Tag: Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Bills’ Terrel Bernard breaks down matchup vs. Chiefs’ Travis Kelce

Bills’ Terrel Bernard breaks down matchup vs. Chiefs’ Travis Kelce

The Bills beat the Chiefs 30-21 at home on Sunday.

The contest that saw the teams’ final scores roughly on average for the season so far also had significant takeaways on and off the field.

But the biggest one belonged to Buffalo linebacker, Terrel Bernard.

With 1:07 left to play in the fourth quarter, the Bills’ defensive captain and play caller took away a Patrick Mahomes pass intended for Kansas City tight end and MGMT “Electric Feel” fan Travis Kelce for an end-game interception.


The entire Buffalo defense ran down to celebrate with him in the end zone after getting in front of Kelce to grab the ball out of the air.

“The main thing is just having awareness of him, “ Bernard said about covering the Chiefs TE to WIVB. “Pre, post-snap, trying to get guys around him as much as possible, playing within our scheme and our system still but understanding he’s going to be one of the first options every pass play.”

It was the second interception for KC’s Mahomes, whose first and last throws in Sunday’s game were caught by Buffalo.

Bernard, who was out during the last meeting between the clubs in January’s divisional round of the playoffs, also had eight tackles and a sack on the day to go with the big-time turnover.

“I think having that awareness, [defensive coordinator] Bobby [Babich] did a great job in the gameplan, all the coaches did, putting him in our minds all week and knowing where he was at and where he was going to be, what he likes to do in certain spots. I think that was a huge factor, and everybody playing to the details of the defense.”

Everything has changed for Kelce since his last matchups against the Bills in which he seemed unstoppable.

He may just want to shake it off, knowing all too well that Bernard and the Bills defense held him to only two catches for eight yards receiving.

But with the win the Bills now have a better shot at a No. 1 seed and a first-round bye, the Chiefs do as well although they are not out of the woods yet.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was complimentary of the Bills when asked what his takeaways off the field were from the loss.

“Things you can learn, the main thing is that they’re a good team and, if you have a few mistakes in there, they can capitalize on them,” Reid said.

The teams could face off again in the postseason, and time will tell which club will play host to the other if they do.

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Bills’ Josh Allen plays it cool after Chiefs: ‘It’s another Week 11 win’

Bills’ Josh Allen plays it cool after Chiefs: ‘It’s another Week 11 win’

Buffalo beat Kansas City in exciting fashion on Sunday.

The club topped the Chiefs 30-21 at home in Orchard Park in front of Bills Mafia on the same field where KC ended its postseason run last year.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen put his superhero cape on for the Bills offense when it mattered most, breaking tackles and shaking off defenders for a 26-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-2 with 2:17 left in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

After the game ended thanks to a win-sealing interception by Terrel Bernard on defense, Allen was asked about his scoring play by CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.

“Yeah, appreciate Coach McDermott for trusting the offense going out there,” he said. “We had a man play, they dropped out to zone and they had something good for it. I was just trying to make a play and help our team win a football game. You know, some things we need to clean up, some throws I wish I had back, but we’re going into the bye week 9-2…we’ll take it.”

Allen was sacked zero times for the first time against Kansas City since the 2021 regular season, and the team put up their 30 points without key players on offense in receiver Keon Coleman, tight end Dalton Kincaid, and offensive tackle Spencer Brown.

He finished the day Sunday 27-for-40 with 262 yards, a touchdown, and an interception passing to go with another 55 ground yards with the TD.

The scoring rush was his latest in a career highlight reel of making little-to-no/probability plays.

In fact, per NFL Next Gen Stats, there was only a 1.2% chance of scoring a touchdown on the play once he tucked the ball to run.

The Bills hosted their AFC rivals for their fifth regular-season meeting with the QB under center.

The club is now 4-1 in those matchups, becoming the only team in the NFL to log four victories against Chiefs QB and State Farm insurance enthusiast, Patrick Mahomes.

The squad improves to 9-2 overall headed into their bye week. It’s the franchise’s first time at 9-2 since the 1992 NFL season.

The Bills have treated division games as “counting double” but had previously struggled to translate that in conference matchups that could have a bearing on No. 1 seeding and a first-round bye come playoff time.

But not this time.

The final points were roughly on average for what the two teams have put up throughout this season thus far, and it was the Chiefs’ first time giving up more than 28 points in 31 games and the first time allowing 30 points on offense since 2022.

