Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City will host its sixth conference title game in seven years, welcoming two-seeded Buffalo in.
The 2024 NFL season’s AFC Championship will be an epic, historic matchup between the conference’s top two contenders of the last half-decade. The Kansas City Chiefs (16-2) will host the Buffalo Bills (15-4) on Sunday evening, kickoff set for 5:30 PM on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The winner will head to New Orleans, Louisiana, for Super Bowl LIX.
The Chiefs are attempting to become the only team in NFL history to make a third consecutive Super Bowl after two previous victories. The Bills are looking to win the AFC title for the first time since the 1993 season when a 30-13 home win over the Chiefs sent Buffalo to its fourth consecutive Super Bowl.
The intensity of this battle will be felt by the players and the fans: Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes wants Chiefs Kingdom to take it up a notch Sunday to “see how loud [Arrowhead] can really get.”
The stage is set for one of the biggest games in modern NFL history. Here are five things to watch in the AFC Championship:
Mahomes will be scanning a familiar defense to him, but that doesn’t mean Buffalo will be predictable. According to NFL NextGen Stats, the traditionally zone-heavy Bills attacked the Chiefs with more man coverage in Week 11, leading to 18.2% of Mahomes’ targets qualifying as tight-window throws. That is the second-highest mark in any game of his this season.
On Sunday, wide receivers Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown will be key. If Buffalo challenges the Chiefs’ passing game in a similar way, the duo will have opportunities to make big plays down the field. It will be a matter of the connection going through: last week, Mahomes targeted Brown deep twice for game-breaking plays, but neither was completed.
If the Bills back off, Worthy and Brown will still be important in stretching the coverage horizontally and vertically. With Bills’ starting free safety Taylor Rapp unable to play, rookie Cole Bishop will be attacked with speed. Look for Worthy to get heavy doses of short crossers and quick screens, taking the easy yards when Buffalo is soft in alignment.
This season, Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen finished with the third-best passer rating versus the blitz, throwing only one interception and falling to sacks just six times.
Like any of the truly elite quarterbacks, it can be dangerous to send additional rushers at Allen and expose yourself to a big play. However, the Bills’ offensive line is built to counter pocket crushers and allow Allen time regardless: when facing four or fewer pass rushers in the regular season, Allen had the fifth-longest time to throw in the NFL.
For defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, it’s about executing the blitzes at the right time with a containment mentality. Allen is disciplined and will get rid of the ball to...
