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I’d like to take stock of recent major AFC happenings with a month of the NFL season behind us, and I want you to stop me if any of it sounds familiar.
On one side of the conference ring, despite taking brutal haymakers here and there, the Bills — and their freight train who plays quarterback, Josh Allen — look like a battle-tested monster. Opposite them are the Chiefs and their wizard quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, who just took down Tom Brady’s Buccaneers with such ease that the rest of the NFL should be spooked. And once again, with 14 weeks to go in the 2022 campaign, the Bills and Chiefs both look like the class of the AFC.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Does that ring a bell? It should. Because it’s plenty of sample size and the surest sign we need to see these two AFC heavyweights duke it out this January in the playoffs for the third straight year.
I know what you’re thinking: There’s no way Allen and Mahomes can top their all-time 42-36 overtime duel from last winter. A game with 41 points scored in the final approximate 17 minutes and six lead changes — including three in the last two minutes — should be impossible to replicate.
That instant classic even had a trademark (and necessary) hint of controversy when the Bills and Allen didn’t get to touch the ball in overtime due to the NFL’s then-rules.
On paper, there is no better matchup in pro football than watching these two quarterbacks and teams going all out, trying to drive a dagger into the others’ hearts.
We are talking about two superstar quarterbacks — the arguably best football players alive — at the peak of their powers. We are talking about the prolific offensive mind of Andy Reid and the steady defensive hand of Sean McDermott, a rare, equal battle of coaching wits. We are talking about two balanced squads with well-built trenches and dynamic skill players on both sides of the ball. And last but not least, just for repeat posterity, after all their recent games against one another: the Chiefs and Bills hate each other.
What else could you possibly want from playoff football? Chiefs-Bills is the true five-star gourmet course on the menu, and we shouldn’t settle for less.
A lot can change in the NFL between now and late January. For example, the defending AFC champion Bengals might play spoiler again and crash a potential Bills-Chiefs bonanza. We could even see Lamar Jackson’s Ravens have their voices heard. But I’m not counting on any of that. I’ve seen Cincinnati and Baltimore’s inconsistency, and I’ve seen this movie before.
When push comes to shove, I know that the two teams in Missouri and Western New York have another higher gear to them. I see two evenly-matched buzzsaws, and I want them to cross paths with Super Bowl aspirations on the line.
If the football gods are just and gracious divine beings, then we’ll get to see Mahomes, Allen, and Co. settle their differences in the postseason. Again.
Quick hits: Broncos Country, let’s ugh. … NHL predictions! … and more.
— How about that awful Broncos loss to the Colts? Russell Wilson missed a wide-open receiver, delivered a cringy “Broncos Country, let’s ride,” got stared at by Melvin Gordon, and probably saw Broncos fans leaving the stadium during a tie game BEFORE overtime.
— Mary Clarke, Blake Schuster and Charles Curtis delivered their NHL season predictions, and Rangers fans should be very happy.
— Some injured NBA players you should consider drafting and stashing in fantasy hoops.
— Even 45-year-old Tom Brady seems struck by the “bad football” around the NFL.