Buffalo Rumblings
Bills fall to the Chiefs again thanks to some key mistakes. We try to break down why.
The Buffalo Bills lost another heartbreaking playoff game to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. They had their opportunities, and the Chiefs even turned over the ball, but the Bills couldn’t get over the hump.
With the game on the line coming out of the two-minute warning, the Bills faced fourth and five near midfield. Josh Allen dropped back and the Chiefs brought a bunch of pressure, but Allen somehow not only got a pass off, he found the guy who was open. And it bounced off Dalton Kincaid’s hands 20 yards down the field. It’s just another example of the Bills needing a guy to make a play to beat the Chiefs, and that guy not making the play.
The Bills were stuffed repeatedly on the tush push against the Kansas City Chiefs. After converting on almost every attempt all season, they were 1-4 in the AFC Championship Game. The one conversion kept a drive alive that was eventually snuffed out by one of the failures. On the fourth-down attempt in the fourth quarter, it had to go to a booth review, with CBS analyst Gene Staratore joining a huge vocal group on social media calling it a successful conversion. The refs on the field said he was short, though. The only short-yardage play that worked was on the goal line, when the Bills turned to the old school option play, with Allen pitching it to James Cook and the running back stretching it into the end zone.
After the Bills went down the field in 90 seconds to score right before the half, the Chiefs were called for offsides on the extra point. Sean McDermott correctly sent the offense back on the field to go for the two-point conversion and make it a three-point game. I didn’t love the actual execution, with Allen taking a step back before going forward on the tush push, but the decision to go for it and the play call were fine.
On the second one, the Bills scored with three minutes left in the third quarter. Up 22-21, the Bills once again elected to go for two to make it a three-point lead. Again, I think this is the right call. The Bills did use two of their short-yardage plays to get into the end zone, which did eliminate them from the playbook.
NFL teams have a 50% conversion rate on two-point conversions, and the Bills just went 0-for-2. You’d think they should convert one. They lost by a field goal, so it’ll certainly be questioned, but I think the decisions were right.
Allen took the first play for four yards on a read-option before two would-be...
