The Buffalo Bills came out of their bye week on a mission.
With a 6-6 record entering a critical game to the AFC playoff picture and their postseason chances, a win in Sunday’s rematch with a familiar foe in the Kansas City Chiefs was sorely needed.
Buffalo was undefeated following the bye at 6-0 since Sean McDermott became head coach, and after an eventful week riddled with off-the-field headlines they were looking to improve on that record and extend their regular season win-streak at Arrowhead to a third consecutive victory.
And they did just that.
In a nail-biter the Bills special teams and defense came through in the end to seal a 20-17 road victory, keeping their postseason hopes alive while becoming the first NFL team to log three regular season victories against Patrick Mahomes.
But it wasn’t without an all-to-familiar close-call.
TE Travis Kelce, who had a huge play on the season-ending Chiefs win against Buffalo in the 2021 AFC Championship game, had a 29-yard catch on the Chiefs final drive Sunday which he then threw what would have been a 20-yard lateral pass to Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney as he ran untouched in for a touchdown.
“That’s the ballsiest play I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Allen told NFL Network’s James Palmer after the game. “That was unbelievable.”
The play was waved off, another feeling Buffalo knows all too well themselves, due to an offsides penalty on Toney for being in the neutral zone back at the line of scrimmage.
“In the moment I thought it was one of the best plays I’ve ever seen and he’s done that before, but fortunately it came on our side,” Bills safety Jordan Poyer noted per The Buffalo News.
Allen had a first-quarter passing touchdown in the air to running back James Cook, adding another one on the ground in the second quarter thanks in part to a rugby-like push from his teammates to help power into the endzone against roughly half the Chiefs defense.
In the second half Kansas City fought back, scoring in the third quarter and fourth quarters to pull even and tie the game at 17.
While Buffalo struggled to find the end zone throughout the second half, two second-half field goals by kicker Tyler Bass kept them in it, including one kick with under two minutes left in the game to give Buffalo back the lead.
Them came the final drive by the Chiefs.
Buffalo hasn’t typically come out on top in one-score games, and for a moment it seemed like history could repeat itself.
“As the play unfolded, I think it was Kelce that was wide open there and the play after he caught the ball, I’ve never seen a play like that, not in the NFL,” head coach Sean McDermott said to the media. “But, thankful and, you know, then, I saw the referees signaling that direction. So, I didn’t know if it was a pick or what it was, and then it turned out to be the offsides there.”
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