ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- For years, the Steelers have been a team built around their stability. The system, players and coaches have remained the same, making the transition from year to year relatively stable.
It was teams such as the Bills that had constant turnover, something that happens when your franchise goes 25 years between playoff wins and 17 years between postseason appearances.
Heading into their game Sunday here at Highmark Stadium, the worm has turned. Despite winning the AFC North last season, it's the Steelers who are the team with massive turnover heading into their regular season opener, while the Bills essentially return everyone from a team that won the AFC East and advanced to the conference championship game a year ago.
"We're going into a hostile venue versus defending AFC East champions, one of the groups that's been really consistent over the last several years in the AFC," Mike Tomlin said. "I think that consistency is really steeped in continuity, whether it's about the core players that I'm going to mention in all three phases of the game, or the continuity within their coaching staff. I think that's one of the reasons why they're regarded the way that they're regarded.
"I think that's one of the reasons why they've continually been highly competitive within this conference over the last several years. Their core players have basically remained the same, and they've gained the benefits of that continuity through players and schematics in terms of their coaching staff."
The Steelers will have 11 new starters from the lineup they fielded against the New York Giants a year ago in their regular season opener. And that doesn't include a new long snapper and rookie punter. Of those, four will be rookie starters on offense, including two on the offensive line -- left tackle Dan Moore and center Kendrick Green.
The Steelers haven't had four rookie starters in the lineup to open a season since 1970 when they opened the regular season against the Oilers with quarterback Terry Bradshaw, wide receivers Ron Shanklin and Hubie Bryant and tight end Dennis Hughes were among the team's starters.
For 39-year-old Ben Roethlisberger, who is entering his team-record 18th season with the Steelers being in the same huddle with Moore, Green, tight end Pat Freiermuth and running back Najee Harris will be different. Add in the fact that left guard Kevin Dotson and wide receiver Chase Claypool are in just their second seasons, and more than half of the Steelers' starting offensive unit will be in a situation where this will be their first NFL game in front of fans.
"It was fun even in the preseason, being able to talk to Naj and some of these guys about how it feels different," Roethlisberger said. "'I know you went to Alabama; I know you went to a big school. There’s something different about stepping into an NFL stadium.' As we all know, you go to a preseason game and it’s got a feeling, but you get to the regular season, it has a different feeling too. Everyone’s going to be nervous. The guys, when I ask them, if they tell me they’re not nervous I call them a liar because I’m nervous and I’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s going to be fun."
They had better shake those nerves quickly. The Bills have a highly talented team, one that beat the Steelers, 26-15, at Highmark Stadium last December. The Steelers led that game 7-3 late in the first half and were at midfield when Roethlisberger was intercepted by Taron Johnson, who returned the ball 51 yards for a touchdown that gave the Bills a 9-7 halftime lead in front of just a handful of fans as Buffalo, like virtually the rest of the country, was shut down during the pandemic.
The Bills return all but three starters from that team and their entire coaching staff. Oh, and what promises to be a rabid crowd.
The Steelers also will have Matt Canada making his regular season debut as the Steelers offensive coordinator. It won't be the first time Canada has called plays in a regular season game. As quarterback coach last season, he called the second half of the team's regular season finale at Cleveland.
"Like any first game of any season, I think it’s exciting to let your guys go play, kind of see where you’re really at going against somebody full speed," Canada said. "Excited for the challenge — a tremendous challenge with the Bills."
Canada has added more motion and play-action to the offense. The Steelers also will unveil their true plans with Harris, their top pick in this year's draft. They are intent on running the ball better than they did a year ago, when they finished 32nd in the NFL in that statistic while leading the NFL in pass attempts per game.
The Bills might not know exactly what to expect from the Steelers. But the Steelers have a pretty good idea of what the Bills will look like and run.
