Buffalo Rumblings
The living legend has been otherworldly against Buffalo in the postseason
The Buffalo Bills will travel to Missouri this weekend to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. It’s the second time these clubs have met for the right to go to the Super Bowl in this decade. The first time it happened, Kansas City beat Buffalo 38-24 following the 2020 NFL season.
This time around, there are plenty of changes to each roster. Four years is an eternity in the NFL, and there’s been turnover on each roster.
However, many of the principal cast members from the last drama remain. Given that both of these teams have finished in first place in their respective divisions for each of the years following that AFC Title Game meeting, we’ve seen each team do battle in each iteration.
The Bills and Chiefs met once already this season, with Buffalo extending its three-game regular-season winning streak by defeating Kansas City 30-21. While that win was a big one, if you ask anyone affiliated with the Bills, they’d much rather have KC’s three-game playoff winning streak over Buffalo instead.
Can the Chiefs extend their streak of playoff wins over the Bills to four games? Can Buffalo prevent Kansas City from making it to the Super Bowl for the third straight year?
Here are five Chiefs players we’re watching closely Sunday in the quest for answers to these questions.
Yes, it’s obvious. No, I don’t care that’s the case. Mahomes has tormented every NFL franchise throughout his brilliant career, but it feels as if he’s saved his best for Buffalo — and he’s really saved his best for when the lights shine brightest.
Mahomes has faced the Bills in three playoff games. He’s completed 79-of-105 passes (75.2%) for eight touchdowns and zero interceptions. Mahomes has added 93 rushing yards and a score on 19 carries.
He’s also authored one of the worst chapters in Buffalo’s tormented playoff history, engineering a comeback in 13 seconds that kept the Bills from the AFC Championship Game following the 2021 NFL season.
There is no stopping Mahomes; there is only containing him. Part of limiting Mahomes’ success is to keep the ball out of his hands. If Buffalo can run effectively and control the clock, it could force the Chiefs to feel as if they have to speed up and try for more big plays to counter their limited time of possession.
As far as trying to limit Mahomes as a passer, the Bills can disguise their coverages, but there isn’t a coverage he hasn’t seen before. They can blitz, but he shreds the blitz. They can play man, or zone, or anything, but star players make big plays in big moments, and Mahomes is as clutch as they come.
Buffalo’s best bet is for their front four to win on some early downs so they can lay some hits on Mahomes, speeding up his internal clock in the process....
