With the 2025 season on the horizon, Steelers.com is bringing you Looking Back, where a game against each of our opponents is highlighted. In this edition, it's the Buffalo Bills.
Steelers 23, Buffalo Bills 16
September 12, 2021
Highmark Stadium
Sometimes it's the most unlikely of heroes who make a game-changing play, and that happened on this fall afternoon in Orchard Park, New York.
Special teams coordinator Danny Smith, who preaches splash plays to his unit, got not just one, but two on one play.
With the Steelers holding onto a 13-10 fourth quarter lead, defensive tackle Cameron Heyward sacked Bills quarterback Josh Allen for a loss to the Bills 23-yard line. Bills punter Matt Haack, facing a fourth-and-12, never stood a chance.
Safety Miles Killebrew, who was brought to Pittsburgh for moments like this, blocked Haack's punt, but it was young linebacker Ulysees Gilbert III was able to scoop it up and returned it nine yards for a touchdown, extending the lead to 20-10.
"It was a big play for us," said Killebrew. "It was a moment in the game where it was a big momentum shift. It was a good team effort. I know a lot of guys don't know how things happen on special teams. It's very rarely one guy's victory when something big happens, and this is one of those moments where it was a culmination of a lot of guys doing their job. I just happened to be at the point of attack. I was very thankful that I was able to make it happen. And then my boy Ulysees scoops it up and scores.
"It happened very fast, but it goes back to what we were practicing all week. Danny Smith wrote up a few good plays that we were able to execute, and especially against a good outfit like Buffalo. So, everything just kind of happened the way that we had hoped it would."
Gilbert, a sixth-round pick in 2019, was at the right place at the right time.
"It was a play we had been running all week in practice and just a lot of effort and great execution," said Gilbert. "Then when the ball was right there, I just saw that out of the corner of my eye. I just picked it up and ran to the end zone.
"It's how we prepare. This is just who we are. We work hard and try to be the best we can at what (Danny Smith) has in front of us, what he teaches us. We go out and practice and execute that and just pray that when we come to the game, we execute the right way to make a play like that. I feel like it's day in and day out, every week that we feel like we have an opportunity to make some splash on special teams."
The play was the redemption special teams was looking for after the Bills started the game with a 75-yard return on the opening kickoff, with Gilbert coming from behind for the tackle that potentially saved a touchdown. They regrouped at halftime, talking as a unit about wanting to go out and make a play, and they did just that.
"This is a team where we take things like that personal," said Killebrew. "We want to execute our phase. With that being said, like I alluded to earlier, Buffalo's a good team and their special teams is very good. We knew that we had to answer with a splash, we had to just do our jobs, and that was something that we really wanted to hone on. We all talked and we're like, we need to do our jobs. A lot of times when everyone's doing their job that leads to a splash play like what we saw there towards the end of the game."
The Steelers opened the game in a disappointing fashion, down 10-3, including giving up a 75-yard return on the opening kickoff that led to a Bills field goal.
But things did change fast. The Steelers defense shut the door, while the offense came to life in the second half, bouncing back to defeat the Bills, 23-16, and open the season 1-0.
Coach Mike Tomlin expected it to be a battle, and he wasn't wrong.
"We knew what type of day we were going to have here from an environmental standpoint, not only just in terms of the crowd, but the new pieces we had on offense, young guys and so forth," said Tomlin. "We didn't start great. We gave up a kickoff to start the game off. I thought the defense's ability to kind of quell that and hold them to three was significant, but we just faced a lot of challenges today.
"Robert Spillane got hurt in warmups. We had to make the last second adjustment. Buddy Johnson got an opportunity to play in his first NFL game, he didn't even anticipate doing so.
"It's a great team victory. I'm appreciative of their efforts. Hopefully it's a sign of what we're capable of from a will standpoint."
