ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Don’t think safety Jordan Poyer and other members of Buffalo’s secondary didn’t notice Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster dancing on the Bills logo at midfield during pregame warmups on Sunday night.
Come the fourth quarter, after Levi Wallace intercepted Ben Roethlisberger to essentially seal Buffalo’s 26-15 victory, it was the Bills’ turn to break out into a dance along their sideline.
“It was tight energy. The song playing. We felt the momentum of the game swing,” Poyer said, before noting a TikTok video of Smith-Schuster posted on social media.
“I ain’t going to lie, seeing them dancing on our logo pregame, that turns you up a little,” he added. “You come and play with a little extra fire. We were hyped up on the sideline. We had a big win and we were having fun.”
Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes, safety Taron Johnson returned an interception 51 yards for a score, and the Bills (10-3) inched closer to claiming their first AFC East title since 1995 and third playoff berth in four seasons. Buffalo can clinch both as early as Monday night if Baltimore loses to Cleveland.
Smith-Schuster and the Steelers weren’t asked about the dance — something the receiver does before most every game — afterward.
Then again, they have other concerns after dropping consecutive games in six days following a 23-17 loss to Washington, and falling a game behind the AFC-leading Kansas City Chiefs (12-1).
The AFC North-leading Steelers (11-2) were still able to clinch their first playoff berth in three years before kickoff by virtue of the Miami Dolphins’ 33-27 loss to Kansas City earlier in the day.
“We’ve lost two. We’re facing some adversity. But we’re not hitting the panic button,” Roethlisberger said.
“Offensively we’re not very good. We’re not playing good football and it starts with me,” he added. “I think this is a team that has got a lot of resilience and understands what it takes to win football games and understands what time of year it is and right now it’s unacceptable.”
The Bills have won six of seven and have at least 10 of their first 13 games of a season for the first time since 1991. That’s a considerable switch from a team that had endured a 17-year playoff drought — which stood as longest active streak in North America’s four major professional sports — before coach Sean McDermott took over in 2017.
“Ten wins, the (job) is not finished,” Allen said. “We know what we have to do.”
The third-year player broke the game open by throwing touchdown passes 3:21 apart — a 19-yarder to Stefon Diggs and a 13-yarder to rookie Gabriel Davis — on the first two drives of the second half to put Buffalo ahead 23-7.
Buffalo’s second-half eruption came after Allen and the offence managed just six first downs and 102 yards on seven possessions.
Johnson, however, provided the offence by stepping in front of Roethlisberger’s pass intended for Smith-Schuster and returned it 51 yards to put Buffalo up 9-7 with 52 seconds remaining in the first half.
“Our defence stepped up big time, especially when we started out the way we did,” Allen said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that care about each other and we don’t want to let each other down. When we’re out there, we put it on the line for each other.”
Allen upped his season total to 35 combined touchdowns (28 passing, six rushing and one receiving) to break the team’s single-season record of 34 set by Hall of Famer Jim Kelly in 1991. His 28 TDs passing rank second most on the team list, and five behind the single-season record set by Kelly in ’91.
Allen finished 24 of 43 for 238 yards and an interception. Diggs had 10 catches for 130 yards. Acquired in a trade with Minnesota in March, Diggs now has 100 catches to match the Bills’ single-season record set by Eric Moulds in 2002.
The Steelers continue to resemble nothing of the team that set a franchise record by winning its first 11 games. Pittsburgh has been held under 20 points in three straight games, and was coming off a loss to Washington in which c oach Mike Tomlin called out his team’s sluggish running attack and receivers for their dropping passes.
The game was decided midway through the fourth quarter after Buffalo’s Tyler Bass hit a 23-yard field goal to put the Bills up 26-15.
On Pittsburgh’s third play from scrimmage, Roethlisberger’s deep pass up the right sideline intended for James Washington was intercepted by Wallace.
Roethlisberger finished 21 of 37 for 187 yards with touchdown passes to Washington and JuJu Smith-Schuster and two interceptions.
SACK STREAK
The Steelers extended their sack streak to a 70th consecutive game to break the NFL record set by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1999 to 2003.
Tyson Alualu was credited with Pittsburgh’s first sack of the game against Buffalo by stripping the ball out of the hands of Bills quarterback Josh Allen midway through the second quarter. The fumble was recovered by Bills centre Mitch Morse for an 8-yard loss.
The streak began in Week 8 of the 2016 season.
INJURIES
Steelers: Starting LG Matt Feiler did not return after hurting his shoulder in the first quarter. Feiler’s replacement Kevin Dotson was ruled out after hurting his shoulder in the the third quarter.
Bills: Johnson did not return after sustaining a concussion in the third quarter. Morse missed several series in the first quarter after having a brace place on his left elbow.
UP NEXT
Steelers: Continue run of prime-time games in travelling to play Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 21.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
