Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl...
...for the third straight season, for the fifth time in six years, with a chance to make history.
They earned that right by beating the Buffalo Bills for the fourth time in the last five postseasons. They earned it by overcoming the second-best quarterback in the NFL. They earned it with fourth-down stops, two-point conversion stops and easy execution on offense.
It must be absolutely miserable not to be a Chiefs fan at this point (and we’ve seen it and heard it all week). This was a complete team win by a championship franchise that knows exactly what it takes, and they got it done.
How can I call anyone in that building a loser this week?
Wide receiver Xavier Worthy: There’s something poetic about watching the undersized wide receiver come down with a contested catch down the field and go Superman-style at the pylon. The same receiver that the Bills didn’t want, so they traded with the Chiefs in this year’s draft. Yes, Xavier Worthy was outstanding on Sunday, with over 100 yards of offense and a touchdown. He looked like a guy who was more talented and wanted it more than the other guy. The Chiefs drafted, developed and figured out how to get him involved — and he’s paying big dividends as a rookie.
Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster: If you bet the *over on JuJu Smith-Schuster’s receiving yards this week, you probably got some tremendous odds. He’s somewhat of a forgotten man now that the Chiefs wide receiver room features Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown and DeAndre Hopkins, but Smith-Schuster made two of the biggest pass plays of the evening, exploiting the space in the Bills secondary. You have to feel good for Smith-Schuster, who came back this season and helped the Chiefs overcome the loss of Rashee Rice, only to be leapfrogged by those other guys — until it mattered most.
Linebacker Nick Bolton: Never known for his pass coverage, Nick Bolton did what he does best on Sunday. He made some tremendous tackles, none bigger than a fourth-quarter stop of Josh Allen on fourth-and-1. The Bills tried to pick on him in coverage (and it worked for a bit), but Bolton made a play on a pass to Dalton Kincaid that helped force a three-and-out and a Chiefs touchdown drive.
Defensive lineman Chris Jones: The Bills dared to block Chris Jones one-on-one 11 times in the first half. Jones responded with an extraordinary seven quarterback pressures. There was a two-point conversion where Jones terrorized the offensive lineman and hit Josh Allen’s arm to shut it down. I expect that upon rewatch, we’ll see Jones in the mix on the biggest plays of the game. He sheds and causes tears — Jones is the best there is.
Defensive linemen Mike Danna, Charles Omenihu, Turk Wharton and George Karlaftis: Jones wasn’t the only member of Sack Nation to step up in the AFC Championship game. Mike...
