Football is supposed to be the easy part of a football team's week. It has not been that for Buffalo. Ed Oliver's young son died, the kind of loss that makes a locker room go quiet, and the Bills have spent this week publicly wrapping their arms around him instead of just game-planning around him. Josh Allen said it plainly: they are going to continue to love up on him. That is not a coach's talking point. That is a team deciding, out loud, that this man matters more than this game.
Then the Steelers show up Thursday night and the game still has to be played. Buffalo is favored, the way Buffalo usually is at home, but nobody in that building is thinking about a spread this week. They are thinking about a teammate. Whether that grief becomes fuel or just becomes heavy is not something anyone can tell you in advance, and nobody should pretend to.
So here is the only honest way in: Steelers or Bills, straight up, no storyline attached to the pick itself. Just the two teams and the number. Make the call.