"They’re a quality group. They've got quality players, virtually at all positions," Tomlin said. "They've got a really good coaching staff that's been together for a number of years. We're playing them in their venue. Their crowd, I imagine, is going to be excited. I think it's important that we perform particularly in those weighty downs early to try to minimize some of that in terms of how it affects the game. We’ve got to play good on possession downs on both sides, we’ve got to do a good job of taking care of the ball and working to minimize that crowd element of it, particularly early on. That’s a component that we're concerned about."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Who: Steelers vs. Bills
• When: 1:02 p.m.
• Where: Highmark Stadium
• Forecast: 73°, 33 percent chance of rain, 16 mph winds
• TV: KDKA, CBS (national)
• Radio: 102.5 WDVE, ESPN Pittsburgh
• Streaming: Steelers Nation Radio
• Satellite: Sirius XM 382, online 227
• Boxscore: NFL Game Center
• Media notes: Steelers | Bills
THE INJURY REPORT
Steelers: None
Bills: DT Star Lotulelei (calf, out); WR Emmanuel Sanders (foot, questionable)
THE KEY VARIABLE
The Steelers' biggest offseason move to improve their lackluster rushing attack -- which ranked 32nd in the NFL a year ago -- was to select Harris in the first round of the draft.
The move was panned by some, mostly analytics people who feel the line is more important than the runner. The Steelers will put that theory to the test starting Sunday.
They've got four new starters on their offensive line, including a pair of mid-round rookies in third-round pick Green at center and fourth-round selection Moore at left tackle.
That might seem like it puts a lot of pressure on Harris to revive a rushing attack that averaged 84.4 yards per game -- and barely 50 yards over the final 10 games -- but that doesn't bother Harris.
"This is something I always wanted to do and achieve in my life, to make it to the NFL," Harris said. "We’re all excited. We’re all ready. They’re excited too. They’re all ready to get their feet wet for their first game. Me? I’m always ready. I don’t really feel the pressure or have the big eyes and all of that stuff. The only thing I’m going to be is really excited. I’m always happy to go out there and play."
It doesn't hurt that Harris was the No. 1 running back recruit in the country in 2016 and played at Alabama. His first game came in 2017 against Florida State to kick off that season. Alabama was No. 1 in the country entering that game. Florida State was ranked third.
Harris has seen plenty of big-game action.
But the NFL is a little different. It's always good players playing against other good players.
"At Alabama, we have a lot of guys, who … I ain’t trying to say it’s a disadvantage, but it’s a disadvantage," Harris said. "The NFL is more fair. It’s even better to go out there and compete because you know you’ve got to give your best. I’m not saying it’s not like that at Alabama, but you have to be more specific in your detail and work."
He's been lauded from Day 1 with the Steelers for handling that part of the business.
The Steelers are excited to unleash their newest toy into the NFL. They haven't been this excited about a young running back since they selected Le'Veon Bell in the second round of the 2013 draft.
Bell missed the first three games of his rookie season with a foot injury, but returned in Week 4 and had 16 carries for 57 yards and two touchdowns and four receptions for 27 yards in a 34-27 loss to the Vikings in London that year.
But he would go on to become one of the best running backs in the NFL. The Steelers feel Harris might be even more talented and could be just the player to turn their running game around.
It would certainly be welcome in this game. Last season against the Bills, they managed just 47 yards on 17 carries, with former starter James Conner -- now with the Cardinals -- gaining 18 yards on 10 attempts.
This was against a Bills team that allowed 119.7 yards rushing per game.
Harris doesn't expect those kind of struggles. But he does acknowledge with so many young players on offense, the running game might be a work in progress.
"Like anything, there are going to be growing pains," Roethlisberger said. "We’re all going to experience them, even someone in their 18th season is going to experience growing pain. The key is: Do we learn from those growing pains? How often do those growing pains come? Do we learn from the one time?"
Harris agrees, but feels he'll get the job done.
"Our offense, we’re very new and young. We’re building a lot of chemistry. We’re working together and we’re improving every single day," he said. "The run game, we improved every single day until now. That’s all that matters. We’ll keep going uphill. There are a lot of young guys. I’m saying that like I’m not one of them. As long as you’re improving, that’s all that matters. Expectation-wise? The standard is the standard. What we set out there to achieve, that’s what we’re going to do.
