitzer arm can cut through the wind on most days, but his propensity to gamble may be magnified if he presses his luck in these conditions. As WGR’s Sal Capaccio reminded us during our “Breakfast With Benz” podcast this week, it was actually the Cincinnati Bengals who handled the bad weather in Buffalo better last year than the Bills did in a divisional round playoff game.

It’ll also likely impact the kicking game. Tyler Bass and Chris Boswell are both good kickers. But their range and effectiveness may be lessened by the wind and cold. Plus, one has to wonder how punter Pressley Harvin’s inconsistencies may be augmented by the conditions.

Joey Porter Jr. vs. Stefon Diggs

With the weather being a factor, the impact of this matchup might be mitigated because the Bills may want to keep the ball on the ground. And Diggs hasn’t had a 100-yard game since Week 6.

But his 87 yards on seven catches last week were a high-water mark since Nov. 5. And if Porter is going to shadow him, the rookie corner better be on his details.

“He’s an elite route runner. He is one of the best, if not the best,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. “I remember when he came into the league, I was just really shocked by the maturity of his route running.”

One angle that’ll be interesting to watch about that matchup is to see how often Diggs works out of the slot and if the Steelers, on occasion, keep Porter outside if Buffalo does that — or if Porter stays on him every snap, even inside. Diggs did bump inside against Miami at times last week. That got him away from cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

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Steelers interior O-Line vs. Bills interior D-Line

The Steelers center (Mason Cole) and two guards (Iassac Seumalo, James Daniels) better be sharp against Buffalo’s Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones.

Oliver is having a standout season with 9.5 sacks. Jones has been back for two weeks now after a torn pectoral muscle in October. At 6-foot-4, 320 pounds, the Penn State product can be a force against the run and can line up directly over the center.

Cole, Daniels and Seumalo have to win their battles against those two so the Steelers’ ground game with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren can continue to thrive and so that Rudolph can continue to operate without getting flustered in the pocket.

“Hugely important,” Faulkner said of his interior three linemen. “But they have been that way the whole season. We’re going to have to get movement on those guys up front. They’ve got some freaky talented guys on the edges and inside that are athletic that are going to pose a big challenge. Our guys know that and hopefully (will) respond the way they need to.”

In the past five weeks, the Bills have only allowed 98 rushing yards per game. The Steelers have averaged 156.6 yards on the ground in support of Rudolph at quarterback during his three starts.

Steelers pass rush vs. Josh Allen

Or, maybe better said, the Steelers pass rush vs. T.J. Watt’s absence.

The Steelers have 47 sacks as a team. Watt has 19 of them, and he’ll miss Sunday’s game with a knee injury. Fellow starter Alex Highsmith has seven sacks but just one over the past four weeks. Markus Golden has four sacks. He’ll likely get the most snaps in Watt’s absence and will have to flash in an elevated role along with rookie Nick Herbig.

If they get to Allen, they are going to have to bring him down. With his athleticism and 6-foot-5, 237-pound frame, that’s easier said than done.

One theory is that the Steelers could blitz more now that they have more tools to cover on the back end with the pending returns of Minkah Fitzpatrick (knee injury) and Damontae Kazee (suspension). But Fitzpatrick looks at it a different way.

“It allows us to do more,” Fitzpatrick said of his return and Kazee’s. “I don’t know if it has to do with pressure or different looks and stuff like that. But we have to find ways to get to the quarterback without T.J. Having all our guys back does allow us to create more looks.”

Regardless of however many players the Steelers rush, they have to be disciplined in their attack. If they get out of their rush lanes and allow Allen to escape out of the pocket through alleys or around the end, he will kill them with his legs.

Steelers defense vs. Dalton Kincaid

The Bills rookie tight end has been huge the past three weeks, catching 11 passes for 171 yards.

“He’s really a smooth runner, really catches the ball easily,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Thursday. “He’s been there all year, and all of a sudden, he starts to increase in his production because I think the quarterback is familiar and comfortable with him, he’s familiar and more comfortable with the offense, and those things go hand in hand. That’s why I think you’re seeing an increase in his production.”

Covering tight ends has been problematic for the Steelers in the back half of the season, given the depth issues at safety and inside linebacker. With Kazee and Fitzpatrick back and the pack of ILBs behind Elandon Roberts starting to catch on, maybe that will be less of an issue this week.

But if the weather is as bad as predicted, Kincaid will likely be a frequent short-to-medium target in the passing game.

Steelers receivers vs. Buffalo defensive backs

Throwing the ball downfield may be tough in the wind and snow. But if the elements relent enough, the Steelers have to keep that element of their game in the mix. Rudolph excels at it. He already has three scoring passes longer than 60 yards this season.

“His experience. It’s knowing where he wants to go with the ball,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Knowing the defense allows him to adjust. He’s been doing great at that. He’s been putting it on film.”

Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer are excellent at safety. But cornerback Rasul Douglas didn’t practice Wednesday or Thursday because of a knee injury. Neither did safety Taylor Rapp because of a calf problem. Christian Benford is 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. That could be an interesting physical battle to watch against Pickens. But if the Steelers can get George Pickens isolated on Dane Jackson or Taron Johnson, he’ll have a size advantage he can likely exploit.

Listen: Tim Benz and WGR’s Sal Capaccio preview the Steelers-Bills playoff game