Top 3 Things We Learned

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Top 3 things we learned from Bills vs. Chiefs | Week 11

Nov 17, 2024 at 10:29 PM

Alec White

Content Coordinator

The Buffalo Bills secured a thrilling 30-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.Buffalo improves to 9-2 heading into the bye week, the franchise's best start since 1992.

Here are the top three things we learned from Bills vs. Chiefs:

1 — 'He's different': Josh Allen meets the moment

Every now and again, Bills QB Josh Allen makes a play so spectacular, that even his teammates marvel in awe.

"I've said this before since I've been a Bill, like when Josh takes off, I find myself sometimes just watching, like, 'Wow. He's different," WR Khalil Shakir said.

Allen's teammates had a front row seat as the Bills QB had his signature moment of the season so far as he barreled through multiple Chiefs defenders for a 26-yard touchdown run on fourth down to give Buffalo a 30-21 lead.

"The Josh Allen experience, it's been phenomenal, man," WR Amari Cooper said. "Big time players make big time plays in big time situations, and that's exactly what he did."

On a 4th and 2 play from the Kansas City 26-yard line, Allen recognized the Chiefs were checking into zone coverage once the ball was snapped. Allen saw his receivers covered up by the Chiefs, escaped the pocket and then shook off multiple tacklers on the way to the end zone, his longest regular season TD run since 2022.

"It's a man concept where Khalil, if there's a man on the left side, we fly to the back, try to create some eye candy, if you will, run him through the line. It's just like a mesh play. And again, (Kansas City) went zone. So, just made a play," Allen said.

Head coach Sean McDermott said the Bills planned throughout the week that they wanted to be aggressive late in the game when in crucial fourth down situations. When this particular scenario presented itself — the Bills still could've gone up by five points with a field goal — McDermott remained steadfast in their preparation.

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"We mapped it out during the week and felt strongly that that was the right decision," McDermott said. "There's been too many games as you guys know, where Andy and Patrick have come back and you kick a field goal and they go score a touchdown, or it's overtime, you know, just in different games where they've been… they're just way too good to not go for it right there."

According to Next Gen Stats, Allen had just a 1.2% chance of scoring a touchdown once he tucked the ball to run.

"4th and 2, appreciate Coach for trusting us," Allen said. "I'm going to do anything and everything that I can do to help this team win football games."

The Bills QB finished the game with 262 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception to go along with 55 rushing yards and a score. Allen eclipsed 300 total yards of offense for the fifth time this season.

2 — Timely plays by the defense

In order for the Bills to win, it couldn't just be all up to Josh Allen and the offense. In fact, it was the Bills defense that gave the team an early boost, intercepting Patrick Mahomes on the second play of the game.

Buffalo's front four got pressure on Mahomes and forced an errant throw that found the hands of safety Taylor Rapp for his second INT in as many games.

"I thought the takeaway early in the game by the defense was important, just from a stealing a possession type of aspect," McDermott said.

The Bills have recorded a defensive interception on their opponent's first drive of the game for the 3rd time this season, most in the NFL. Buffalo has also forced at least one turnover in every game this season.

"It's part of our philosophy, part of our DNA. That was one of the things that we talk about every day, is we take the ball away and we score on defense," LB Terrel Bernard said.

The Bills continued to step up on defense in crucial situations, holding the Chiefs to just five third down conversions. Buffalo got pressure on the QB consistently, sacking Mahomes twice and six different players registering a QB hit.

Following Allen's TD run in the fourth quarter, LB Terrel Bernard sealed the victory with an interception on a deep pass by Mahomes.

"We were in quarters coverage, man to man on the back," CB Cam Lewis said. "They had a scramble drill. They were telling us, just keep your eyes on your man, because you got to cover him twice, with Patrick's scramble ability… that's the type of player Terrel Bernard is. He makes those big plays in crucial moments."

Mahomes finished with 196 passing yards, the fewest he's had in any game against the Bills in his career, regular or postseason.

"It's gonna take your best football to beat great football teams and we didn't play our best football today," Mahomes said. "(Buffalo) went out there and beat us. That's how it rolls in the NFL. All the respect to them."

3 — Bills get the edge in these key stats

It was a total team effort in Buffalo's win Sunday night as they were able to gain the advantage in several key areas.

Buffalo improved to 5-1 when scoring first this season, 5-0 when leading at half time and 7-0 when leading going into the fourth quarter.

"My hat goes off to Sean and the Bills. They did a nice job," Chiefs HC Andy Reid said. "They made plays when they needed to."

The Bills were 9 of 15 (60%) on third down, compared to 5 of 10 (50%) by Kansas City.

"It's the practice, the repetition," Amari Cooper said. "Repetition is the mother of all learning. So, we get it in and practice. Make sure we get it right. If we don't get it right, we repeat."

Buffalo scored touchdowns on both of their final possessions, a 10-play drive and a 12-play drive that took a combined 11:39 off the clock in the third and fourth quarters. The Bills also outgained KC in passing yards (262-196, rushing yards (104-78) and had the ball for nearly 10 more minutes than the Chiefs.

"The better you can be on third down, typically the better team you're going to be," Allen said. "Moving the chains, time of possession is so big against this type of team and offense. Keeping away from them as much as possible because you never know what's going to happen when the ball's in their hands. So, again, just trying to convert and execute every play call."

The Bills reached 30 points for the eighth time this season (fifth game in a row). It's the first regular season game Kansas City has allowed 30+ points since Week 4 of the 2022 season.

Allen and the Bills say they'll enjoy the victory tonight, but understand that they'll likely see Kansas City again in the playoff.

"Given our history, we tend to meet in the playoffs. So again, we're not there yet. We'll focus on that when we get there. But we got a bye week, and then a tough team coming here, San Francisco."