"We’re going to try to have a good running game this year. That’s our goal. That’s our plan. How we do it, it doesn’t really matter. It might not be the first or second time, but we’re going to work to get it done."
THE HISTORY LESSON
The Steelers haven't faced the Bills in a regular season opener since the 1978 season, when they traveled to Buffalo Sept. 3 to start the season at then relatively new Rich Stadium, as it was called when it opened in 1973.
Two seasons removed from their last Super Bowl win, the Steelers were coming off a disappointing 1977 season that saw them got 9-5 and go one-and-done with a loss to the Broncos in the playoffs.
But much like the NFL added an extra game this season to go to 17 games, 1978 was the first season the league played a 16-game schedule. It also marked the change in rules that no longer permitted defenders from mugging wide receivers downfield.
The Steelers would take advantage of that rule in 1978 as Terry Bradshaw would set a career-high with 28 touchdown passes en route to winning league MVP honors. But in this game, he threw the ball just 19 times, completing 14 for 217 yards and two touchdowns with an interception against the overmatched Bills.
Franco Harris had 27 carries for 96 yards and a touchdown and Sidney Thornton added 7 carries for 33 yards and a score in a 28-17 win that wasn't as close as the final score would indicate considering the Steelers led 21-0 early in the fourth quarter.
John Stallworth had three catches for 86 yards and a touchdown, a 28-yard grab in the second quarter, while tight end Benny Cunningham added three receptions for 70 yards to account for most of the Steelers' receiving yards.
Tony Dungy had an interception and the Steelers recorded three sacks in the game, limiting the Bills to 264 total yards.
GETTY
Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs is tackled by Steelers cornerback Steven Nelson during their 2020 game in Buffalo.
THE MAIN MATCHUP
Allen was the runner-up in MVP voting last season when he threw for 4,544 yards with 37 touchdown passes and added 421 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. He set a career high with a completion percentage of 69.2 percent.
But against the Steelers in a 26-15 win last Dec. 13, Allen finished 24 of 43 (55.8 percent) for 238 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception. He also ran the ball 6 times but for just 28 yards.
The Steelers' defense allowed 20 offensive points to the Bills, with six points coming on an interception return for a touchdown at the end of the first half.
The Steelers are still quite wary of the Bills' offense, which returns a unit that averaged 29.9 points per game a year ago virtually intact.
"There were some things that we did that were pretty good. We got some turnovers. That was probably the most successful thing we did. We got a couple turnovers, and we didn’t get anything out of them," defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. "We’ve got to get something out of them. We’ve got to create good field position. We’ve got to keep pretty good possession time. If we can do that, we’ll be okay with those guys. It’s a lot.
"First game. Gonna be fun. Gonna be a lot of unknowns for all of us—not just y’all, me too. We’re gonna find out about some of the guys that we’ve got. But we’re encouraged by our guys that we’ve got right now, and we’ll see what happens."
The Bills punted a league-low 41 times last season, but five of them came in that game against the Steelers, as Allen struggled in the first half against Pittsburgh's defense. Four of the punts came in the first half, while both turnovers -- an interception and lost fumble -- did, as well.
Then, in the second half, the Bills remembered they had All-Pro receiver Stefon Diggs, while the Steelers were playing without top cornerback Joe Haden.
Diggs had 10 catches for 130 yards -- all in the second half. He wasn't targeted in the first half.
"He’s a good player. He’s one of their best players," Butler said. "We have a plan for him and there are different things we’re gonna do against him and against the quarterback also."
The Bills rely on Allen as much as any team does on their quarterback in the league. Not only did they throw the ball 61.7 percent of the time last season, when they did run it, Allen was as likely to do so as anyone. His 102 carries were just 44 fewer than leading rusher Devin Singletary.
It will be a good test for the revamped Steelers defense. Haden is back, while Cam Sutton replaced Steven Nelson, who was picked on in the matchup against Diggs. The Steelers also added coverage linebacker Joe Schobert in training camp to pair with inside linebacker Devin Bush, who did not play in that meeting last year. The Steelers also were without Bud Dupree in that game.
