The Steelers have learned that they will play the Bills in Buffalo when they advance to the postseason.
The Tennessee Titans defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-20 on Sunday to guarantee that the Steelers would make it to the postseason. That guaranteed the Steelers a postseason spot, and they won 17–10 in Baltimore on Saturday.
To make the playoffs for the eleventh time under head coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers (10-7) needed to win Sunday’s games against the Titans in the 1 p.m. window of games or the Dolphins over the Bills in Sunday night’s game.
After trailing 14–7 at the half, Buffalo overcame Miami to win the AFC East and secure the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, defeating them 21–14.
The Steelers’ victory also guaranteed them a No. 7 seed in the AFC playoffs, where they will face Buffalo on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both locally on KDKA and nationally on CBS will carry the game.
The Steelers would have had the sixth seed and Buffalo the seventh, and they would have travelled to Kansas City, had Miami prevailed.
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This season, the Steelers, who won ten games or more for the first time since 2020, did not play Buffalo.
However, the Steelers finished 3-2 in the AFC playoffs, splitting their two games against No. 5 seed Cleveland, defeating AFC South champion Houston, and losing to Jacksonville in Tennessee, which sealed the division title. They had a 5-3 record overall this season versus postseason-qualified clubs.
Whether or not Pro Bowl pass rusher T.J. Watt is available to the Steelers the next weekend is still to be determined.
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After recording two sacks to give him an NFL-high 19 for the season, Watt—who won his fourth team MVP award last week—sustained a knee injury in the third quarter of Saturday’s 17-10 victory over Baltimore.
Watt is the only player to lead the NFL in sacks three times since the statistic was added in 1982. This marks Watt’s third consecutive season as the league leader in sacks.
Nonetheless, Minkah Fitzpatrick, a safety in the Super Bowl, might return for the Steelers. Fitzpatrick, who has been sidelined for the last three games due to a knee injury, made a limited comeback to practice last week.
Damontae Kazee, a safety, might return to the Steelers as well. After receiving an unnecessary roughness penalty against Michael Pittman of the Colts, Kazee was suspended by the NFL for the last three weeks of the regular season. However, he is allowed to play in the postseason.