And while Buffalo continues to have success against Kansas City during the regular season, Allen knows they need to beat them in the playoffs and spoke to that while answering whether it was just another Week 11 win for Buffalo.

“It is, it’s another Week 11 win,” he added. “Knowing how things usually play out we’ll probably see this team again at some point. We’ve got to get there first so like I said, we’ll enjoy this bye week and go into the next week after that and put together a good game plan and try to go 1-0.”

5 bold predictions for the Bills during 2024 offseason

5 bold predictions for the #Bills during 2024 offseason:

The 2023 NFL season has concluded for the Buffalo Bills with a third consecutive division-round playoff exit.

A change at offensive coordinator followed by a six-game winning streak brought the team from outside-the-playoff-picture-looking-in to a fourth straight AFC East crown and a No. 2 seed.

With another division-round exit, what might the time between now and when the Bills take the field again hold?

Here are five bold predictions for the Bills offseason:

Report card: Bills fall to Chiefs, 27-24

Report card: #Bills fall to #Chiefs, 27-24:

The Buffalo Bills 2023 NFL season has concluded and the Bills momentous six-game winning streak meeting it’s end.

The team won the AFC East for a fourth season and clinched the No. 2 seed as well as two home playoff games. While they defeated the Steelers in the wild card round, they lost Sunday to their playoff nemesis’s the Chiefs, ending their postseason.

With that, here is the BillsWire’s final report card for the Buffalo Bills 2023 season following the team’s 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs:

What we learned from the Bills’ playoff loss to the Chiefs

What we learned from the #Bills’ playoff loss to the #Chiefs:

The Bills’ six-game winning streak and playoff run came to a windy and chilly end Sunday night at home in Highmark Stadium.

It didn’t help that it was against their AFC rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, who knocked Buffalo out of the playoffs for the third time in four years with a 27-24 victory.

That’s not to say the game wasn’t revealing in terms of insights and both pros and cons worth weighing going into the offseason.

With that, here are three things we learned from Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs:

Bills’ Josh Allen following Chiefs loss: ‘Losing sucks’

#Bills’ Josh Allen following #Chiefs loss: ‘Losing sucks’

The Buffalo Bills saw their season come to a chilling end on the frozen tundra of Orchard Park on a windy Sunday night.

The team lost 27-24 to none other than their postseason nemesis and AFC rival Kansas City Chiefs.

In what’s become a series of postseason matches between NFL heavyweight contenders turned rivals, the Bills have beaten the Chiefs three consecutive times in the regular season while Kansas City ended Buffalo’s playoff campaign and season three times now.

The Bills and their fans remember those losses all too well and with the latest one still fresh, so is the feeling for Buffalo QB Josh Allen.

“It sucks,” He said to the media. “Losing sucks. Losing to them, losing to anybody at home sucks.”

The first two playoff losses to the Chiefs took place in Kansas City as, aside from the three Super Bowls they’ve appeared in, the Chiefs had not played any other road games on the way there.

The Bills beat their AFC East rival Dolphins to claim their fourth division crown and the first No. 2 AFC playoff seed in HC Sean McDermott’s tenure and entered Sunday’s contest with momentum, riding a six-game winning streak that began with a 20-17 NFL Week 14 win over that very Chiefs team.

As a result, Andy Reid’s squad played their first non-Super Bowl road playoff game in none other than Buffalo, with the Bills entering the game as the favorite to leave Highmark Stadium with a victory.

While losing in front of the teams’ home crowd surely carries its own emotions, losing in general resonates with Buffalo’s quarterback regardless of location.

“Here, there, it doesn’t matter,” Allen added. “Losing sucks. I don’t know what else to say.”

Just as in past matchups between the teams, the Bills’ defense and special teams failed in needed moments, including a missed 44-yard field goal on the Bills’ last drive that would have tied the game with 1:47 left to play Sunday night.

“We were within a whisker of tying that game and maybe even taking the lead there against the defending world champs,” HC Sean McDermott said to the press postgame. “Again, we just didn’t do enough — starting with me — to win this game.”

When questioned during his postgame press conference about any changes or adjustments needed, Allen 

“I don’t think it’s a big change,” the quarterback continued. “I think it’s just, again, we’ve got to find a way to score one more point than they do. And every season, if you don’t win, it’s a failed season. That’s the nature of the business. There’s one happy team at the end of the season, really. And when it’s not you and you’re so close, it sucks.”

