The Bills won their regular season matchup with their AFC rival Chiefs in Kansas City Sunday 24-20 in a close competition that was sealed in the final minutes of play.
A lazer TD pass to Dawson Knox from QB Josh Allen put Buffalo ahead, and the Chiefs got the ball back with 1:04 left in the game.
The Bills know all too well the importance of closing a close game out against Kansas City in all three phases of football, as their special teams and defense came up short in overtime of their meeting during last year’s playoffs.
A critical 13 seconds of overtime play in that contest allowed Kansas City to knock Buffalo out of the 2021 postseason. But this time around things went differently, as it was the Bills turn to end a game for the Chiefs in 13 seconds of gameplay.
In those 13 seconds, CB Taron Johnson made a game-sealing heads-up play to intercept Chiefs QB and insurance rate enthusiast Patrick Mahomes. The play was reviewed by officials and upheld.
With less than a minute left on the game clock, the Bills offense was able to kneel and run the time off to complete the victory.
During the review of Johnson’s pick, S Jordan Poyer asked him about the play.
“I just asked T – I said, ‘T, did you catch it?” Poyer said per The Buffalo News. “‘Yeah, I caught it.’ I said, ‘All right!’ I trust T, ‘cause he said he caught it, so I believed him.”
And he was right to do so, as the 2018 fourth-round pick out of Weber State came through in a big moment in helping the Bills get the win.
“We loaded the coverage,” Poyer continued. “We were playing zone, and (Johnson) just read it perfectly. I told him it was probably one of the greatest plays, other than Micah’s pick last year, that I’ve ever seen on the field.”
A veteran leader on defense for Buffalo, he also pointed out how persistence won the day on the defensive side of the ball.
“Nobody played perfect today, and it was always just, ‘Hey, next play, next play, next play.’ And at the end of the day, T came up with the biggest play of the game.”
Two other members of the Bills defense who were attacking on the play also shared how the play unfolded from their perspective as well.
“Me, in my head, I’m thinking I just gotta get him down, get down,” OLB Von Miller said during his press session. “Made an inside move, he flushed out, and we had Taron Johnson right there for the interception. A great team play, it just feels good to go out there and do your job.”
Bills CB Christian Benford dropped back out on the play and drew the attention of Mahomes who was eyeing a corner route. And as he tried to reset and quickly throw to his receiver (Moore) Bills LB Matt Milano was in his way, and when he did throw the pass on the third needed reset Johnson was there to swoop in and take the ball away.
Still, it was Benford who first thought it was coming to him with his coverage.
“I’m gonna be honest, I thought I was about to have it,” the Buffalo CB said per The Buffalo News. “But then I saw him come out of nowhere and catch it, and I was hype. Like I was hype for him. I kind of was too hype for him, because I forgot to block, but I was hype.”
The win was Buffalo’s second consecutive regular-season victory over Kansas City, and a game with potential playoff implications as the two clubs have clashed in each of their last two postseasons. In those meetings, Kansas City came out on top, but the Bills reloaded this offseason adding to their roster through the NFL Draft and free agency.
Buffalo is hoping this year to make the playoffs and for things to end differently there as well.
They showed their improvement on defense against KC on Sunday, intercepting Mahomes twice during the game, as the team’s first-round selection in this year’s draft, rookie CB Kaiir Elam, grabbed a pick as well on the Chiefs first offensive drive. He now has takeaways in back-to-back games, though he directed credit to Johnson.
“That was way bigger than my interception, I think,” Elam said to the press. “It was something that was much needed.”
As for Johnson, he was quick to point to the impact of his teammates in making the play possible.
“Thankful for the pressure – Matt (Milano) and Von (Miller) just getting after him,” He said to the media. “And I see 2-4 (receiver Skyy Moore) coming across the field, and just got in front of the pass.”
The end of the last meeting between these two teams loomed over the Bills offseason, and Johnson knew it would take making a play when needed this time around for things to end differently.
“We knew we needed to make a play,” the CB added. “Last time, we didn’t make (a) play. So, just making sure that when we have the opportunity, just coming up with the ball.”
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