Steelers seek to stay hot in traveling to face tepid Bills

Associated Press

ORCHARD Park, N.Y.

Receiver Antonio Brown is well aware of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ track record of successfully mounting late-season playoff pushes.

When December rolls around, the Steelers traditionally heat up.

“The goal is to continue to get hot,” Brown said. “We know what’s at stake. We know what’s expected of us. And we want to finish strong.”

Following a four-game swoon, the Steelers (7-5) are on a roll in having won three straight to move into a tie with Baltimore atop the AFC North in preparing to travel to play the Buffalo Bills (6-6) today.

This is no time for a letdown, especially after an efficient 24-14 win over the New York Giants .

“You know how important these games are for us in terms of positioning,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Like we talked about openly last week, December football: Getting into that mentality and understanding what December football is like.”

Since 2000, the Steelers have combined to go 46-18 over their final four games of a season. And they’ve only twice had two or fewer wins over the season’s final quarter, going 1-3 in both 2012 and 2007.

That’s not been the case in Buffalo, where the Bills’ inability to produce a finishing kick has been a contributing factor to their 16-season playoff drought, the NFL’s longest active streak.

Since 2000, the Bills are a combined 25-39 in the season’s final quarter, and have won more than two of their final four games once. That happened in 2004 when Buffalo was on a 6-0 roll before being eliminated from contention with a season-ending home loss to a Steelers team that rested its starters after having already secured its playoff spot.

“This experience right here could be the start of something new,” Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, is to take seize of it right now, this opportunity that we have.”

The Bills have left little margin for error in having to win out and get help from other teams to have a shot at the postseason.

They must also rebound from a dreadful collapse at Oakland, where Buffalo squandered a 15-point third-quarter lead in a 38-24 loss.