Bills Handle Chiefs
- Updated: November 18, 2024
Throughout last week, Sean McDermott and Josh Allen did their very vanilla best to downplay the importance of the showdown between their Buffalo Bills and the unbeaten, two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
And yes, the math indicated that indeed, they weren’t lying when they said it was only going to count for one win or one loss. But the reality is that Buffalo’s 30-21 victory felt a whole lot bigger than a single victory.
Even after the game, Allen downplayed it, saying, “It means we have nine wins. I know … outside perception, it’s a really big game, and what it means for both fan bases and the league. But we’re in Week 11, we’re 9-2. Last time I checked, nine wins probably doesn’t get you in the playoffs. So going into this bye week, get to enjoy ourselves a little bit, but coming back ready. I’m just trying to go 1-0.”
Sometimes you just want to scream when Allen, or McDermott, or any other player, wants to bore you to tears with these comments.
The simple truth is that this was bigger than going 1-0 for the week. This win came against their No. 1 nemesis, a team that has tormented them, and it came with the extra benefit of ending the Chiefs’ run at perfection as it was Kansas City’s first defeat after nine victories. Yes, the 1972 Miami Dolphins can pop their champagne yet again.
As always, it was gut-wrenching time in the fourth quarter as the Bills were clinging to a 23-21 lead and were facing fourth-and-2 from the Chiefs’ 26 and McDermott knew what he had to do. Kicking a field goal would have meant the Chiefs would get the ball back with a chance to score a winning touchdown, and that is never a door you want to leave open.
So McDermott made one of the gutsiest calls of his career and had the Bills go for the first down. Wisely, offensive coordinator Joe Brady made sure the ball was in the hands of the one player he knew would come through: Allen.
“We mapped it out during the week, and felt strongly that that was the right decision,” McDermott said. “I don’t want to be ‘resulting’ if you will, but would have stood by it if it didn’t work out. Just felt like there’s been too many games that … where Andy (Reid) and Patrick (Mahomes) have come back. You kick a field goal, and they go score a touchdown, or it’s overtime, just, in different games they’ve been in, they get the ball first and the game’s over. So, they’re just way too good to not go for it right there.”
Allen took the snap, scanned the field quickly, then saw the opening in the line and took off. The first down was easy, and then Allen used those mighty legs to run through the rest of the Kansas City defense for a 26-yard touchdown that sent the stadium into hysterics.
“They did a nice job on that last drive,” Reid said of Buffalo’s 12-play, 70-yard march that consumed 5:36. “We’ve got to take care of business on those. Our guys, they were hustling their tails off to get to (Allen). He did a nice job. I give him credit. That’s a tough one there.”
The Bills are now 9-2, and just a half-game behind the Chiefs in the race for the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff bracket, though Buffalo’s schedule is slightly more challenging than Kansas City’s over the final six weeks.
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