KANSAS CITY, MO. --The Buffalo Bills had their memorable 2024 season come to a screeching halt in Kansas City as the Chiefs defeated the Bills 32-29 in a back-and-forth, drama-filled AFC Championship game.
Here are the top three things we learned from Bills-Chiefs.
1 — Buffalo's season ends on failed 4th down play
On a night filled with constant momentum swings, four lead changes and 742 total yards of offense, it was Chiefs fourth quarter execution on a handful plays late in the fourth quarter that proved why they are back-to-back Super Bowl champions.
"To be the champs you gotta beat the champs and we didn't do it tonight," said a somber Josh Allen postgame.
The Bills, who had clawed back from deficits of 21-10 and 29-22 earlier in the night, found themselves in a spot where they controlled their own fate. Josh Allen with the ball in his hands under four minutes remaining in a game with a chance to take the lead and potentially win the game.
Allen said after the game he felt "good and relaxed" before the final drive.
Trailing 32-29 and 3:33 on the clock, the Bills quickly gained a first down thanks to a 13-yard scramble. They gained just five yards on their next three plays, bringing up a 4th and 5 from their own 47.
On Allen's 4th and 2 touchdown run earlier in the season, Kansas City showed pressure but only rushed four, allowing Allen free access to leave the pocket for his 26-yard TD run. This time, the Chiefs brought safety Justin Reid and corner Trent McDuffie on a blitz from the right side, which caught Allen by surprise, as he believed Kansas City's initial look was a blitz from the left side.
'They gave a good look and didn't see anything in my first cadence. We were sliding (O-line protection) left, corner came, and yeah," Allen said postgame.
Allen had to bail from the pocket and throw up a prayer to TE Dalton Kincaid who had to change direction and adjust, but the ball went through the arms of the 2023 first round pick.
"The opportunities are to catch it and it should be a catch," Kincaid admitted.
And just like that, the opportunity to punch a ticket to the Super Bowl slipped through Buffalo's grasp again. Sunday marked the fourth time in the last five seasons that the Chiefs have ended the Bills postseason run.
"You can either get it done or you can't and we didn't get it done," Allen said. "They've ended a lot of teams' seasons too. It's a good squad, they had a good plan tonight, and again they made one more play than we did."
2 — Snow Plow gets melted, defense unable to slow Mahomes
One of Buffalo's most successful plays this season had been their QB sneak aka the 'Snow Plow' with Allen and a running back or receiver pushing him forward. Prior to the AFC Championship, the Bills were 20 for 21 on short yardage QB sneaks. Sunday, they were just 2 of 5.
According to Next Gen Stats, the three stops were the most run stuffs by a defense against QB sneaks in a game in the NGS era (since 2016).
"They got big guys in there and they played it well," Allen said.
The most critical unsuccessful QB sneak came on a drive in the fourth quarter where the Bills turned the ball over at the KC 41-yard line while holding a 22-21 lead. A touchdown could've made it a two possession game, instead the Chiefs got the ball and responded with a 59-yard TD drive to take the lead — and a successful two-point conversion to make it 29-22.
Head coach Sean McDermott admitted that the replay angles muddied the view on replay, but still believed that Josh's body — and the football — got the line to gain.
"I thought he had it. Just short of the line was actually the first down, what it looked like to me when it was sitting next to me with the marker. Just inside that white stripe was the first down. And it looked like he got to it, that's all I can say," he said.
McDermott added that Buffalo felt confident going into the game that they'd be able to convert those short yardage opportunities, but was disappointed they were unable to do so.
"(Chiefs) were doing a good job. I thought overall, maybe we could have disguised it, maybe not, but at the end of the day, we have confidence in Josh and our offensive line to get those. We'd been getting them all year," McDermott said.
On the other side of the ball, the Chiefs put up 32 points – the most they've scored in a game this season. Buffalo switched things up defensively, going with a near 50-50 split of man and zone coverage.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Bills played man coverage on nearly half of Mahomes' dropbacks (47.1%), the defense's highest rate across nine career matchups against Mahomes. The Chiefs QB was nearly flawless on those plays, going 12 of 15 for 169 yards & TD.
Mahomes also made an impact on the ground, rushing for two touchdowns, including the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter.
"We just didn't make enough plays, myself included – starting with myself," said LB Terrel Bernard. "Third downs, we didn't get off the field enough. We didn't take the ball away enough. And then in the critical moments of the game, we gotta step up and make plays, and we didn't do that enough."
3 — Samuel, Hollins, Cook and Oliver made splash plays
The Bills exchanged back-and-forth blows with the Chiefs for 60 minutes and got crucial contributions from a handful of players on offense and the game's only turnover from one of their best defensive players.
DT Ed Oliver pounced on a loose ball after a failed read option exchange by Mahomes and RB Isiah Pacheco in the first quarter. The takeaway came at an important part of the earlier portion of the game as the Chiefs were driving with a chance to go up 14-3.
Instead, the Bills got the ball and drove down the field for a 10-play, 72-yard drive that ended in a James Cook touchdown run to take the lead.
The Chiefs rattled off two touchdowns thereafter to go up 21-10, but Cook helped spark Buffalo's comeback especially in the second half. The Bills leaned on their third-year RB who helped the ground game get downhill and made an incredible effort on a fourth down run on the goal line to reach over the white stripe.
Cook ended the game with 85 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and 49 yards receiving.
WRs Curtis Samuel and Mack Hollins each scored as well at big spots in the game.
Hollins made an incredible 34-yard touchdown grab in the end zone before halftime to cut the deficit to 21-16, needing just 0.5 yards of separation against All-Pro CB Trent McDuffie.
Samuels' fourth down touchdown at 6:20 in the fourth quarter tied the game up at 29-29, before Kansas City kicked the go-ahead field goal on the ensuing drive.