Allen taking responsibility and the high road as a leader with a focus on the offense is consistent with his character and as a professional.

The franchise and GM Brandon Beane now will face an offseason opportunity to shore up and strengthen their defense, who struggled to get stops including on the Chiefs final drive that ended Buffalo’s season.

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Bills Wire AFC divisional round Player of the Game: QB Josh Allen

Bills Wire AFC divisional round Player of the Game: QB Josh Allen:

The Buffalo Bills were eliminated in the AFC divisional round after their loss against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday evening.

The Bills could not find a way to win after going down early in the fourth quarter. The Bills did not complete the comeback as the Chiefs won 27-24.

There are a handful of Bills players who could have won this week’s Bills Wire Player of the Game.

We are awarding it to quarterback Josh Allen, who was 26 of 39 for 186 yards and one passing touchdown to receiver Khalil Shakir. In addition, carrying the ball, Allen ran 12 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Allen ran for those two touchdowns in the first half before connecting with wide receiver Shakir. Allen did everything he could to win this frosty divisional matchup against 2023 Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Allen found the end zone with his feet at the beginning and end of the second quarter, both times to give Buffalo a lead. Unfortunately, the Bills could not prevent Kansas City from scoring nor could they find a way to tie or take the lead at the end of the game.

The Bills are now eliminated from the 2023 NFL playoffs.

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Josh Allen on Bills facing Chiefs: ‘It’s going to take a team effort’

Josh Allen on Bills facing Chiefs: ‘It’s going to take a team effort’

The Buffalo Bills beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-17 on a snowy night at Highmark Stadium Monday in the Wild Card round to open their postseason campaign.

This after a 5-0 run of the table by the Bills, capped off by defeating the Miami Dolphins in South Florida to end the regular season and claim their fourth straight AFC East crown and the No. 2 AFC playoff seed.

Buffalo needed a victory to advance back to the Division round and host AFC rival and past playoff nemesis, the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday.

And they did just that.

A year after an unceremonious loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at home in the Divisional round, HC Sean McDermott and his team find themselves back on their home field with a shot at redemption and a chance to return to the AFC Championship game.

“That’s a heck of an opponent,” McDermott said about facing Kansas City. “We’ll have to regroup tomorrow as a staff and I know some of our staff has already been working on the Chiefs, and that’s kind of what you do as a position coach, you’re able to look ahead a little bit.”

Buffalo lost their two previous postseason meetings with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in contests where the Bills’ offense gave them leads late in games, only for their defense and special teams to struggle to get stops.

Bills QB Josh Allen knows all too well that they’ll need to compete in all three phases for them to have a chance for victory.

“It’s gonna take a team effort,” Allen said postgame via CBS. “They’re playing really good football right now. We know the type of team that they are and obviously the type of quarterback that they have in Pat over there. We’re gonna need everybody in Bills Mafia to be here and support us, and I’m just thanking God that we get another chance to play another game.”

For the second game in a row, the Bills were riddled with injuries and will await word on the status of certain players ahead of the division-round matchup.

“I hate to see guys go down on either side of the ball really, it’s one of the things I pray for before every game is making sure that both sides are safe from serious injury,” Allen said during his media session.

With this past weekend’s scheduled Sunday afternoon game being moved to Monday night due to weather, it leaves one less day of recovery for the Bills before their next game.

“I mean you guys have heard we got the 24-hour rule, but when it’s a short week it’s got to be even quicker than that,” TE Dawson Knox said about the Bills’ turnaround time. “That 24-hour window to kind of enjoy the win, it’s got to be a little shorter so you know we’ll be getting in the training room even tonight taking care of our bodies, we got some players banged up that we’ll need, so we’ll be turning the page pretty quick.”

A man of few words known as stoic by his teammates, RB James Cook who led the ground game with 79 yards rushing on Monday perhaps said it best when asked about the matchup with Kansas City. 

“Two good game teams ready to come and play. May the best team win.”

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Richard Sherman makes Josh Allen MVP case to disagreeing ‘Undisputed’ cast

Richard Sherman makes Josh Allen MVP case to disagreeing ‘Undisputed’ cast

Josh Allen is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and in the middle of a three game win streak after beating the Chiefs and the Cowboys, two of the NFL’s best teams, there have been talks more recently that Allen should be win MVP this season from rival quarterbacks and national media.

