(Photo by Eric W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
In the last two seasons, the Steelers have lost to the Bills on Sunday Night Football and both games just happened to be in December, as well. In 2019, Buffalo put on an incredible defensive performance and beat the Steelers 17-10 at Heinz Field in Week 15. And then last year, the Bills gave the Steelers their second loss of the season in Week 14 with a 26-15 win in Orchard Park.
In 2021, the two teams will meet for the third consecutive season and it will be a Week 1 matchup at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
The NFL Network’s David Carr was recently asked to pick one team that he was 100 percent sure to get a win in Week 1, and he claimed that the Bills and Josh Allen were going to have their way with the Steelers to open the season.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers are gonna roll into Buffalo and get rolled out,” Carr said. “The Buffalo Bills are going to be jumping. We just called this kid [Josh Allen] basically the MVP in this show today. He’s gonna have a lot of fun against Pittsburgh.”
Allen should be a handful for the Steelers' defense to handle, as he's a threat in the running game in addition to having a cannon of an arm. Last year, the Steelers struggled to cover Allen's favorite target in Stefon Diggs, as he compiled 10 receptions on 14 targets for 130 yards (13.0 average) and one touchdown.
In the last two Steelers-Bills games, Sean McDermott's defense has have given up just 25 points combined against the Steelers. So, new offensive coordinator Matt Canada will have to have an impressive debut for the Steelers to come out on top. Bills Mafia will also be back, as they were absent in last year's matchup due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it should make for an intense Week 1 atmosphere.
The Bills are currently 6-point favorites against the Steelers in Week 1, according to Oddsshark.com.