Blitzburgh Pick ’em: Week 12

This week the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3) travel to Ralph Wilson Stadium to play the Buffalo Bills (2-8) in what looks to be a very uneven match-up. The Bills are coming off a huge come from behind win against Cincinnati last week. While the Steelers simply embarrassed the visiting Raiders last week…even with 163 penalty yards working against them. Jump for our Week 12 predictions.

Bam: The Bills are simply not a good football team. Ryan Fitzpatrick has done a pretty remarkable job this year and they’ve had some life throwing the football, but they are not in the same class as the Steelers are right now. The Steelers are playing angry and hungry right now and I expect them to play a solid game with only a few hiccups. Steelers 27 Bills 13

Brian: The Bills are a much better team than their record shows. Two of their recent losses were in overtime and then they won another two, including a 24-point (and then some) comeback against Cincinnati. Don’t fall asleep on this team right now. That said, there’s no reason the Steelers shouldn’t absolutely dominate in every facet of the game. Steelers 28 Bills 9

George: Here are the rankings for the Steelers and Bills in several categories from Football Outsiders and Advanced NFL Stats:

This is another week where I’d be cautiously optimistic about the offensive line. If there is a defense on our remaining schedule that we can run against, it’s Buffalo’s. Their pass defense is either bad or mediocre, depending on what system you prefer, but I’d still worry about Ben getting sacked if there’s a mismatch on the offensive line (say, wherever Trai Essex is playing). That being said, the Steelers are clearly the better team, and both Advanced NFL Stats and Football Outsiders have the Steelers as solid favorites. I agree, though at some point an offensive line breakdown will lead to a key Buffalo defensive play to keep it close. Steelers 31 Bills 21

Matt: This game actually worries me…not enough to pick against the Steelers, but I think this game will be closer than many think. The Bills are a better team than their 2-8 record indicates. We all know the Bills got off to a terrible start, but since their bye week they are 2-3… and those three losses were by a combined 9 points. This team could very easily be 5-5 or better. The defense isn’t great, but they do have some playmakers. With a sub-par defense, the only way the Bills can win is putting up a fair amount of points. Luckily, they finally have a quarterback, in Ryan Fitzpatrick, who can lead the team and provide that offensive spark.

With the Steelers coming off a dominant win…I am afraid that they may be thinking that the problems that arose against New England are now solved. I think the opposite will be revealed today. Our Pass Defense was atrocious against New England, and really didn’t get tested against the Raiders and their carousel of Quarterbacks. I think Ryan Fitzpatrick and the speedy receivers of Buffalo will actually provide a challenge to our secondary.

With all of that being said, this is still the Steelers vs. the Bills. The Steelers will win, but only because the inability of the Bills defense to stop the Steelers offense. I hope this game will show that the Steelers secondary has improved, and if it doesn’t… it will show again what they will need to work on. Steelers 34 Bills 24