"The quarterback will run it some, they’ll run some draws, they’ll get in situations that they wanna run the ball or formations where they want to run the ball," Butler said. "We expect to get that. It’s probably gonna be about 20 percent run and 80 percent pass. That’s OK with me because, in the past, we’ve been a pretty good four-man rush team, so we’ve got to see what happens this time. We led the league the last four years in sacks. We’ve got to do the same against these guys. We’ve got to be able to get after him a little bit. We’ve got to be able to stop some of the things that they want to do with mainly a passing offense."
And when Allen does tuck the ball and run?
"I hope he does. I hope he does try to finish the run like a running back," Butler said. "We’ll treat him like a running back. If he wants to be treated like a running back, we’ll do that too. He’s a big physical guy. He is. That’s why he reminds me of a young Ben Roethlisberger. You don’t see Ben run as much as he used to, do you? That’s an important position and if you’re gonna run the ball, that ball attracts a lot of attention in the National Football League. There’s usually a price to play. We’ll see what happens in the game."
THE TEN DATA POINTS
• No team reached the red zone on a higher percentage of their drives than the Bills last season at 42.6 percent.
• The Bills led the NFL in scoring rate per drive last season (54.6 percent). The Steelers held opponents to score on just 29.9 percent of their drives, second lowest in the league.
• The Bills punted on just 26.6 percent of their drives in 2020, the lowest in the NFL. The Steelers forced their opponents to punt on 44 percent of their drives, second in the league behind the Rams (47.2 percent).
• No two teams threw more passes to their wide receivers in 2020 than the Steelers and Bills. Steelers receivers were targeted 28.7 times per game, while Buffalo was second at 26.6. The Bills led the NFL in receptions per game by their wideouts at 19.4 per game. The Steelers were second at 18.6.
• Allen averaged 8.9 yards per pass attempt on first down last season -- when the Bills threw the ball 62 percent of the time. Allen averaged 7.0 yards per attempt on all other downs.
• Roethlisberger needs four touchdown passes to become the eighth player in league history to have 400 in his career.
• The Bills allowed running backs to average 4.5 yards per carry in 2020, which ranked 21st in the NFL.
• The Bills allowed 7.6 yards per target to opposing tight ends in 2020, which ranked 20th in the NFL.
• T.J. Watt is the only active player in the NFL with at least 13.0 sacks in each of the last three seasons.
• The Steelers are 45-38-5 (.540) all-time record on Kickoff Weekend, including a 14-20-2 (.417) mark on the road. They haven't opened at home since the 2014 season and are 3-2-1 in the previous six season road openers.
THE FANTASY CORNER
We're jumping back into the DFS pool with a Classic Mode lineup with some top plays. As I did last year, I'm going to build a fantasy lineup using Draft Kings and a $50,000 salary cap.
Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers, Packers ($6,800) -- The reigning NFL MVP for $6,800? Yes please.
Running back: Najee Harris, Steelers ($6,300), Ty'son Williams, Ravens ($4,500) -- Both running backs will be the primary ball carriers in their lineups. Harris should approach 100 total yards, while Williams is the last man standing in one of the most run-heavy offenses in the league.
Wide receiver: Davante Adams, Packers ($8,300), Michael Pittman, Colts ($4,100), Maquez Callaway, Saints ($3,400) -- When you can afford to stack Rodgers with Adams, it doesn't get much better than that. Pittman is the main target in Indianapolis, while Callaway is the same for the Saints and both are absolute bargains. If you're going to pay up at a couple of spots, you need to find some bargains.
Tight end: Travis Kelce, Chiefs ($8,300) -- If you're going to pay up at tight end, this is the guy to do it with.
Flex: Lavishka Shenault, Jaguars ($5,000) -- Shenault should have a nice rapport with Trevor Lawrence and could blow up in Year 2.
Defense: Broncos ($3,300) -- The Broncos boast one of the top defenses in the league and get to face Daniel Jones and the already hobbling Giants.
