Football Footnotes: The most surprising stat of Steelers-Bills reveals a lot about Mike Tomlin's team

The most amazing stat heading into the Steelers-Bills game Sunday at Acrisure Stadium is 30:0.

Thirty is the number of questions that were asked at head coach Mike Tomlin’s press conference Tuesday.

Zero is the number of questions that had to do with the Steelers’ opponent, the Buffalo Bills.

Those are the same Buffalo Bills (7-4) that are directly in front of the Steelers (6-5) for the AFC’s final playoff spot.

Those are the same Buffalo Bills that have reigning MVP Josh Allen at quarterback and the NFL’s second-leading rusher in James Cook (1,084 yards).

The same Bills that have made the playoffs every season since 2019, have won the AFC East five years in a row and have beaten the Steelers in four of the last five matchups.

Yet there are so many issues afoot with the Steelers these days (including an injured quarterback) that in nearly 14 minutes of asking questions, none of us bothered to ask Tomlin anything specific about the upcoming, high-profile AFC showdown.

That’s not Tomlin’s fault. He certainly had a lot to say about the Bills during his preamble to the Q&A portion of the press conference.

Coach Tomlin speaks to the media ahead of our Week 13 game against the Bills. @PNCBank

????: #BUFvsPIT 11/30 at 4:25 PM ET on CBS https://t.co/q0HRX3dnJN

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 25, 2025

So instead of continuing to dwell on all that ails the Black and Gold, let’s talk about the game itself in this Friday’s “Football Footnotes.”

• Expect this game to be determined by the running games of both teams.

More specifically, it’ll probably be determined by the Steelers’ ability to find consistency in that area on both sides of the ball.

Coordinator Teryl Austin’s unit is in the middle of the NFL — 15th out of 32 teams — when it comes to rush defense at 105.7 yards per game. That’s because it held the NFL’s leading rusher, Jonathan Taylor, to only 45 yards, and the Bears’ No. 2-ranked rushing attack to 99 yards.

Yet the Bengals’ 30th-ranked running game (84.9 yards per game) posted a robust 247 yards over two games. Not to mention 182 allowed against the Jets, 117 against the Seahawks and 119 against the Patriots to start the season.

Meanwhile, the Bills’ ground game is at 147.2 yards per game, the best in football.

“They’re running the ball extremely well. Certainly, (Allen) is a component of that. But, man, Cook is doing an awesome job,” Tomlin said. “He’s a bell cow for them and really has been for a number of years now. He just got a big contract at the start of the season. He — and they — are certainly reaping the rewards of that.”

• The story is the same on the other side of the ball. The Steelers are 27th in football when it comes to the offensive rush game at 97.1 yards per contest.

Sometimes offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s ground game has been great. Other times it’s been lousy.

Just look at the first six weeks of the season. Weeks 1-3, the team totaled a meager 189 total yards, never topping 72 in any of the three games. Weeks 4-6 equaled 378.

Weeks 7-9 saw the Steelers average just 68 yards per game. The last two games have been at 148.5.

“I thought we ran the ball effectively, and I think that gave us seven third-and-3-or-less scenarios. We converted six of those,” Tomlin said of his club’s 186-yard effort on the ground in Chicago.

Meanwhile, the Bills are terrible at stopping the run. Their 30th-ranked rush defense allows 148.9 yards per game. Only the Bengals (156.0) and New York Giants (157.2) are worse.

• Speaking of inconsistency, let’s talk about the Steelers’ pass rush.

It’s fifth in the NFL in sacks with 34. When the Steelers win, the pass rush is a big reason why. Twenty-four of those 34 sacks have come in their six victories. In their five losses, the Steelers have only managed 10 sacks.

The pass rush can make huge plays, like the strip sack fumble that created a touchdown in Chicago. Then again, that was the only time Caleb Williams was hit all day.

“Need to get pressure to help those guys in the back end,” T.J. Watt said of that game. “We knew he was going to try to escape to the B gaps. Really tough quarterback to get down.”

Yeah. So is Josh Allen. But teams have managed to do it so far this year. He has absorbed 28 sacks this year — sixth most in the NFL.

That includes Houston’s eight sacks of Allen last week.

This @HoustonTexans defense is cookin' ????

Danielle Hunter chases down Allen for the sack.

BUFvsHOU on Prime Video
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/6XuFlpjjYv

— NFL (@NFL) November 21, 2025

• As badly as that 23-19 loss in Houston went, the Bills are coming off extra rest since they played Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Steelers’ loss in Chicago was on Sunday afternoon.

According to BetRivers.com, the Bills have won 12 games in a row as a favorite with a rest advantage. They have also covered the spread in eight of their last nine games against teams that held a winning record.

The Bills are currently favored by 3 ½ points.

• The last four games of this series have been played in Buffalo, with the Bills winning three times.

They haven’t played a regular-season (or playoff) game here since a 17-10 victory over the Steelers when Duck Hodges threw four interceptions on Dec. 15, 2019.

5 year ago today, the Bills defense intercepts Duck Hodges 2x in the final 2 minutes to seal their 2nd playoff berth in 3 seasons under McDermott. (Also their 2nd playoff berth in 20 overall seasons ????) pic.twitter.com/MNuGG11DYh

— Pay The Bills | A Trainwreck Sports Production (@PayTheBillsPod) December 15, 2024

The Steelers’ most recent victory against the Bills came in 2013 (23-10). Ben Roethlisberger connected with Antonio Brown for 104 yards and with Jerricho Cotchery for a touchdown. E.J. Manuel was the quarterback for Buffalo that day.

LISTEN: Former Steelers and Bills wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders joins Tim Benz to preview Buffalo’s visit to Acrisure Stadium.