There’s a lot of storylines going into every NFL playoff matchup. One of the more underrated stories of the AFC Wild Card showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills features linebacker Tyler Matakevich.
The 31-year-old played his first four seasons with the Steelers from 2016-19. He just finished his fourth regular season with the Bills.
Although he’s faced the team that drafted him previously, this time, it’s in a win-or-go-home situation. And Matakevich couldn’t be more excited.
“I’m so jacked up. They gave me this opportunity to be able to play in this league,” Matakevich said on The Zach Gelb Show on January 10. “They drafted me, seventh round. Never forget it, like it was yesterday.
“Shoot man, I’m excited. There’s nothing like playoff football. I can’t wait.”
Matakevich was a reserve linebacker and special teams player in four seasons for the Steelers. His defensive opportunities have been even more limited in Buffalo, but he’s carved out a vital special teams role.
LB Tyler Matakevich, Bills Set to Host Steelers in AFC Wild Card Matchup
While the veteran linebacker made it clear he’s excited to face his former team in the postseason, there wasn’t any trash talking from Matakevich.
He only had good things to say about the Steelers organization.
“Just forever grateful and appreciative of the Rooneys and Mike T [Tomlin] and Kevin Colbert, who was there at the time, Danny Smith, all those guys for really giving me this opportunity to just show the world what I can do,” Matakevich told Gelb. “Now I’m grateful to be here. It’s definitely gonna be a special, special day for me.”
After Matakevich starred at Temple, the Steelers drafted the linebacker at No. 246 overall in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL draft. He was Pittsburgh’s last choice of that year’s draft class.
Matakevich appeared in all 16 games for the Steelers as a rookie. Over four seasons with the team, he never received more than 60 snaps on defense. But he played more than 60% of the team’s special teams snaps each campaign from 2016-19.
After signing with the Bills ahead of the 2020 season, Matakevich played a career-high 72 defensive snaps in his first year with Buffalo. But he has returned to his primarily special teams role the past three seasons.
In fact, Matakevich has lined up for just 19 defensive snaps in his past 34 games since the start of 2022. But he’s played 676 special teams snaps during that same stretch of games.
In 129 career NFL games, Matakevich has recorded 132 combined tackles. He also has 4 pass defenses and 1 interception.
He played in four postseason games while in Pittsburgh. Matakevich will be appearing in his eighth playoff contest for Buffalo on January 14.
Steelers-Bills Could Feature Harsh Winter Weather
As Matakevich put it, there’s nothing like playoff football. A lot of Steelers and Bills might argue the only way to make playoff football better is to add in wintery weather elements.
Those fans are likely going to get their wish. AccuWeather forecasts a high of 24 degrees with wind blowing possibly 50 mph in Buffalo the day of the playoff matchup.
AccuWeather also predicted more than seven inches of snow on January 14.
KDKA Radio host Marty Griffin reported that if a state of emergency is declared in Western New York, then the NFL could move the game to another location. But SI.com’s All Steelers’ Noah Strackbein wrote a Steelers spokesperson said the team had not heard of any potential location change.
As long as the game remains in Buffalo, this will be the first time the Steelers visit the Bills in the postseason. Clearly, Matakevich couldn’t be more pleased to be part of it.
