Tag: dawson knox

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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Dawson Knox jokes about knocking over beers celebrating with Bills fans (video)

RIP to the beers:

The Bills beat the Steelers by a 31-17 final in their wild-card matchup.

Dawson Knox played a part but some Bills fans paid the price.

Knox scored the game’s opening touchdown. As he often does, he celebrated by jumping into the front row of Highmark Stadium.

On this occasion, he was mic’d up with the NFL Films crew. After his score and celebration, Knox came back to the sideline and commented about the jump. He noted how his butt was wet from landing on a few beers.

Next round on Knox? Sounds like it.

The clip of Knox can be found below:

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Bills snap counts: Depth chart breakdown vs. Steelers

Injuries shook things up:

The Buffalo Bills got after it against the Pittsburgh Steelers and ended up taking a 31-17 win, on Sunday evening in the NFL’s Wild Card round.

But who exactly were the ones on the field for the Bills doing all the dirty work against the Steelers?

More often than not, taking a look in between the lines at snap count totals for Buffalo’s players can give us some insight as to what went down in between the lines on the gridiron.

There is always plenty to discover when looking at these finer details.

With that, here’s how the Bills depth chart broke down via snap counts in their latest win against the Steelers:

PFF: 5 worst-graded Bills players on offense in Wild Card

PFF: 5 worst-graded #Bills players on offense in Wild Card vs. the #Steelers:

The Buffalo Bills won their Wild Card matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 31-17 final.

The Bills (11-6) had a few players that stood out above the rest.

On offense, the Bills were led by quarterback Josh Allen and his dual-threat skillset.

In terms of the players who helped Allen pull out the win, Buffalo will hope such efforts improve from some players throughout the rest of the 2023 playoffs as they aim for the Super Bowl.

According to Pro Football Focus, they’ll need these players to step it up moving forward.

Here are the five worst-graded Bills players on offense Steelers in the Wild Card round:

Report card: Bills top Steelers, 31-17

Report card: #Bills top #Steelers, 31-17:

The Buffalo Bills have worked their way through the Pittsburgh Steelers and are now onto the Divisional round of the AFC postseason.

Buffalo put together an effort that was strong throughout the contest. But not all three phases. While not a team that has covered the spread often this season, Pittsburgh was behind it throughout most of the game because of a strong effort up-and-down the Bills roster.

With that, here’s Bills Wire’s report card following the team’s 31-17 Wild Card win:

Bills’ Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox were taken aback by Josh Allen touchdown run

Bills’ Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox were taken aback by Josh Allen touchdown run:

The Bills welcomed the Steelers for a Wild Card round matchup at home in Orchard Park on Monday night

And Buffalo ended Pittsburgh’s season with a final score of 31-17

And the first several big scoring plays for Buffalo came by way of three of their biggest offensive players in the passing game.

Tight ends Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid created mismatches with their size while providing big targets for quarterback Josh Allen, who found each for the Bills’ first two touchdown catches of the game.

Knox came through when his number was called for a touchdown play for the second consecutive week, and is now tied for the second most postseason TD catches in Bills franchise history.

“I was surprised it was that open” the veteran noted after the game, as he and Kincaid fielded press conference questions on their respective scores.

“It was the look we wanted,” added Kincaid about his touchdown play. “I don’t want to say I knew right away, but I had a pretty good feeling pre-snap and then post-snap it’s exactly where we wanted them to go to and Josh threw a great ball.”

The rookie led all receivers with 59 yards and the score amidst a well-spread-out passing game.

The two catches for scores gave Buffalo an early 14-0 lead. It was the first time that two tight ends for a team caught first-quarter touchdown passes in NFL postseason history

Allen was firing on all cylinders. He went for 203 passing yards with three touchdown tosses and 74 yards on the ground including a 52-yard scoring run which was good for the longest carry of his career. It was also the second-longest quarterback run in postseason history.

“It was third and long they played man,” the Bills QB said while breaking his play down for the press. “Didn’t have a great man call on so I decided to try to find a lane and got 15, 20 yards downfield and there’s a lot of guys screaming ‘slide’ and I didn’t slide and scored, so it worked out that time.”

The breakout rushing play impressed both Bills’ tight ends as well.

“It’s almost normal now, him making a crazy play like that almost every single game,” Knox added. “Sometimes you just can’t help but sit back and be a fan.”

The Josh Allen experience is still a newer one to the rookie Kincaid.

“It’s still surprising to me,” Kincaid said of Allen’s big plays. “Like ‘how does he stay up? How does he get the extra yards?’ and then tonight was ‘how did he score that touchdown?’, so I don’t know when it’ll get normal but it’s cool to watch.”

The Bills quarterback was firing on all cylinders. He went for 203 passing yards with three touchdown tosses and 74 yards on the ground including a 52-yard touchdown run which was good for the longest carry of his career.

“He’s a special player,” Kincaid added. “Best quarterback in the league for a reason.”

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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Bills teammates react to Josh Allen’s incredible run vs. Steelers

Even they have to be fans:

Western New York and the greater NFL world were amazed by Josh Allen’s touchdown run against the Steelers.

The Bills QB certainly did his part on the play. Allen scampered 52 yards down the field when it looked like the Steelers thought he going to slide to the ground.

Neither happened and his teammates were just as shocked as the rest of us that Allen managed to stay on his feet and get into the end zone. It was the top highlight from the 31-17 win.

“Sometimes you can’t help but just sit back and be a fan,” tight end Dawson Knox said.

For more from Knox and others around the Bills locker room, see the attached 13WHAM-TV clip below:

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