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The Kansas City Chiefs are ready to face off against the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs for the second consecutive year at Arrowhead Stadium. Last year they took on the Bills in the AFC championship game before punching their ticket to Super Bowl LV. That wasn’t the last time these two teams played, though.
The two teams clashed during Week 5 of the regular season, with Buffalo dominating Kansas City’s defense in the 38-20 victory. The Chiefs had several pieces missing on that side of the ball, but none was more significant than Pro Bowl defensive tackle Chris Jones. He missed the game back in October due to a nagging wrist injury severely limiting Kansas City’s pressure on Bills quarterback Josh Allen. They recorded their worst single-game pass-rushing grade of the season (49.6) without Jones on the field according to Pro Football Focus.
The Chiefs will have a more confident and competent defensive unit this Sunday with Jones in the lineup, and his absence from the previous game hasn’t been forgotten. Jones explained that it impacted his game preparation at Friday’s press conference.
“Yeah, it’s very emotional when you’re not playing regardless of who you’re playing especially big games like that,” Jones told reporters. “So, I went back and viewed the game a couple of times and see what types of adjustments we could have made and where I would’ve been on certain plays and try to make sure that this game coming up, I can be effective in some type of way and not have the critical mistakes we made last game.”
In Jones’ absence, the Chiefs defense surrendered 436 net yards and four total touchdowns to Allen and the Bills offense. Even had Jones played, the team hadn’t yet moved him back to his natural position at defensive tackle either. This time around, Jones adds his unique brand of energy, plus production. He recorded nine sacks and 65 total pressures during the course of the 2021 NFL season. He’s sure to be an intimidating opponent that Buffalo will need to gameplan against in order to find success.
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