Arrowhead Pride
Everything you need to know to watch Kansas City play Buffalo on Sunday afternoon.
In the NFL’s Week 11, another chapter about one of the league’s most prominent rivalries will written as the Kansas City Chiefs face the Buffalo Bills in Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. Sunday on CBS nationwide — and locally on KCTV/5.
The undefeated Chiefs are trying to become the first squad in franchise history to have a 10-0 record — and extend their current winning streak to 16 games. They’ll be making that attempt against a team that has defeated them in three straight regular-season matchups. Still, since head coach Andy Reid took over in 2013, Kansas City has won all of its road games against Buffalo — along with all three of its playoff contests.
Much of the focus in this game will be on the two quarterbacks: the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes against the Bills’ Josh Allen. Mahomes is arguably having his worst statistical season since becoming the team’s starter in 2018, while Allen continues to be among the league’s top 10 passers in multiple statistical categories.
But Kansas City remains undefeated, while Buffalo has collected losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. To some extent, this is because Mahomes has been red-hot when the games have been on the line. Among 2024’s starting quarterbacks with at least eight games, his fourth-quarter passer rating of 116.2 ranks second behind the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson. Allen ranks 13th on that list.
One thing is certain: having played each other seven times in the last four seasons, there is plenty of respect between these teams.
“I think Coach Reid does a tremendous job as a play-caller — and really understanding how you’re attacking them and then adjusting within a game,” noted the Bills’ defensive coordinator Bobby Babich this week. “And obviously Mahomes is... he’s Patrick Mahomes. He’s one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. It’s a challenge every time we play him.”
The Chiefs’ defensive coordinator Steve Spasnuolo is worried about what Allen (and Buffalo running back James Cook) can do in the running game.
“The extent of my knowledge and words is not good enough to do him justice,” he said of Allen on Thursday, “because he’s tough — and then they put a [running] back [in] there that can run it. We have to continue to play the run well — and then there’s all the other stuff — but what they add to it is [that] the quarterback can run. And he runs like a fullback.”
Spagnuolo doesn’t expect to be surprised.
“We know what we’re in for,” he added. “We’ve gone against him quite a bit. [I have] a lot of respect for him — and we have our work cut out for us.”