And Richard Sherman joined the media as he made Josh Allen’s MVP candidate case for the 2023 season on Fox Sports’ talk show ‘Undisputed’.

Last year, Allen finished 3rd in MVP voting as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes almost unanimously won the MVP. This year, the Bills beat the Chiefs and Allen performed as well as the Chiefs quarterback in their matchup against each other. After the win against the Chargers this Sunday, the Bills quarterback made NFL history as the first player ever to have 40+ touchdowns in 4 consecutive seasons.

And Sherman is presenting Allen’s MVP case now. On the talk show, the former cornerback who was once the interceptions leader in the league pointed out to host Skip Bayless and co-panelist Keyshawn Johnson that Allen was responsible for 83% of his team’s touchdowns, which is more than any other quarterback who won MVP in previous years.

The MVP conversation has recently started to focus on Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson, who now has the best odds to win MVP. Sherman pointed out that Allen has been responsible for more of the Bills touchdowns that Jackson has for the Ravens.

Now, this show is about hot takes and incessant arguing, but you can watch the full clip here, including Sherman backing up Allen’s MVP case with numbers and data (you can also watch it for the entertainment of Johnson storming off and Bayless shaking his head) here:

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Bills’ James Cook: ‘We got something we’re playing for’

#Bills teammates were impressed with RB James Cook against the #Chiefs:

Second-year Bills running back James Cook had a big game in Buffalo’s 20-17 win against Kansas City on Sunday.

He cooked the Chiefs for 141 all-purpose yards and had a touchdown catch on a called play while leading all Bills receivers going a perfect five catches on five targets for 84 yards including a career-high 64 yards receiving in the first half en route to a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeted against Kansas City, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). He also led the team on the ground with 58 yards on 10 carries.

“He was awesome,” QB Josh Allen said in his postgame press conference. “He’s been working hard and probably had his best week of practice this week and getting more comfortable with him catching passes out of the backfield. He had a lot of opportunities and took advantage. I thought he ran the ball well.”

Cook leads all NFL running backs in average yards before contact (2.03), is third in scrimmage yards (1,180), seventh in all-purpose yards (1,180), and ranks first in Bills team history for average yards per carry by an RB (5.14).

“Jimbo was doing a lot today,” TE Dalton Kincaid said to the press. “It was awesome to see him, and he runs hard. Every time he runs the ball, he’s running 100 miles per hour. So, he’s special anytime he gets the opportunity to do something. … (He) just adds another level that the defense has to cover. I think he’s a great receiving threat.”

The Bills RB1’s offensive line notices the presence he brings as well.

“It just brings this unique energy to the huddle,” OL Spencer Brown said, per The Buffalo News. “Doesn’t say much. But we put the ball in his hand, he makes plays and it’s fun to watch.”

The second-round pick by Buffalo in the 2022 NFL Draft lets his play and endzone celebrations do much of the talking, whether leaping into a home crowd with Bills Mafia or flipping in for a score on the road in Kansas City.

“James Cook is a phenomenal football player, a guy who brings a lot of energy, even though he can seem stoic, to say the least,” C Mitch Morse said postgame. “(He’s) a guy who runs hard, wants to run the ball, wants to take a few hits, and then like you saw is available for Josh in those tough times.”

Cook also was humble while keeping things simple when asked about his performance.

“Just getting open, and Josh finding me and making a play,” Cook said to the press. “That’s about it.”

After logging season highs in catches (six) and targets (seven) for 57 yards with 43 yards on 16 carries rushing in a loss to Philadelphia, headlines weren’t about his overall performance but for a dropped touchdown pass.

“I thought he rebounded from last week, in terms of the passing game,” McDermott said about Cook. “And that showed up in practice, like I mentioned earlier in the week. He’s growing, he’s developing, and it’s a joy as a coach to watch a player continue to take steps in terms of his development.”

The bounce-back score against KC also came by way of the team’s preparation during the bye week.

“We ran this play all week at practice, so the safety moves over,” Cook noted. “It was smooth, same way,” he added. “It kind of gave me flashbacks, ‘cause it happened the same exact way in practice. So, it was good on our part.”

With the Bills playoff hopes alive, he knows what lies ahead of them

“We got something we’re playing for,” Cook said. ” So, keep going, and keep going 1-0.”

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