The stakes will be high when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills face off at Heinz Field Sunday night, with serious playoff implications on the line for each team.
Here locally, there are some bragging rights involved, too.
The Twin Tiers, and Bradford in particular, carry fans of both teams. In the Empire State, it’s almost exclusively Buffalo, but as you venture south, things begin to change.
Bradford splits just about evenly, and then south of Bradford is almost exclusively Pittsburgh fans.
With that crossover comes a friendly rivalry, one Bradford resident and Rookies server Melanie Turner says she’s seen in the sports bar.
“People are pretty excited,” she said. “We’ve had people in here arguing about whether the Bills or Steelers are better, and we have a good amount of people coming in for the game, so it’s exciting.”
It’s only natural, says fellow Bradford resident and lifelong Steelers fan Chad Baney.
“I would say it’s a big game locally,” he said. “You’ve got half the town that likes the Steelers, and the other half is Bills fans.”
Baney got into the Steelers at the young age of four. A friend of his from up the street was raised in a Steelers household, and got Baney, whose family doesn’t like football much, into the team.
“The only team I knew was the Steelers because that’s all they talked about. So that’s my team,” he said.
Turner, meanwhile, was in high school when she started following the Bills.
“I was in the ninth grade. I became friends with some people, and we had just started hanging out and were watching the Bills one night,” she said. “It was great. Everybody was screaming and yelling and it was a lot of fun. Ever since, I’ve been hooked.”
And, of course, the playoff implications make this game that much more meaningful.
Buffalo enters at 9-4 and presently holds the AFC’s first Wild Card spot. A win would clinch a postseason berth for the second time in three years.
And Pittsburgh? One game back at 8-5 and in possession of the second Wild Card spot. A win for the Steelers would put them into the first slot and all but wrap up a berth in the postseason, though it wouldn’t be sure thing just yet.
“For both of them, it’s very important. It’s about the playoffs,” Baney said. “If Buffalo wins, they’ve got a better shot, and if the Steelers win, then they’ve got a better shot.”
But who’s going to win?
Turner says out of her fanhood that it’s going to be Buffalo.
“I’m a bit biased,” she conceded. “But the Bills are doing pretty well this year.”
Baney says the game “could go either way” but said it will likely come down to one thing: Bills quarterback Josh Allen vs. the Steelers defense.
“I expect a low-scoring, defensive game,” he said. “If Josh Allen throws too many interceptions, it’s the Steelers’ ballgame. If he doesn’t and Buffalo can control the Steelers’ blitz, it’s the Bills’ ballgame.”
But, he added, the Steelers do have one advantage: Heinz Field. Buffalo hasn’t won in Pittsburgh since January 1993 in the AFC Divisional Round of the playoffs, when the Steelers played at Three Rivers.
Can the Bills reverse their fortunes Sunday night? Kickoff is slated for 8:20 p.m.
