Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills played a masterful, physical brand of football chess against the suddenly hot Kansas City Chiefs, winning 28-20 and improving to 6-2. Buffalo’s win at least temporarily sends Kansas City reeling backwards to “in the hunt” and out of the playoffs if the season ended today.
Of course, Bills Mafia knows the season is only half over, and these Chiefs are likely to come around on the schedule again. At 5-4, Kansas City is now in full playoff mode, where each game moving forward is essentially an elimination-round matchup. Buffalo, conversely, sits in the five slot as the top Wild Card seed, and a game behind the now 7-2 New England Patriots.
Again, there’s plenty of time for the playoff field to change, which means Buffalo could find itself all the way back up top with the right combination of wins. For now, it’s time to enjoy the Bills’ dominating win while reflecting on key moments that could shape the rest of the regular season.
The Bills lost the opening coin toss but dealt a crushing first blow to Kansas City’s defense, methodically working their way down the field en route to a seven-minute touchdown drive. It was a huge statement in a game where each possession would prove critical. For Buffalo, it was clear they had no interest in kicking field goals.
While the Chiefs did respond to that opening blow, putting up 10 points before the Bills responded back in any form, that was the only point in action where Buffalo had to reclaim the lead.
Despite the obvious hype entering this game, the Bills felt like the vastly superior team in Week 9. The criticism and complaints that ran rampant about a Buffalo defense observably limited in prior weeks must now be praised for putting together one of the most complete performances against Mahomes and Andy Reid this season. Mahomes was under constant pressure, and the Chiefs were held to 3-of-13 on third down.
While there’s always murmurs of concern from Bills Mafia about “giving too much away” to the Chiefs in the regular season, this was a critical win that puts real pressure on KC to win out for a shot at the playoffs.
Make no mistake, the Chiefs had been one of the best teams the last month, but they are not an invincible foe even at their best. Will Buffalo and Kansas City meet again in the postseason? Betting against it would be foolish.
This is a developing article and will be updated periodically. Refreshing the page will allow you to read the latest copy as it’s posted. Go Bills!
