Arrowhead Pride
In the regular-season matchup, Kansas City didn’t spy Buffalo’s versatile quarterback.
When the Kansas City Chiefs face the Buffalo Bills in Sunday night’s AFC Championship, they will be trying to stop one of the NFL’s most dangerous quarterbacks: Buffalo’s Josh Allen.
In the team's Week 11 matchup, Allen threw for 262 yards and a touchdown — while running for 55 yards and another score. His performance led to a 30-21 victory that ended Kansas City’s unbeaten streak at 15 games.
What led to this defeat — and how could Kansas City prevent it from happening again? Let’s see.
During the regular-season loss, the Chiefs didn't spy Allen — that is, assign a defensive player to shadow his movements. This opened the door for the Buffalo quarterback to create some highlight-reel plays. I have previously noted how the Chiefs' inability to rush Allen was a big problem in the loss — but failing to use a spy was another.
In the first matchup, Kansas City’s Chris Jones won more than his fair share of one-on-one matchups — but since there was no containment, Allen was often able to run free.
There’s no doubt that Jones is the NFL’s best defensive tackle. He generated significant pressure against the Bills — but without containment, Allen was still able to make big runs that were back-breaking plays in big moments.
This was evident on the game’s deciding play.
We see that while Jones creates a decent push up the middle, George Karlaftis rushes wide — and this opens a very large lane for Allen. With no spy over the middle, Allen has plenty of room to build up his speed. He crashes into the end zone for the game-sealing touchdown.
But plenty of teams have shown how it is possible to limit the Bills’ quarterback.
The teams that have spied Allen have typically used an athletic linebacker or a larger defensive back — someone who is strong enough to bring him down, but agile enough to keep pace with him in the open field.
Here, the Seattle Seahawks use an interesting look where their spy hovers over Allen — but then at the last second, an edge rusher who had bluffed playing the running back in the flat “sets the trap.” He comes back into the picture as Allen is deciding which way to scramble.
Here we see the New England Patriots opting for a more traditional spy — but this time, instead of stopping the run, they use him to get the ball out of Allen’s hands. As time expires, Allen tries to roll out and create a play with his legs. The walk-up linebacker who posed as the spy does a tremendous job, closing in on Allen and forcing an off-line throw.
Against the Houston Texans — in his worst game of the regular season — Allen saw a combination of four and five-man pressures designed to either create a quick throw...
