Buffalo Bills vs Pittsburgh Steelers Prediction & Betting Tips - NFL

Prediction published on 12/01/2024, 13:00  by Matthew Newman | Modified on 13/01/2024 at 11:11 in NFL Prediction

The 10-7 Pittsburgh Steelers will head to the 11-6 Buffalo Bills in the playoffs on Sunday. The Bills had a very slow start to the season, only 6-6 after their first 12 games but they have managed to hit form at the perfect time, winning five games straight. The bye week turned things around for them, looking like a different team than before the break. When the teams met in the regular season in 2022, it was a whitewash win for the Bills, but they have not had quite such a successful time this season, while the Steelers have been much improved on where they were in week 5, last year. Highmark Stadium has been a happy place this season for the Bills, producing a 7-2 record on their own patch. Their losses came against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos who both missed the playoffs and their wins were over teams who were only a combined 23-36 on the road. The opening spread had the Bills given up double digits but that is down to 7.5.

In 17 years as the head coach of the Steelers, Mike Tomlin has never had a team finish under .500. That is a remarkable record, although that has only resulted in a single Super Bowl championship in 2008. 2016 was the last time that the Steelers won a playoff game so they are certainly overdue. The problem in recent years was that they lacked any cutting-edge offence under Matt Canada. There were a couple of weeks of teething problems under new offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner but the team won their last three games of the season to make it into the playoffs, including putting up 30 points in a win at Seattle and 34 at home to the Cincinnati Bengals, the only two times they have passed 30 all season. Strong on the defensive side of the ball, they are led by T.J. Watt who topped the league in sacks this season but the bad news for Steelers' fans is that he has been declared out for this one. The Bills' offensive line has been inconsistent, Josh Allen was sacked three times in the final game of the season. The Steelers' best hope will come if they are able to keep the Bills off the board for as long as possible.