Chiefs vs. Bills
The Bills and Chiefs square off in the playoffs again for sure and we all remember what happened last time they met in the playoffs. It was a game for the ages as Mahomes and Allen were in a shootout til the very end. This time it could be different as it’s on Buffalos homes field.
Chiefs
PROS: The Chiefs come in to this game with a rare strength in its defense as opposed to its offense in prior years. The Chiefs defense ranks #7 in DVOA and has silently been the Chiefs strength this season. Amid all the dropped passes and lack of receivers talk I feel Rashee Rice seemed to be excelling at WR for Mahomes to trust in the last part of the season. It should be another cold day in Buffalo but that’s nothing that the Chiefs aren’t used to as they just played in a damn near freezer last week so this would actually be a pro for the chiefs in this situation. We’ll see if the defense can hold off a red hot Josh Allen and Buffalo bills team on Sunday.
CONS: Although, they do have an experienced playoff team with a championship pedigree, they have dropped the most passes in the NFL this season with 44 dropped passes which is 1st in the league. Out of 597 passes the chiefs dropped 44 which is 6.9% of dropped passes. Travis Kelce has also looked like he’s slowed down a bit as age and years in this league start to creep up on him. One last con is this will be Mahomes first road playoff game if you don’t count the Super Bowl in Tampa which I can consider a little of a more Bucs biased crowd.
Bills
PROS: The Bills come into this game now winning 6 games in a row and it’s all started against this very same Chiefs team in Arrowhead week 14. New OC Joe Brady showed he has clearly take the offense and run game to the level it expected to be at since taking over as play caller. Josh Allen has been playing lights out using his legs a lot more often something he will need to keep doing in my opinion if the Bills were to get to the Super Bowl. The Bills strength is their offense as it sits #3 in offensive DVOA let’s see how it will do against a #7 Chiefs defense.
CONS: A big con for the Bills is their defense as it has dipped down to #12 in defensive DVOA when at one time it was in the top 3. It won’t help that they lost middle line back The Bills could be without starting linebacker Terrell Bernard this week as he left the Pittsburgh game with an injury. There are still hopes of him playing and they will definitely need him as they’re already ultra thin at linebacker. The Hills injury report will be something to look at as there are multiple key players banged up as Stefon Diggs being one of them as well. I’m sure Diggs will play the question is how healthy will he be?
CJ’s Opinion Checklist
- Better Coach: Chiefs (Andy Reid)
- Better QB: Chiefs (Mahomes)
- Better Defense: Chiefs
I, elect this game to be close per usual when these 2 get together. This rivalry has become the new Tom Brady vs. Payton Manning. Hopefully it will be just as exciting for years to come. I’ll definitely be watching this game on Sunday along with all others, but this one peeks my interest a bit more. Enjoy your football weekend as there will only be a couple left until September.