Tag: Isaiah Pacheco

Instant analysis, game recap of Bills’ playoff loss to the Chiefs

The way the #Bills went down vs. the #Chiefs:

The Buffalo Bills season came to an end with a gut-wrenching 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

As these postseason games between these two sides typically go, it was a back-and-forth affair. 

The Bills opened the game with a 14-play drive. Buffalo used the intermediate passing game and running attack to move the ball methodically down the field. The drive stalled out at the Chiefs nine-yard line. Tyler Bass would make a short, 27-yard field goal to give the Bills the lead 3-0 early in the first quarter.

Kansas City responded with a solid drive of their own. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed passes to receivers Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice to bring the Chiefs into Bills territory. Buffalo’s defense tightened up, and Harrison Butker would tie the game with a 47-yard field goal.

Buffalo’s offense leaned on the running game on their next drive, rushing nine times. Quarterback Josh Allen scrambled for a five-yard touchdown run, giving the Bills a 10-3 lead.

The Chiefs answered with another long drive. Kansas City rattled off a 10-play drive. The Chiefs opened the drive with a 29-yard pass to Kelce. From there, the Chiefs completed several short passes to bring the ball into the red zone. Once again, the Bills defense halted progress in the red zone, and Butker made his second field goal. Buffalo led 10-6 early in the second quarter.

The Chiefs took their first lead of the game with a 22-yard pass to Kelce. Kelce broke through on a busted coverage to run a corner route uncontested. A 22-yard rush by Clyde Edwards-Helaire aided the five-play drive.

The scoring continued on the next drive, as Buffalo responded with a 12-play drive. Once again, Cook was featured during the series. Allen rushed for a two-yard score to give the Bills the lead 17-13 going into halftime.

The offenses continued their offensive explosion into the second half. First, Kansas City took the lead once again with another Kelce touchdown on a short pass.

The Bills responded with another sustained drive. This time, Allen completed a 15-play drive with a perfect pass to the corner of the end zone, finding wideout Khalil Shakir.

Down 24-20, the Chiefs continued to respond, this time using a solid mix of short passes and runs between the tackles. Isaiah Pacheco bulled his way into the end zone to return the lead to Kansas City 27-24.

A crazy sequence ended the offense’s dominance. The Bills were finally stopped in their territory. Buffalo ran a fake punt, which was unsuccessful. Kansas City took possession at Buffalo’s 30-yard line.

Pacheco took the first rushing play deep into Bills territory, rattling off a 29-yard run. The Chiefs attempted an end around with Mecole Hardman. Bills safety Jordan Poyer forced a fumble, which went out of the end zone for a touchback. After five consecutive series ending with touchdowns, then two concluded with turnovers.

Buffalo took possession midway through the fourth quarter and led a sustained drive taking 6:40 off the clock. It appeared that the Bills were looking to run out the clock.

Instead, the Chiefs defense forced multiple stops.

Bass missed a 44-yard field by a country mile to the right, putting the ball in the hands of the Chiefs offense once again.

Pacheco and KC ground out two rushes to make a first down and ran out the clock. Both on the game and the Bills’ season.

Here’s the rest of Bills Wire’s recap of the game that was:

Ravens to host Chiefs in AFC Championship game

The Baltimore Ravens will host Kansas City in the AFC Championship game after the Chiefs 27-24 win over the Bills in the divisional round

Baltimore will host the AFC title game for the first time since 1971, and it’ll be a matchup for the ages when Lamar Jackson squares off against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kansas City defeated Buffalo 27-24 in the first road playoff win for Mahomes, and it sets up a matchup of two recent NFL MVPs.

The Chiefs will travel to M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday at 3:00 PM EST in a matchup to see the winner advance to the Super Bowl after Mahomes went 17-23 passing for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

Second-year running back Isaiah Pacheco paced Kansas City with 15 physical carries for 97 yards (6.5) and a critical touchdown. Travis Kelce had five catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns on a night when rumors swirled about his potential retirement.

Kansas City and Baltimore previously met in the postseason following the 2010 season.

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Kansas City Chiefs used misdirection and motion to win Super Bowl LVII

The Chiefs used motion and misdirection to keep the Eagles’ defense on its heels all the way through Super Bowl LVII.

Make no mistake, the Kansas City Chiefs’ run game absolutely won them Super Bowl LVII.

