For much of the game, the Buffalo Bills didn’t execute on offense when they needed to, but their defense did, propelling Buffalo to a 24-20 win over the Chiefs on the road.
Buffalo’s first three offensive drives reached the Kansas City 13-yard line, 21-yard line, and 3-yard line. They managed just three points combined.
On the first drive, Isaiah McKenzie dropped an option lateral and then failed to fall on it, allowing Kansas City to recover it for a fumble. On the next drive, Gabe Davis committed a back-breaking holding penalty on a first down run by Devin Singletary, and on the third drive, the Bills had second-and-goal from the Kansas City two-yard line and couldn’t punch it in.
On their fourth down play, McKenzie was wide open but seemed to trip over his own feet on a pass slightly behind him. He fell to the turf, as did a potential touchdown.
While the drop continued a bad first half for McKenzie, who would drop another pass on the last Bills drive of the half, it also continued a poor stretch of red zone efficiency for the Bills.
Buffalo entered the day 20th in the NFL in red zone percentage at 55.6%. Kansas City came into the game with the 31st-ranked red zone defense, giving up TDs 81.3% of the time. Yet, Buffalo went 0-for-2 in the red zone in the first half. It’s an issue that absolutely needed to be fixed by first-time offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, who got too cute or over-complicated his play-calling when it matters most.
The lateral from Josh Allen to McKenzie was unnecessary when the Bills were gaining chunks of yards at will on the first drive. On the second trip to the red zone, Singletary was running well, gaining 76 yards on his first 10 carries, but Dorsey refused to go to him in the red zone, opting for quick passes that failed to work.
However, in the second half, the Bills answered as they have all season. Their first answer was on offense where, after Harrison Butker missed a 51-yard field goal on the Chiefs’ first drive, the Buffalo offense drove down to the red zone and finally capitalized, with Josh Allen hitting Stefon Diggs for a 19-yard touchdown.
Diggs was tremendous on the day, with 10 catches for 148 yards and a touchdown, including three catches for 44 yards on the game-winning drive.
That final drive started at the Buffalo 24-yard-line after a Von Miller sack forced a Kansas City punt. The Bills looked ready to stall out early, but Josh Allen pushed his way two yards on a fourth-and-one from Buffalo’s own 34-yard-line.
From there, it was off to the races. Josh Allen marched the Bills down the field, even hurdling over a Kansas City defender for a 16-yard run before finding Dawson Knox for the go-ahead 14-yard touchdown pass. It was Buffalo’s second touchdown in just their second trip to the red zone in the second half.
On that drive, Josh Allen was 5-for-6 for 56 yards through the air while adding 19 yards on the ground. He finished with 329 yards passing and three touchdowns on 27-of-40, including a stretch where he completed a career-high 13 passes in a row. He also added 32 yards on the ground but was not the Bills’ leading rusher for the first time all season after Singletary was able to rush for 85 yards on 17 carries on the day.
But Allen remained the hero, and the game-winning drive was his second in his last three weeks.
The team would then rely on their league-leading defense to close out the game. Even though the defense made a few crucial mistakes in key situations, like missing two tackles on a first-quarter pass from Patrick Mahomes to JuJu-Smith-Schuster, which led to a 42-yard touchdown, they stepped up when they needed to.
On the Chiefs’ first drive of the game, Bills’ rookie cornerback Kaiir Elam, who struggled last week against Pittsburgh, ripped the ball away from Marquez Valdes-Scantling for an interception. Then, on the Chiefs’ final drive, Patrick Mahomes was flushed from the pocket by the Bills’ defensive line, and Taron Johnson jumped a lofted Mahomes pass for the game-sealing interception.
"Taron Johnson with the THEFT!!!"
📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/AFADsHLO0K
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 16, 2022
That pressure from the Buffalo defensive line was the difference in the game. While they only sacked Mahomes three times, they were in his face most of the game. Von Miller and Jordan Phillips in particular seemed to win their one-on-ones consistently throughout the game.
Only, Mahomes was Mahomes, tip-toeing around pressure and flinging passes into impossible windows. On the day, he was 25-for-40 for 338 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 21 yards on the ground.
However, he threw those to interceptions, and that was the difference in the game. Last year, the Bills’ defense couldn’t make the big stop when they needed to. This year they could. Even without Micah Hyde and Tre’Davious White.
That simple difference helps to exorcise last year’s playoff demons and puts Buffalo at 5-1 and in the driver’s seat in the AFC heading into their Week 7 bye.
