Pollock: Did Buffalo Bills lose a second quarterback in Trubisky during win over Steelers?

A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports Columnist

Just about the time we were thinking Bills coach Sean McDermott was being overly cautious keeping franchise quarterback Josh Allen covered in bubble wrap in the season’s second preseason game, Saturday night at Pittsburgh Acrisure Stadium, we were given pause.

Concerned with the heavy rains that doused the Steelers home field about an hour before kickoff, McDermott did a 180 and decided Allen would not play and backup Mitch Trubisky would get the start.

And by quarter No. 2, nobody was second-guessing McDermott’s decision.

Trubisky, after throwing a completion, limped off the field without being hit, though he had endured two sacks and an interception earlier in the game. He was diagnosed with a knee injury and didn’t return. That left the QB chores to former Cowboy Ben DiNucci, signed on Monday after Buffalo’s No. 3 quarterback, Shane Buechele, was lost to a neck injury in the preseason-opening loss to Chicago a week earlier.

“I DIDN’T play Josh and the reason was that (he) had a real good week of practice and played real well in the practice against the Steelers two days ago. The conditions before the game, I didn’t love that,” McDermott admitted. “It wasn’t a full warmup the way the weather was and, in my gut, it was the right thing to do. And I wanted to get a good look at Mitch and now he’s got the knee and we have to see where that leaves us.”

Buffalo’s 9-3 victory wasn’t exactly scintillating, but the effort was light years ahead of last week’s loss to the Bears.

“You come out with the proper amount of energy, you’re flying around, you know the game plan, you understand what your job is and you can play fast when you do that,” McDermott said. “They were out there pulling for one another, playing for one another … that’s really where (the improved effort) started.”

ALLEN WASN’T the only starter held out, the other was middle linebacker Terrel Bernard.

“We lost Matt Milano last week (likely to December with a torn biceps) and I didn’t want to risk losing Terrel a week later,” McDermott admitted.

And that decision made a starter of free agent linebacker Joe Andreessen, a star at Lancaster High School and UB his senior year. When it was over, the signee of only a week ago, had a monster performance with a game-high 12 tackles including seven solos and two tackles for loss.

“When a young guy gets an opportunity and he makes the most of it … it’s just fun to watch,” McDermott said of Andreessen. “Especially a young man like that … a local guy. I met his aunt on the elevator in the hotel and she was excited and was on the phone with Joe’s mom … you love stories like that and I’m real happy for Joe.”

OTHER OBSERVATIONS from Buffalo’s win with the season finale next Saturday afternoon at Highmark Stadium against Carolina:

— The Bills have now gone without a touchdown in this season’s two preseason games, though place-kicker Tyler Bass has hit all five of his field goal attempts.

— Buffalo’s defensive standout was edge-rusher Greg Rousseau who had 2½ sacks, four tackles and three quarterback hits in 11 snaps.

— After a pathetic rushing effort last week, Buffalo ran for 167 yards, nearly five per carry. Rookie Ray Davis led the way with 58 yards on eight carries.

— With three Buffalo safeties out with injuries — Cole Bishop, Mike Edwards and Damar Hamlin — the starters against Pittsburgh were Taylor Rapp and Cam Lewis.

— Besides Trubisky, four other Bills were injured and did not return against the Steelers: wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (neck), tight end Quintin Morris (shoulder), defensive tackle Austin Johnson (calf) and edge rusher Javon Solomon ((calf).

After the game McDermott had no update on any of those injuries.

— The Bills top draft choice (No. 1 in round 2), wide receiver Keon Coleman, played 30 snaps but was targeted only three times with one 12-yard catch.

— A week after committing 11 penalties in the loss to Chicago, against the Steelers, Buffalo had eight for 50 years though five were of McDermott’s pet peeve … pre-snap violations.

— With Buechele on injured reserve and the extent of Trubisky’s injury uncertain, for the second straight week the Bills might well be in the market for a No. 3 QB assuming DiNucci is promoted to backup.

(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)

Pollock: Did Buffalo Bills lose a second quarterback in Trubisky during win over Steelers?

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