The Buffalo Bills are bad at stopping the run.
They know it. Opponents know it. Fans know it. Everyone knows it.
And that's why what happened Sunday night was so important.
The Pittsburgh Steelers held off the Baltimore Ravens, aided by a missed field goal at the buzzer, to win the AFC North.
Pittsburgh is the AFC's 4-seed. The Ravens are heading home.
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And with that outcome, the Bills' Super Bowl hopes are alive. There isn't a dominant rushing team anywhere in the AFC bracket.
The Ravens, with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, were by far the biggest threat in that regard to Buffalo's hopes.
"With Baltimore failing to make it into the field, the Patriots are the only playoff team besides Buffalo that ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in rushing yards per game," ESPN's Dan Graziano wrote on Tuesday. "(And they had to run for 243 in Sunday's regular-season finale to get there.) The Chargers ranked 12th, the Broncos 16th, the Jaguars 20th, the Texans 22nd and the Steelers 26th. Buffalo wouldn't be the worst run defense ever to reach the Super Bowl. (The 2006 Colts allowed 173 rushing yards per game in the regular season and were worse across the board in just about every metric.) But it would be one of the worst. The good news is, there isn't a team in the AFC that's nearly as good at running the ball as the Bills are."
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Of course, that's not Buffalo's only weakness.
The Bills don't seem to have wide receivers that can get open. Their cornerback depth is very limited, too.
But a matchup with Jackson and Henry would've been a nightmare for Buffalo. At least they don't have to worry about that bad dream being in their way.
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