The two best quarterbacks in the NFL — Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen — have faced off 10 times since 2020.
Allen has had the upper hand in the regular season — as Sunday’s 28-21 victory by the Buffalo Bills represents the fifth straight year they have defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular season.
The Chiefs, though, have owned the more important postseason contests. They are 4-0 against Allen and the Bills in the playoffs, including the overtime thriller in the divisional playoffs, which ended Buffalo’s 2021 season.
The latest regular-season installment was another classic, which was decided when a Mahomes Hail Mary attempt from 40 yards away fell incomplete with three seconds left.
“It always comes down to these certain plays,” Mahomes said. “Josh played amazing. They ran the ball well, and their defense had a good gameplan.”
Both quarterbacks thrilled. Allen had only three incompletions, and Mahomes, who was hit 15 times, completed a dazzling 4th-and 17-play with a 29-yard pass to Rashee Rice to get the Chiefs back in the game.
Though Jim Nantz compared the Mahomes/Allen rivalry to that of legendary passers Tom Brady and Peyton Manning when they were with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, respectively, Sunday’s contest really was decided by meat-and-potatoes play on the line of scrimmage.
Run Defense Issues
The Chiefs had allowed only seven points in their last two games.
“We’ve been doing very, very good all year,” Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones said. “Today it was kind of off.”
To put it in perspective: Before James Cook’s performance on Sunday, the Chiefs had not surrendered 100 yards from a running back since Zamir White of the Las Vegas Raiders ran 22 times for 145 yards on Christmas Day of 2023.
But the Bills represented a more formidable challenge.
They entered the Week Nine contest leading the NFL in rushing offense at 164.4 yards per game. That run game is spearheaded by Cook who the Bills re-signed to a four-year, $46 million extension two-and-a-half months ago, following a brief training camp holdout.
It was money well spent.
He sliced the Chiefs defense for 114 yards on 27 carries while deftly running through tackles or making defenders miss.
“Usually, we’ve been doing a really good job of getting the tackle and wrapping,” Jones said. “But today we had a couple of broken tackles, which led to bigger runs.”
To the defense’s credit, they clamped down on Cook a bit more in second half. He had only three rushes of more than three yards after halftime.
But the Chiefs also had trouble containing the Bills’ tight ends. They surrendered 149 yards to tight ends, including 101 to Dalton Kincaid.
Kincaid scored a 23-yard touchdown after linebacker Drue Tranquill fell down, and that capped the game’s first series.
“We gave up a few open throws,” Jones said, “whether it was miscommunication or just (being) out of place.”
Those open throws led to yet another Bills’ regular-season victory against the Chiefs.
But here’s the rub. The Chiefs still own the Bills in the playoffs.
Chiefs’ Historical Postseason Success vs. Bills
Despite their failings in the regular season vs. the Bills, the Chiefs have won all four playoff matchups in the Mahomes era.
In the Wednesday before the latest Chiefs-Bills tilt, Mahomes was asked the reason for this postseason/regular-season discrepancy.
He said he didn’t know before trying his best to expound on it.
“Every single game comes down to one play here or there that someone has to make,” he said. “It comes down to players making plays in big moments, and that’s worked out for us in the playoffs and worked out for them in other times.”
Might history repeat itself in this year’s postseason?
“I’m quite sure we’re going to see them again,” Jones said.