The Bills left Pittsburgh with a 28-27 win and a 3-0 preseason record, but don't confuse that with proof Buffalo is ready. The deciding sequence was Ian Wheeler's 2-yard touchdown run with 1:06 left, followed by Shane Buechele's two-point pass to D. Pettis. That's a two-point conversion deciding a preseason game, which is about as meaningful as a coin flip. The real signal from Thursday night is the Steelers' quarterback battle, and it's not trending anywhere.
Drew Allar and Will Howard split reps. Combined they went 18-of-33 for 157 yards, a 4.8-yard average per attempt. Howard threw two touchdowns, including a 45-yard strike to Kaden Wetjen, but he also threw an interception and took three sacks for 22 yards. Allar was worse: 9-of-18 for 88 yards, no touchdowns, a 64.1 rating. In a preseason game, against a Bills defense that will look nothing like its regular-season version, both quarterbacks were low-efficiency.
The Steelers' 27 points look respectable. Look closer. Wetjen's 61-yard score and Germie Bernard's 13-yard touchdown account for a chunk. The running game averaged 3.2 yards per carry if you add up the attempts and yards: Lew Nichols 7 for 13, Eli Heidenreich 9 for 47, Travis Homer 2 for 2, Kaleb Johnson 5 for 11. That's 23 carries for 73 yards. Not a ground threat, and not enough to prop up two passers who couldn't push the ball downfield consistently.
The Bills, meanwhile, got their only real offense on the last drive. Buechele was their leading passer, and the rushing leaders were Skyler Bell, Frank Gore Jr., Buechele, and Wheeler. None of that matters for the regular season. What matters is Buechele's situational football: after Wheeler plunged in, Buechele found D. Pettis for the two-point conversion. That's the kind of moment coaches remember when roster cuts come.
Allar's last pass sailed incomplete deep right to Lake McRee with 48 seconds left. Game over. Preseason over for both. Pittsburgh finishes 1-2; Buffalo finishes 3-0. If you're handicapping the actual season, throw those records out.
The verdict: the Steelers' quarterback competition is not resolved, and the numbers say both Allar and Howard did more to hurt than help. Buechele gave the Bills a throwaway-game late lead, which is more than either Pittsburgh quarterback did. One team got a feel-good exhibition; the other got another 60 minutes of unclear quarterbacking. That's the real takeaway.