Chiefs find defense at right time to knock out Bills on road

ORCHARD PARK, NY – The game lived up to its expectations.

In the seventh meeting between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs this decade, it was the visiting Chiefs who came out on top on Sunday, winning a thriller 27-24 in the AFC Divisional Round in freezing west New York. Kansas City, playing its first road playoff game of the Patrick Mahomes era, sealed it after Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass missed a 44-yard field goal attempt wide right that would have tied the score within two minutes to play.

Kansas City returns to its usual spot in the AFC Championship Game, where Andy Reid's team meets the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore next Sunday.

Here are the key takeaways from both teams in the competition.

Kansas City Chiefs

This season's AFC Championship Game won't be another edition of the Arrowhead Invitational, but it will include the Chiefs.

The Chiefs advanced to a sixth straight conference title game after another in their collection of epic playoff victories. The divisional round lead changed hands five times before Kansas City held off the Bills on their final drive.

The Chiefs will face the Ravens next Sunday in the conference title game. The game will take place in Baltimore after the previous five AFC Championship games were played at Arrowhead Stadium.

Mind-blowing NextGen statistic: Giving an indication of how the Chiefs were handled by the Bills when Buffalo ran the ball, the Bills averaged 3.9 yards before contact per carry through three quarters. The Bills have been hit at or behind the line of scrimmage on just three of 31 rushing attempts so far. The Chiefs allowed 182 yards on the ground, one of the reasons they had a big deficit in terms of time of possession and number of plays executed.

Promising trend: The Chiefs were finally able to complete some practices. Their first two scores Sunday came on field goals. At this point, 13 of their previous 16 goals had resulted in field goals; only three ended in touchdowns. But they were able to end a drive late in the first half and another early in the third quarter with touchdowns, both on passes from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce. The Chiefs then had another drive early in the fourth period on Isiah Pacheco's four-yard run.

QB breakdown: Mahomes had another monumental game against the Bills in the playoffs. Buffalo chose to play in coverage, rather than pressure Mahomes, and he took advantage of that strategy. Mahomes was able to make big plays down the field and completed 17 of 23 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns. –Adam Teicher

Buffalo Bills

The ball was in Josh Allen's hands to set up a late touchdown to give the Bills the lead and take some time off.

Instead, they went scoreless on a 16-play, 54-yard drive when Tyler Bass' 44-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right after two consecutive Allen incompletions, giving the ball back to Kansas City with 1:43 left on the field. clock that it would end for a three-point victory. When Buffalo's offense needed a drive more than ever, they couldn't get it. After trailing 17-13, the Bills scored just one goal in the second half and Buffalo's defense struggled to stop the Chiefs.

The Bills couldn't get past the obstacle that was Kansas City in the playoffs, falling to 0-3 in the playoffs with Mahomes facing Allen at quarterback. The loss ends a six-game winning streak and sends the Bills into the offseason with big questions to answer after losing in the divisional round for a third straight campaign.

Biggest hole in the game plan: The defensive response at the end of halftime. Even considering the number of injuries this unit has, the adjustments made haven't worked. The Kansas City offense began the third quarter seemingly without any problem moving the ball downfield, stringing together back-to-back 75-yard touchdown drives in six and eight plays to take the lead and put the game on their shoulders of Allen and The Invoices Infringement.

Promising trend: The success of Buffalo's offensive line and running backs. The Bills' running game started early and often, with its rushers going untouched at or behind the line of scrimmage on their first 15 attempts. The success of the running game allowed Buffalo to extend long drives – including five of 11 plays or more – and control time of possession throughout the game. Allen and running backs James Cook and Ty Johnson all shined as rushers, with the quarterback scoring twice, tying Jalen Hurts (2022) of the Philadelphia Eagles for most rushing touchdowns in a season (regular season and playoffs) with 18.

Mind-blowing NextGen statistic: Receiver Khalil Shakir made an impressive catch on his 13-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, part of a strong game for the second-year player. How improbable was the score? According to Next Gen Stats, Shakir had 0.3 yards of distance from the sideline with L'Jarius Sneed as the closest defender in coverage. It was Sneed's first touchdown allowed as the closest defender since Week 15 of the 2022 season. The completion probability was 26%. –Alaina Getzenberg