A few thoughts about the chiefs game, in no particular order

[Virgil]

Typically, when there's a delay between the end of the game and when I post these, it's because I needed more time to process the results or they played a late game and work was busy the next day.  In this case, I watched the message boards and saw countless amount of threads where people rushed into off season mode, tried summarizing the entire season into this game, or immediately got out the pitch forks.  For me, I was ready to write this as soon as the game was over, as I wasn't really upset or surprised with the outcome.  We lost to a team that should very well be going to their 3rd consecutive Super Bowl and has proven to have a dynamic offense that can flip a switch like anyone else.  Was I upset?  No.  Disappointed?  Of course.  But only 2 teams make it and 1 team wins it all. 

 

1 - Chess - As we've seen in each of the previous playoff games, the coaching game plans take it up a notch.  Our defense pulled out all the stops against the Ravens in an absolute masterful performance just a week prior.  In this game, the Bills clearly had a game plan, it was just unfortunately outdone by a better one.  The Bills weren't going to let the Chiefs go deep on them and they weren't going to get run all over.  In response, the Chiefs found ways to get the ball into their main two play makers hands within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage and let them take it from there.  The Chiefs kept shifting the pocket, neutralizing front four pressure and getting Mahomes outside the pocket, where he is the most comfortable.  And on defense, they pressed our guys and dared us to beat them man on man while we tried to run our offense through Motor.  Right or wrong, the Chiefs plan was better this game and the play makers took it home.

 

2 - Josh - It's frustrating when you lose a big game, especially when you know you didn't put your best effort out there.  Going into the game, some had concerns that the offense took a step back in the playoffs and the start of this game didn't help alleviate those concerns.  Josh looked off in this game, never looking comfortable, and making the high throws we last saw against the Titans and forgot how to throw out of a sack while trying to play hero ball.  On many replays, it was shown where the receivers weren't able to get open in the first half, and many would believe the Chiefs got away with their fair share of holding.  They definitely played physical and found a way to neutralize our best weapons.  Allen will tell you he didn't have a great game, but it wasn't all on him.

 

3 - Motor - When given the opportunity on the second biggest stage in the NFL, you hope your guys will step up and make the most of it.  Motor, unfortunately, did not in this game.  Motor's lack of burst and top end speed was apparent in this game and eventually got benched after an early drop in the wide open flat, which eventually led to a punt.  While he wasn't bad overall, he clearly wasn't going to be able to be the guy we could take advantage of to give us an edge.  The Chiefs were going to leave Motor alone for the most part, and he was unable to punish him.

 

4 - Dear old daddy rest his soul, left my mom a heavy load

She tried so very hard to fill his shoes

Workin' hours without rest, wanted me to have the best

Oh she tried to raise me right, but I refused.

 

5 - Offensive Line - This was easily one of the worst performances by our offensive line of the season.  Chris Jones dominated Williams on the right side and Josh faced pressure for most of the game.  The Chiefs didn't run a spy and Josh was able to make them pay on a few plays.  With the press, tight coverage and the eventual pressure. Josh was never able to get comfortable and the tempo was clearly in favor of the Chiefs

 

6 - Hill/Kelce - Tyreek was an absolute monster on the field and showed off why speed matters.  You had to tip your cap to him on the 70 yard slant route pass, where he juked out every single Bills player on the field.  Even when Tre was on him, Hill's speed was uncoverable and Mahomes had the time to wait for him to get open.  Kelce was more of a concern for me because we didn't seem to make any attempt to cover him in man.  By his seventh catch, I couldn't wrap my mind around why Milano or Poyer wasn't shadowing him or at least bumping him off the line.  To his credit, even Tre covered him a few times and couldn't slow him down.  When 70% of the offense runs through two players, you do have to question the defensive scheme a little. 

 

7 - Bass - If only he could have gotten that XP another foot higher, it would have been good.  Other than that, just great job by the rookie hitting some absolute bomb field goals.  Any concerns I had about this kid are gone and I feel really strong about him for the future.

 

8 - Refs - To be clear, I'm not putting this game on the refs, however they should have gotten ahead of the physicality in this game sooner.  Jones was caught on camera throwing a punch and there was A LOT of contact downfield against our receivers.  I understand letting them play, but there's a line.  You never want to say that another team beat you up, but the Chiefs beat us up in the first half and we couldn't recover.  By the end, emotions boiled over and we looked like the kids who can't handle a loss.  It was frustrating for a team that's shown such great composure and had a great time on the sidelines be reduced to this.