Entering this game, the Chiefs rushing attack were ranked 22nd per PFF, and running back Isiah Pacheco was averaging 48.8 yards per game. In the Super Bowl, he ended with 15 carries for 76 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. As a team, the Chiefs averaged 6.1 yards per play on 26 rushing plays, and the Philadelphia Eagles had only one tackle for loss.

There was one play in particular that gave the Chiefs a ton of success, the ‘bash concept’ from 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends).

The Chiefs ran something very similar to the play above, but instead, the ‘Y’ receiver ran a jet sweep, and this shifted the defense to the weak side. Once the running back got outside, he only had to outrun his defenders.

This concept with misdirection seemed to be the Chiefs’ bread and butter throughout the entire game.

Just moving one player can be the biggest difference. This was also the case in the third quarter when the Chiefs were down by 10 points.

Once receiver Skyy Moore runs across the line of scrimmage pre-snap, this moved safety Marcus Epps from the left tackle, which is exactly where the play was headed.

Football Outsiders had the Chiefs with the second-most success in the league when running off their left tackle, averaging 5.25-line yards per play.

Their misdirection was used the most against the Eagles man coverage defense. With the speed of the Chiefs’ receivers, defenders are looking to stay even with them across the line of scrimmage.

In the fourth quarter, Kadarius Toney was motioning from the outside to the inside and cornerback Darius Slay wanted to stay with him, so he commits 100%. That is when Toney puts on the brakes, cuts back and was wide open to the outside.

This wasn’t the first time that the Eagles saw this play design.

In week four of the regular season, their defense got beat with this by their old coach, Doug Pederson.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is a terrific play designer. His offense is meant to spread defenses thin. This allows offensive players to use their skillset and gain yards after the catch.

In the Super Bowl, their plays were sideline to sideline. Patrick Mahomes rarely targeted any deep downfield passes. His longest completion was only 22 yards to Travis Kelce.

This also could have the side of the playbook that Reid relied on once Mahomes re-injured his ankle. He may have been forced to call more handoffs, which in the past Reid hasn’t been known to rely on.

Either way, Reid used his ball carriers like rooks and pawns in the game of chess, and always stayed one step ahead.

Best running back props for the NFL conference championship games

How to bet props for Christian McCaffrey, Joe Mixon and more.

After a full season and two playoff rounds of NFL player prop picks, I’m switching things up for the conference championships and making picks for every position of every team remaining.

That’s quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end props, just in time to hopefully provide a little direction on which way to go for Sunday’s games.

In the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals are visiting the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of last year’s title game. And the NFC title will be decided between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.

Here’s a look at my best running back props, with odds from BetMGM.

The NFL needs a better plan against Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco

No NFL back has been more productive in the second half of the season against light boxes than Chiefs rookie Isiah Pacheco.

Things did not look good for the Kansas City Chiefs with 5:22 left in the first half of their divisional round game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Chiefs were up 10-7, but Patrick Mahomes was on the sideline with a lower leg injury, backup Chad Henne was in, and somebody needed to make a big play.

Cue rookie running back Isiah Pacheco, the seventh-round pick from Rutgers. When his efforts were most needed, Pacheco ripped off this 39-yard run to bring the ball from the Jacksonville 43-yard line to the Jacksonville four-yard line.

That was the key play in Kansas City’s 12-play, 98-yard drive which set things right after a rough series of events.

The Jaguars had six in the box, which the Chiefs knew would be to their advantage, Per Next Gen Stats, since Week 10 of the 2022 season, no back has carried the ball more (83 attempts) or gained more yards (443) against light boxes (six or fewer defenders) than Pacheco,

It’s a tough decision to make — if you stack the box against the Chiefs, you are asking their thermonuclear offense to pick you apart in the passing game. But the addition of Pacheco this season has given enemy defenses one more thing to think about, and one more problem to deal with.

Secret Superstars for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar features Week 1’s great underrated players on his Secret Superstars team.

There are all kinds of reasons that NFL players are underrated.

Perhaps they’re in systems that don’t best show their skills. Maybe they’re buried on a depth chart. Or, they’re in somebody’s doghouse, and their coaches can’t see their potential. Sometimes, young players haven’t quite put it all together, but there are enough flashes to make you sit up and take notice, and when it does work, it’s all good.

Week 1 of the 2022 regular season features players at every position who showed up and showed out despite their underrated statuses, and here at Touchdown Wire, it’s our job to point them out.

Here are the Secret Superstars for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season.

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