DapperCam

I guess I just disagree. I put 5% of the blame on the offense and 95% of the blame on the defense. One unit put up the best performance against a team all year and another unit put up the worst performance. It’s pretty black and white IMO.

Bills put up the best performance on offense against the Chiefs in Arrowhead in 2 seasons. If the offense didn’t play well the entire game, then they wouldn’t have even been in that position at the end. Get a defensive end that doesn’t lose contain and let Mahomes run for a first down 5 times like it’s Groundhog Day.

They weren’t flawless last week, their elite defense saved their butt. The Bills score 2x more points than the Texans managed. And the Bills defense gave up about 2x more than the Texans allowed. McDermott needs to evolve past his soft bend but don’t break scheme. It can’t beat the Chiefs and the Bengals. It was probably very lucky to beat the Ravens last week. These are the teams we will repeatedly see in the playoffs. The offense for the most part plays very well in the playoffs and to expect more from them is probably not realistic. For comparison, I doubt Mahomes is putting up 29 points against a defense as good as KC has on the road. We basically saw that last week (except they were at home).

Not counting week 18 with backups in… The last time the Chiefs gave up 32 points at home was the 2022 divisional vs the Bills (when their defense was much worse than it is now). The last time before that was October 2021 vs the Bills (the defense gave the offense 4 turnovers and a turnover on downs, which helped that point total). The last time before that was October 2020 vs the Raiders. So you are saying the Bills should have done what no other team has done against this current iteration of the Chiefs with an elite defense. It’s unreasonable.

I would not say we would outscore the Chiefs on the road if you told me they scored 32 points. If most Bills fans would say yes then they don’t know how good the KC defense is.

If we’re assigning blame - That was the most points the Chiefs O has scored all season (actually going back almost 2 seasons to Sept 2023). - That was the 2nd most points surrendered by the Chiefs this season (#1 being the Bills earlier this season, not counting week 18). Otherwise the Chiefs haven’t given up that many points since the 2022 season Super Bowl vs the Eagles, and they haven’t given up that many points at home since October 2022. So, the Bills put up the best offensive performance vs the Chiefs in 2 seasons of any team (or 3 if you just say at Arrowhead) and the worst defensive performance in 2 seasons. It’s crazy to say, “well if you have the ball last you should win.” Bottom line is our defense was terrible and the offense played well even if they couldn’t put that final drive together.

Could have been McDermott last year if the Bills didn’t go on a run (and the Dolphins didn’t choke away the division).

And what happened when Dungy left the Bucs? I think Dungy is actually an excellent comparable to McDermott. The problem is, Pegula is incompetent and we were lucky to hire the quality of front office and coaching that we have. It is almost certainly that any replacement would be much much worse.

Allen actually plays a lot better than Marino did in the playoffs and has a better record to show for it.

Just to add to the “defense sucks and is why we lost” argument. Allen was gashing them with throws down the field. Especially the middle of the field. But we have to play small ball and ball control offense because we know our defense cannot compete in a shootout. It changes the offensive gameplan and partially is a cause of these 3rd/4th and shorts.

It really depends on who they bring in and what resources they spend. It would be hard to be worse than this year though, so I feel like they will be better.

How about we don’t ask the offense to have the greatest offensive playoff performance of the last 5 years in the NFL just for a chance to win because our defense is that bad. It’s an unrealistic expectation.

The Ravens, Broncos and Chiefs were 3 of the top 5 defenses this season and the offense put up 31, 27 and 29 on them while doing well in TOP in each game and only giving a short field once (which was the BS call of the 4th down this game), with zero lost fumbles or interceptions. The defense just flat out stinks and gave zero resistance to the Ravens or KC. They have to do better if we want to make the Super Bowl.

Allen had the 3 best throws of the game. 3rd and 13 to Shakir, and the two deep balls to Hollins. Mahomes best pass was a 50/50 ball to Worthy that should have been an incomplete pass.

How about the fact that the offense put up enough points where they could even put together a final drive. KC hasn’t scored 30 points all season! This was literally the worst defensive performance of the season against the Chiefs and the 2nd best offensive performance against the Chiefs. You have to look at the whole game. Defense was terrible (but that was predictable).

If you look at their individual performances, it’s hard to say Mahomes outplayed Allen. Allen had way more high difficulty throws and had to play against the much tougher defense. It is what it is, but the Chiefs are more well balanced, better special teams and better coaching.

Hard to say that. Spags is the best DC in the league and Mahomes never has to face him.

Scoring 29 points against the Chiefs defense on the road is exceptional. The offense wasn’t dreadful at all.

If Allen scored a TD there to win, it would be the most points given up by KC in like 4 years and their defense is way better now. If that is what it takes to win, then it’s too much. The defense needs to be better. The KC offense was mediocre this year.

They really didn’t create a turnover. That was an unforced error on a failed handoff. I give them credit for recovering, but that whole play was lucky and not forced.

Defense let Mahomes march down the field with zero resistance. You know they could have actually gotten a stop and given up no points so Allen could go for a game winning FG instead of his back against the wall.

Most points given up by the Chiefs this year (not counting week 18): 30 points to the Bills. Second most points given up: 29 points to the Bills just now. The offense mostly did its job. If you have to score 33 points on the road against an elite defense, then you are pretty much already cooked.

Allen could have been a little better, but how many perfect throws down the field into tight windows did he have to make. Did Mahomes even make one? We need better scheming guys open, or better separation from skill guys (same story all year).

Felt like based on how we played the score was actually closer than it should have been. Credit to Allen for that.

At the end of the day, KC’s defense made every yard hard to get and it felt like our defense rolled out the red carpet. Margin for error was zero and we didn’t quite get it done.