The Bills traveled to Kansas City on Sunday for a game against the Chiefs with Buffalo’s playoff hopes hanging in the balance, and left with a 20-17 victory.
Sean McDermott’s squad has now won their third consecutive head-to-head regular-season matchup in Kansas City.
He has emphasized complimentary football in his time as Buffalo’s head coach, competing in all three phases of offense, defense, and special teams as a means to victory.
In big matchups with QB Josh Allen under center, the Bills offense has often done its part to put the team in a position to win, but had their defense fail to get stops or special teams not always come through in clutch moments to close out games and seal victories.
Perhaps no more visibly than a now infamous AFC Championship game loss to Kansas City during the 2021 NFL postseason.
But in Sunday’s victory, Allen pointed to the team’s defense as a key to their win.
“Wasn’t the prettiest of wins, we all know that, lot to clean up,” Allen said to the media. “But defense played fantastic, went out there made a two-minute stop which is great to see and they played great all night.”
The two teams reminded all who were watching why they are among the top rivalries in the NFL, locking into a neck-and-neck 17-17 score through much of the second half after the Chiefs fought their way back to tie the game.
And in the final two minutes of the game, they found themselves in a familiar position.
The Bills defense, who has struggled at times to get key stops late in games to close out wins, was again facing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense with the game on the line.
And on third and long with a three-point lead and about a minute left to play, Buffalo defensive tackle Ed Oliver batted a pass by Mahomes incomplete to force a 4th &15 in their own territory.
And it proved to seal the game for a needed Bills win as Mahomes threw an incomplete pass under pressure, giving Buffalo to improve to 7-6 while keeping their playoff hopes alive.
“That’s what they paid me for — to impact the game like that late in the game,” Oliver said to the press. “We need to get off the field and all the guys just rushing together and just getting after Mahomes. I know he was a little flustered at the end. So that’s exactly what we get paid to do.”
He also noted that the Bills’ defense came prepared for just that type of situation.
“You know it’s kind of cliche but we literally did this in practice,” Oliver added. “You know they say practice how you play, but literally we had a two-minute drill at the end of practice specifically for this moment to close our games. So I guess when you practice the situation, and we was put in the situation and we W, I think it has a lot to do with practice.”
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