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Buffalo came back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Pittsburgh 28-27 in the preseason finale, and the winning points came the hard way. Trailing 27-17, the Bills got a Tyler Bass field goal, then Ian Wheeler's 2-yard touchdown run with 1:06 left, and finished it off with a two-point conversion pass from Shane Buechele to Dante Pettis rather than kicking to force overtime. Josh Allen never appeared in the box score, so this was a backups-and-bubble game with a real finish.
Shane Buechele carried the offense all night, going 26 of 38 for 196 yards without a touchdown or an interception, and then threw the pass that actually decided the game. After Wheeler punched in the go-ahead score, the Bills went for two, and Buechele found Dante Pettis to take a 28-27 lead they did not give back. It was a volume night more than an efficient one (5.2 yards per attempt), but he was on the field for the comeback and made the throw that mattered.
Frank Gore Jr. and Ian Wheeler split the Buffalo backfield and both scored. Wheeler ran it nine times for 23 yards and the game-winning 2-yard touchdown. Gore was the more interesting fantasy line: 10 carries for 27 yards and a 1-yard score on the ground, plus a team-leading (among backs) five catches for 45 yards. The rushing lanes were tight for both, but Gore's pass-catching flash is the kind of dual-role usage worth filing away in a crowded Buffalo backfield.
Skyler BellThe most-targeted Bill was receiver Skyler Bell, who drew 10 looks and turned seven of them into 49 yards, then added a 28-yard touchdown run on his only carry. That target volume, even against backups, is a real data point for a receiver fighting for a roster spot.
Will Howard was the more productive of Pittsburgh's two passers, going 9 of 15 for 69 yards with two touchdowns (a 13-yarder to Germie Bernard and a 5-yarder to Lake McRee) and one interception. Drew Allar took the other extended run and finished 9 of 18 for 88 yards without a score. Neither did enough to end the conversation about the depth chart behind center. On the ground, Eli Heidenreich added a 9-yard rushing touchdown, and Kaden Wetjen provided the game's most explosive special-teams play with a 45-yard punt return score.
Preseason finales like this one are really about separation on the depth chart, and Buffalo gave its coaches a genuinely hard call. Frank Gore Jr. and Ian Wheeler both scored, but they did it in different ways: Wheeler as a short-yardage finisher and Gore as the back who can catch passes out of the backfield. In deeper best-ball formats, the pass-catching profile is the one that tends to age better across a full season, because receptions are a floor that touchdown regression cannot erase. Skyler Bell's ten targets, meanwhile, are the kind of usage that occasionally turns a camp body into a Week 1 gadget piece worth a late bench stash in 14-team leagues, especially on an offense that likes to move its skill players around before the snap.
On the Pittsburgh side, the two-quarterback rotation of Will Howard and Drew Allar left the backup job unsettled, and that matters for anyone speculating on the Steelers passing game later in drafts. Howard's two scores came on short, rhythm throws rather than downfield shots, so the tape says more about timing than arm talent. For fantasy purposes, none of these names belongs in your starting lineup yet, but the pecking order they hinted at is the reason to keep watching who takes the first-team reps once the games count.
This was a bubble game, so treat the individual lines as roster-battle signal rather than draft-board movers. The two names to remember are Frank Gore Jr., whose pass-catching gives him a path to standalone value if anything happens ahead of him, and Skyler Bell, whose target share stood out. Check where Buffalo's backs sit in the rookie rankings, see how the depth chart is priced in the best ball tool, and run the backfield through the mock draft simulator before your next draft. Full box score: ESPN.
This is part of our Preseason Week 3 roundup, where the storylines that matter across every game are pulled together.
