Buffalo Rumblings
A review of the game tape to see how the Bills held the Chiefs under their usual scoring rate
Prior to their game against the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs scored on 46.1% of their drives and held the football for an average of around three minutes and 20 seconds. Against the Buffalo, Kansas City scored on 33% of their drives and held the ball for two minutes and 53 seconds on average. That’s a major feather in the cap of the Bills’ defense.
Let’s take a look at the film, specifically the drive enders, to simultaneously gloat and learn a fact or two about how Buffalo pulled it off. While you’re at it, the Bills’ offense did the same thing in reverse to the Chiefs’ defense. Be sure to check out B.J. Monacelli’s companion article!
Kansas City started off using a creative wrinkle to gain seven yards with rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy. On the next play, the Bills’ front four collapsed the pocket.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes sprang forward but was wrapped up by defensive tackle DaQuan Jones. Mahomes saw an open receiver and... floated the ball thanks to Jones being wrapped around his lower body. The overthrow found a pair of hands, but they belonged to safety Taylor Rapp.
This drive started with an incomplete but then a five-yard rush to set up 3rd & Manageable. Buffalo stuck to a four-man rush again with linebacker Terrel Bernard hanging back to spy Mahomes. The front four yet again had a quick advantage and Bernard was there for the cleanup.
This drive was actually a touchdown. Since the Bills’ defense didn’t end it, we won’t was space here on a GIF, but it’s here with a heading as a placeholder to retain game flow and allow for a brief discussion.
It didn’t feel like it at the time, but Buffalo made them work pretty hard for this score. Kansas City faced three third downs and needed 11 plays to get the score, taking 5:30 to do it. This was the longest drive of the day for KC.
Some of the players crowding the line were there for coverage purposes, but note that they didn’t start with a lot of cushion and there was some man coverage mixed in. By crowding the line, Buffalo made it difficult to decipher who may or may not be coming. In this case they went full surprise mode and only rushed three with a spy hanging back.
The three-man rush is preposterously effective.
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver directly and indirectly occupied a handful of players. Edge rusher Von Miller and defensive end Greg Rousseau found themselves one-on-one. Rousseau beat his man with a pure speed rush to the outside with some clean hand fighting. Miller used a spin move to get his guy off kilter then followed it up with a bit of a bull rush and cleaned...
