Bills' punter injured, Steelers fail to use timeouts to force punt before halftime
Bills punter Sam Martin suffered an apparent hamstring injury in the second quarter that may prevent him from punting for the rest of the game, but poor clock management from Steelers coach Mike Tomlin cost Pittsburgh a chance to capitalize at the end of the first half.
After the Steelers sacked Josh Allen with 48 seconds left in the second quarter, the Steelers were in perfect position to use their timeouts, force the Bills to punt, and see if they could take advantage of the Bills not having their punter.
Strangely, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin just let the clock run after the sack. Tomlin did eventually call timeout, with two seconds left before halftime, but by that point Allen just kneeled down to run out the half, and the Bills didn't have to punt.
It was a massive clock management mistake from Tomlin, whose team is trailing 21-7 and desperately needs to do something to get back in this game. A botched punt leading to a Steelers score before halftime might have been that "something," but we'll never know because Tomlin didn't use his timeouts.
