What a terrible interception that was. Patrick Mahomes choked away the game as he threw a bad interception late to give the Buffalo Bills their revenge win over his Kansas City Chiefs.
The rematch of the greatest ever playoff game. The Buffalo Bills revenge game. The showdown between Allen and Mahomes. The AFC Championship home-field deciding game. The battle between the greats of the AFC. That’s only a few of the headlines I’ve heard this game called in the media coming into today.
It really was the highly anticipated matchup between the reigning AFC East Champions, the Buffalo Bills, and the reigning AFC West Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, at Arrowhead Stadium as the Bills sought to avenge their legendary Divisional Round loss to the Chiefs a year ago.
Plus, it might also be precursor to this year’s AFC Championship game. Though, I don’t think it’ll take place in Arrowhead this year as the Buffalo Bills were able to redeem themselves and finally beat Patrick Mahomes at his own game.
After a pretty boring first half, aside from a 2-minute drill TD from Josh Allen to Gabe Davis and then an 11-second field goal drive led by Patrick Mahomes that tied the game at 10, the game kicked into the fast-paced gear we all know and love from these two AFC giants.
Midway through the 3rd Quarter, Allen (27/40, 329 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT) found his favorite target, Steffon Diggs, on a streaking route into the endzone that put the Bills on top 17-10.
First off, let me just highlight the genius of these two’s chemistry. There are a lot of great quarterbacks and wide receivers in the NFL, but not a lot of great WR-QB combos. Yet, Allen-Diggs is most definitely one of them.
Ever since Steffon Diggs was brought in from the Minnesota Vikings two years ago, Josh Allen has transcended into the MVP candidate we see today. Diggs’ calming presence and assurance of catching nearly everything that comes his way serves as a great security blanket, which has been vital in Allen’s development into a franchise quarterback.
As for this play, Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey dialed down a clever matchup disadvantage to set up this touchdown. He had Diggs, one of the best wide receivers in the league, line up at the far end of the field against the Chiefs’ third string cornerback, Joshua Williams. Obviously, without the protection of a safety, Diggs torched the young cornerback to score an easy TD.
Simply put, it was a brilliant play design by Ken Dorsey.
Anyway, Patrick Mahomes (25/40, 338 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) must have taken the ingenuity of that Buffalo touchdown as a personal challenge as he drove the Chiefs down the field in under five minutes and connected with Mecole Hardman to tie the game…again.
And then, two drives later, Mahomes set up Harrison Buckner, who had a great game for himself as he set the all-time Chiefs FG length record with a 62-yard make, on a 44-yard attempt that he made to put KC ahead 20-17.
You never can keep him down, can you?
Well, the Bills would probably disagree with that statement as Josh Allen literally became Superman and led the Bills 75 yards in 5 minutes, converted a key 4th and inches at midfield, LEAPED over a defender down in the redzone, and then fired a sideline TD pass to Dawson Knox on a 2nd and 12 with under a minute to go to put the Bills back up 24-20.
Whew, this game may have started out slow, but it really did heat up in the final quarter and a half. Nonetheless, with a little under a minute to go in the game and the ball at the 25-yard line, would Mahomes pull off yet another miraculous TD drive to win the game?
Uh, no. Definitely not as the Bills defense, led by Von Miller, blitzed Mahomes into making a terrible throw across the field that was easily picked off by CB Taron Johnson, sealing the revenge game for Buffalo.
The Bills defense may have bent by giving up over 330 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, but they didn’t break in the clutch. Von Miller, LB Matt Milano, and Taron Johnson came up huge when their Bills teammates and fans needed them the most. This Bills team really is a ‘super team’ as, even though they have a countless number of injuries, they just keep winning no matter who or what is facing them.
So, as for the AFC Championship game, these two teams may still very well end up making it there, but it will all but certainly run through Orchard Park in Buffalo, New York.
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