By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Chiefs saw their struggles against the Buffalo Bills in the regular season continue on Sunday afternoon, falling 28-21 on the road in what has become a classic out of conference rivalry over the years between the two.
After Josh Allen spent much of the past week downplaying Buffalo’s showdown against Kansas City, the Bills quarterback revealed there was more to the rivalry than he let on. Turns out beating the Chiefs, a team that has blocked Allen and the Bills’ path to the Super Bowl for much of the past five years, meant something more to Allen.
The Chiefs struggled against the Bills tight ends throughout the matchup, and it showed on the opening drive as Buffalo opened the scoring with Allen connecting on a 23-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Kincaid. Kincaid led Buffalo with 101 yards receiving and James Cook had 114 yards rushing.
Kansas City did work to build a lead that they held momentarily following the Kincaid touchdown. Just after the start of the second quarter, the Chiefs tied up the game, running a play they ran last week against the Washington Commanders, but this time rather than coming up short Rashee Rice rumbled across the goal line for the first rushing touchdown of his career to tie the game. One drive later, Kansas City took the lead on a 46 yard field goal by Harrison Butker.
After the Chiefs built the 10-7 lead though, the Bills responded by scoring touchdowns on their next two possessions. Ty Johnson capped a five-play 70-yard drive with a three yard run for the go-ahead score. After the Chiefs gave the ball up on downs at Buffalo’s 40 when Cole Bishop broke up a pass attempt to Rice on 4th and 3. Allen then marched Buffalo on a seven-play, 60-yard drive that he capped with the first of two one yard touchdown runs. Near the end of the first half, Butker knocked through a 19 yard field goal, making it 21-13 at the halftime break.
Getting the ball to start the second half, Kansas City started with a three and out, and three consecutive drives ended with punts, before the Bills added another touchdown to extend the lead, Allen scoring his second one yard touchdown run for the only score of the third quarter. An 11 play drive by the Chiefs carried into the fourth quarter, and Kansas City made the game a one score game as Kareem Hunt punched his way into the endzone from two yards out. Patrick Mahomes found Travis Kelce for the two point conversion to make it 28-21.
The Bills' defense played a major role in harassing Mahomes, who was sacked three times and hit 15 more. Mahomes threw an interception that made it looked like the Bills were poised to win the game late in the fourth, but Matt Prater’s 52-yard field goal attempt for the Bills struck the right upright, giving the Chiefs one more chance. The game was decided in the final 17 seconds, when Mahomes threw three straight incompletions from Buffalo’s 40. The last throw fell short of the end zone and was batted down by rookie Maxwell Hairston, who earlier intercepted Mahomes.
Mahomes finished with his worst completion percentage, 44.1%, while going 15 of 34 for 250 yards and an interception. The two-time NFL MVP had previously never finished a regular-season game completing fewer than 50% of his passes over his nine-year career. Hunt rushed 11 times for 49 yards and a touchdown. Rice had four catches for 80 yards as the leading receiver.
Next Kansas City has a bye week before they travel to play the Denver Broncos on Nov. 16.
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