Washington (AFP) – Josh Allen-led Buffalo has beaten Kansas City in each of the past three NFL seasons, so the Bills have a solid chance on Sunday to spoil the Chiefs’ unbeaten campaign. The Chiefs, however, have eliminated Buffalo from the playoffs in three of the past four seasons, winning when it matters most to leave the Bills hungry even as the squads appear set for another post-season showdown in January.
“We haven’t beaten them in the playoffs,” Allen said. “That’s the only thing that kind of matters.” Entering Sunday’s showdown in Buffalo, Allen has quarterbacked the Bills (8-2) to five consecutive triumphs, while counterpart Patrick Mahomes has Kansas City (9-0) one win shy of a best-ever season start.
“To win this game, we have to play our best football,” Mahomes said. “If we don’t, we’re going to lose.” Allen has directed Buffalo wins in the regular season by 20-17 last year, 24-20 in 2022, and 38-20 in 2021 after dropping his first meeting with the Mahomes-led Chiefs in 2020.
“They do a great job at their schemes. It’s a multitude of guys that play extremely hard,” Mahomes said. “The staple of great defenses is they rush the passer, stop the run, and turn the ball over, and they do all of those things really well.” Kansas City ousted the Bills 27-24 in the second round of the playoffs last season, 42-36 in overtime in the 2021 second round, and 38-24 in the 2020 AFC Championship.
“They’re extremely well coached, they adjust through the course of a game, they execute at a high level,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “You can only control so much. We can’t control what they do or don’t do, but we’ve got to focus on making sure we’re ready to play.”
Mahomes and Allen are golf-playing pals in the off-season, but the Chiefs seek a third consecutive NFL crown and fourth in six seasons, while the Bills have not reached a Super Bowl since dropping their fourth in a row in 1994. “There’s a ton of respect both ways. He’s a really good dude. That’s why his team plays so well for him,” Mahomes said of Allen. “You’re playing the best of the best. That’s what you want. Every single game it comes down to the very end. He’s a guy that competes. He has that fire he plays with, and it goes through his entire team.”
– Doing everything right –
Allen appreciates comparisons with Mahomes as top NFL quarterbacks but yearns for the accolades his rival has already earned. “Any time you’re going against a quarterback like Pat, you’ve got to make sure you’re doing everything right,” Allen said. “He’s a three-time Super Bowl winner, multiple-time MVP, plays the game at such a high level, does some of the things that you don’t see anybody else do, so to be mentioned with him is very cool. But I don’t really get caught up in that too much. I just try to focus on what I can do for the Buffalo Bills.”
Sunday’s only other game between clubs with winning records sends the Baltimore Ravens (7-3) to Pittsburgh (7-2) in a battle between AFC North division leaders. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player, is 1-3 against the Steelers, having thrown seven interceptions against them compared to only four touchdowns.
NFC North leader Detroit (8-1) entertains Jacksonville, while top rival Minnesota (7-2) visits Tennessee (2-7), and Green Bay (6-3) is at Chicago (4-5). Sunday’s other games find Las Vegas at Miami, Cleveland at New Orleans, the Los Angeles Rams at New England, Atlanta at Denver, Indianapolis at the New York Jets, Seattle at San Francisco, and Cincinnati at the Los Angeles Chargers. Houston visits Dallas on Monday.
© 2024 AFP
