Chiefs barely scrape past the Bills to advance to the sixth straight AFC Championship
By Claire Overton, WEBN
Buffalo Bills’ Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park was packed for the divisional round game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen has brought the Bills into the playoffs five seasons in a row but has never made it to the Super Bowl.
Each season, he started in the Wild Card and only once, in 2020, did he make it to the AFC Championship, losing to the Chiefs. With the bad historical playoffs streak for the Bills, they were looking to come out strong against a conference rival.
On the opening drive and the very first play of the game, the Buffalo Bills almost fumbled the ball, but instead took a penalty after Dalton Kincaid illegally batted the ball out of bounds, arguably preventing a turnover. Now, tasked with 3rd-and-17, Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen proved he can run. Allen ran past the line of scrimmage and into an open area of the field, but surprised everyone when, while still running, they turned and threw a lateral pass to running back Ty Johnson.
Johnson didn’t quite make it to the first down chain, but there was speculation that it was actually not a lateral pass, but a forward pass. Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid didn’t throw the challenge flag, the Bills snapped the ball on a quarterback sneak play and Allen not only got the first down, but also about five extra yards. Tyler Bass’ kicker sailed right, barely making it through the uprights for the first points of the game.
Of the other three drives in the first half, Allen scored two running touchdowns and one punt from punter Sam Martin, who injured his kicking leg in last week’s game against the Steelers.
Patrick Mahomes entered the divisional round with a record of 5-0, 14 touchdowns and no giveaways. Since he became the starter for the Chiefs, he has never missed an AFC Championship game appearance.
In the first half, Mahomes drove his offense down the field for two field goals and a touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce. This touchdown tied Mahomes and Kelce with Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski for most touchdowns in the playoffs for a quarterback/receiver duo.
One of the main focuses for the Bills seemed to be the run game. The Chiefs had trouble with their run defense this year and the Bills capitalized on that in the first half. The Bills almost tripled the amount of rushing yards the Chiefs had at the half and about 70 more total yards, leading 17-14.
When asked after the half what the name of the game is the second half, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said, “go for it.”
The Chiefs started with the ball after halftime, marched down the field and the duo of Mahomes and Kelce scored another touchdown, breaking the record they just tied in the first half. With 16 touchdowns together in the playoffs, the duo now holds the NFL record.
Bills emerging star wide receiver, Khalil Shakir, answered back with an insane catch while diving forward and out of bounds in the front corner of the endzone.
During their next possession, down 27-24, the Bills coaching staff made arguably their biggest questionable call of the game. On 4th-and-5, the Bills hiked the ball, but in an attempt to run a fake punt play, handed the ball to Damar Hamlin who ultimately only ran a few yards before being tackled. Bills fans were stunned in the stadium after confusion over what just happened. Not only did the Bills lose possession of the ball, but at their own 43 yard line, handed the ball right over to the Chiefs.
Despite the reaction of fans, this interesting play didn’t seal the fate of the Buffalo Bills. The Bills defense was hurting coming into this game with injured players and then proceeded to lose some more to injury, but they showed up towards the end of the game. Safety Jordan Poyer tackled Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco forcing him to fumble going into the endzone around the three yard line. The ball ended up crossing into the endzone resulting in a touchback and the Bills ball, a definite sigh of relief.
Their next drive consisted of a deep ball to wide receiver Trent Sherfield but he was unable to come down with it. Martin punted the ball to the Chiefs, but since he injured his leg last week, the ball didn’t travel down the field too far.
The Bills defense forced the Chiefs to punt and the Bills began what was their last possession of the game. Allen threw what was about an 80 yard pass to wide receiver Stefon Diggs, but it went right through his hands. Shakir converted on 4th-&-3 extending their drive, but just after the two minute warning, the Bills were set up to kick a field goal to tie the game. Bills’ long snapper Reid Ferguson snapped the ball… Martin held it… Bass kicked it… the ball is up… and it is… no good. Bass missed the field goal to tie the game and the Chiefs were able to hold onto their three point lead and win the game.
“We were within a whisker of tying that game and maybe even taking the lead there against the defending world champs,” McDermott said after the game. “Again, we just didn’t do enough – starting with me – to win this game.”