The Buffalo Bills are entering their bye week with a 5-1 record and in good standings atop the AFC, thanks to a big win in Sunday’s rematch with a familiar foe in the Kansas City Chiefs
With 64 seconds left on the game clock in the fourth quarter, Bills QB Josh Allen found TE Dawson Knox with a 14-yard laser pass for a touchdown.
The throw by @JoshAllenQB on this game-winner was absurd.
— NFL (@NFL) October 17, 2022
Watch him direct @dawson_knox and put it right where only he could catch it. pic.twitter.com/zojEL7YFml
That would put the Bills up 24-20 in what would be the final and deciding score at Arrowhead Stadium.
While Chief’s TE Travis Kelce made a play in the two teams’ postseason meeting last year that helped a scoring drive to end Buffalo’s season, this time around it was the Bills TE that helped make the difference in who was victorious.
“Never a doubt,” Knox said to the media after the win. “This is how we play, man. You’ve got to take it one play at a time and execute that play. When we do that, we know it’s hard to beat us.”
While it was the Bills TE’s quick move on Chiefs S Justin to get the separation and make the scoring catch, he was quick to praise his teammates for creating that opportunity.
“I mean, Josh threw a dime,” he added. “I got a corner route, Stef has a little option route underneath. The fun part about playing with a receiver like Stef is he’s going to attract a lot of attention, so it kind of leaves me one-on-one in some situations, and, I mean, Josh just put it to where no one else can get it.”
Recent months have been filled with great ups and downs for Knox, whose younger brother, Luke, died on August 17th of this year. The TE would sit out a preseason contest against the Broncos to be with his family back home in Tennessee. After rejoining the team, he was given a four-year contract extension by the Bills prior to the season opener.
After the big scoring catch on Sunday, Knox looked up, pointing his finger toward the sky.
“He’s been battling through some stuff this year,” Allen said of his TE during a postgame interview with CBS. “I love the guy… He deserves that.”
As he’s navigated overcoming the adversity of a deep, personal loss Knox has been playing through it all. After logging 12 receptions for 111 total yards in Buffalo’s first four games, and missing the team’s Week 5 victory against Pittsburgh due to injuries to his hip and foot, Knox was due for his return to form.
And his head coach felt confident in knowing that time was coming.
“You watch guys go through the journey of life off the field, and he’s been through it,” Sean McDermott said during his postgame press conference. “He’s stuck with it, stuck with it, been resilient, and then he’s been banged up a little bit. You just knew his time was coming. You just knew he was going to make a big play, and he did. My hat goes off to him.”
While Knox also caught an important TD the last time the two teams met, the Chiefs would end up winning that playoff matchup. And the significance of getting the win in Kansas City, which has been the site of postseason heartbreak for the Bills, was not lost on the Bills TE.
“A win is a win,” Knox added. “We treat every game every week like it’s the biggest game just because it’s the next one. So, obviously, it’s great getting a road win against an opponent that’s really good across the board. There were still some bad memories from this place last year. So it’s kind of nice to wipe that off of our minds and to get a win and keep moving on, especially a win going into the bye week makes everything nice.”
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