Sunday was an exciting back-and-forth game between two great AFC football teams, as expected by the NFL.
The Bills had a fumble on their opening drive which ignited Chiefs fans early in the 1st quarter. However, the Chiefs responded with a turnover of their own with an interception. With no scoring by either team in the 1st quarter, the fireworks that were expected by two of the best offenses in the league just didn’t happen. In the first minute into the 2nd quarter, the Bills were able to score a field goal to obtain a 3-0 lead. Patrick Mahomes then found Juju Smith-Schuster for a 42-yard play, with Smith-Schuster running his way into the endzone, giving Chiefs their first touchdown of the game, and a 7-3 lead over the Bills. The Bills came up empty handed on the next play but so do the Chiefs, with a slow scoring first half. With only 16 seconds left in the first half of the game, Bills quarterback Josh Allen found wide receiver Gabe Davis for a 34-yard touchdown. No problem for the Chiefs, who took seconds to get to their side and secure a 62-yard franchise record field goal by Harrison Butker, who come back this week back after an ankle injury. The game was tied at halftime.
The second half was more scoring and back-and-forth as we all expected from arguably the two best teams in the NFL. Passing and receiving stats were close, although the Bill had 125 rushing yards compared to the Chiefs 68. The deciding factor came down to the last couple of minutes in what everyone expected in a close shoot out. The Bills had a 12-play drive in the last minutes of the game with Josh Allen throwing a final touchdown pass to Dawson Knox, giving the Bills the lead, and the final score: 24-20.
Buffalo Bills linebacker Von Miller played a key role, getting sacks and pressure to Mahomes at key points during the game. Chiefs rick tackle Andrew Wylie has been targeted by critics for not being able to stop Miller. Mahomes acknowledged Miller’s impact on the game in press discussions following Chiefs loss “Von obviously made plays” adding “he’s a Hall of Famer for a reason.”
The last play came down to Mahomes being pressured by Miller, with Mahomes throwing an interception under pressure, Mahomes was inevitably still stunned by the loss: “Every time I get the ball, no matter what the situation is, I expect to find a way to win.”
With both the Chiefs and the Bills starting off their seasons remarkably well, there is a fair chance they will face each other again in the AFC playoffs later this season.
Next week, the Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers in week 7 on October 23rd on the road in San Francisco.
