Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills 9/12/21 - NFL Picks & Predictions

The Pittsburgh Steelers open the NFL regular season on Sunday with a visit to Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, Buffalo to play the Buffalo Bills. Ben Roethlisberger returns to quarterback the Steelers. During the preseason the Steelers were 3-1. Rookie running back Najee Harris will start for Pittsburgh and the top targets for Roethlisberger this season will be Juju Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool, forming a dangerous trio of receivers for opposing secondaries.

Pittsburgh’s defense was third overall in 2020. The Steelers will use a 3-4 defense led up front by Stephon Tuitt, Tyson Alualu and Cameron Heyward. Devin Bush and TJ Watt anchor a strong linebacker corps that was improved with the acquisition of Jon Schobert during the preseason. Pittsburgh's defensive secondary has a strong pair of safeties in Terrell Edmunds and Minkah Fitzpatrick and has shutdown cornerbacks in Cameron Sutton and Joe Haden.

Buffalo was undefeated in the preseason finishing 3-0. The Bills are favored to win the AFC East and battle for the AFC title. Buffalo is led at quarterback by the talented Josh Allen, who last season passed for 4,544 yards with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Buffalo's running game will be led by Devin Singletary, while the top three receivers for the Bills are Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders. Diggs is questionable with a sore knee.

The Buffalo defense was 16th in the NFL last season. Buffalo uses a 4-3 and is led up front by Jerry Hughes, Star Lotulelei, Ed Oliver and Mario Addison. The Buffalo linebacker corps is anchored by Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano (out injured). Buffalo has a very strong secondary with Tre’Davious White and Levi Wallace (questionable) at the cornerbacks and Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer at the safety spots.