 

9 - Coaching - There's always going to be a lot of second guessing after a loss like this.  Why run the offense through Motor?  Why not go for 6 when in the redzone all those times?  Where were the blitzes?  Why not double Tyreek and Kelce and make someone else beat you?  Shoulda, coulda woulda.  I'm sure all the coaches would do something different if they could.  My bigger concern was the overall prep of the team.  Josh never looked dialed in this game and Mahomes was cool as a cucumber, even down 9-0.  They knew they were going to win this game and were better prepared.  That part is unacceptable.  Take your best shot and if you lose, okay.  This didn't feel like our best shot and that's what's frustrating

 

10- Season - Anyone who tells you they expected more out of this season is a liar.  We earned every win and did it against a really tough schedule.  Allen took an amazing leap forward and I leave the season knowing this.  The Bills learned from every single opportunity presented to them this year.  They took their licks, got right back up, and got better.  They will learn from this loss like they did against the Texans.  I have zero doubt this team will be back and win the whole damn thing.

 

Go Bills!!!!

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Good write up as always, Virgil.

 

25 minutes ago, Virgil said:

2 - Josh - It's frustrating when you lose a big game, especially when you know you didn't put your best effort out there.  Going into the game, some had concerns that the offense took a step back in the playoffs and the start of this game didn't help alleviate those concerns.  Josh looked off in this game, never looking comfortable, and making the high throws we last saw against the Titans and forgot how to throw out of a sack while trying to play hero ball.  On many replays, it was shown where the receivers weren't able to get open in the first half, and many would believe the Chiefs got away with their fair share of holding.  They definitely played physical and found a way to neutralize our best weapons.  Allen will tell you he didn't have a great game, but it wasn't all on him.

 

Josh missed some throws he would normally make in the Ravens game also.  He commented that "my mechanics got away from me a bit" on one throw on a stop route that "I always hit ".   In his post-season presser (after being asked about Cole Beasley playing with a broken fibula) he commented about "a lot of guys have played hurt and never said anything about it" (it was in the context about how knowing that guys are pushing through injury makes the other players play harder for each other).  It wouldn't surprise me if he had banged up his previously injured shoulder a bit either in this or a previous game, not enough to wear a brace or go on injury report but enough that it wasn't 100%.  

 

Total speculation, but I'm hoping he can add a piece or solidify his mechanics this off season to buffer against that.

 

My main thing, that Josh himself offered in his presser, is that he simply wasn't taking what the defense gave him early on.   He acknowledged "I was pressing"

 

Quote

3 - Motor - When given the opportunity on the second biggest stage in the NFL, you hope your guys will step up and make the most of it.  Motor, unfortunately, did not in this game.  Motor's lack of burst and top end speed was apparent in this game and eventually got benched after an early drop in the wide open flat, which eventually led to a punt.  While he wasn't bad overall, he clearly wasn't going to be able to be the guy we could take advantage of to give us an edge.  The Chiefs were going to leave Motor alone for the most part, and he was unable to punish him.

 

I want to like Motor.  But he must have needed something he got from Gore's mentoring, and hasn't had since.  You're exactly right.  He had the chance to be a difference maker, and he didn't take advantage.

 

Quote

6 - Hill/Kelce - Tyreek was an absolute monster on the field and showed off why speed matters.  You had to tip your cap to him on the 70 yard slant route pass, where he juked out every single Bills player on the field.  Even when Tre was on him, Hill's speed was uncoverable and Mahomes had the time to wait for him to get open.  Kelce was more of a concern for me because we didn't seem to make any attempt to cover him in man.  By his seventh catch, I couldn't wrap my mind around why Milano or Poyer wasn't shadowing him or at least bumping him off the line.  To his credit, even Tre covered him a few times and couldn't slow him down.  When 70% of the offense runs through two players, you do have to question the defensive scheme a little. 

 

Ultimately, This.  You've got to have a game plan to take away or at least severely limit the team's two best players.

 

 

[freddyjj]

"I turned 21 in prison doin' life without parole". Thanks for the Hag sample

 

Nice job as always and thanks for these all year.  

Edited January 27, 2021 by freddyjj

[qwksilver]

Thanks for this Virgil. Excellent write up. We picked the wrong game to have our worst game. We we're beaten/out schemed on both sides of the ball. We ran into a better team and we needed to be almost perfect (we weren't close).

 

We won the division, swept the AFCE and won 2 playoff games (at home). We are way ahead of schedule. This will be an interesting offseason.

 

Go Bills!

[Coach Tuesday]

One of your best.

[3rdand12]

Not sure if i ever actually thank you proper Virgil.
 

 Thank you very much for this and for every appreciated post you have share with us this season.

 

Grateful

[DCbillsfan]

Nice writeup as usual Virgil.  The Bills had a very good season going 15 - 4, winning the AFC East, and winning 2 home playoff games.

 

Going into the Chiefs game, I believed that the Bills had improved in all 3 phases and would give the Chiefs a tougher game than they did.  From that standpoint, I was disappointed in the result.

 

The physicality of the Chiefs Oline and D line really stood out to me, as well as, their overall team speed.  

 

To close the gap, the Bills need more playmakers and better linemen.

[RevWarRifleman]

Virgil, thanks a lot for your posts all through the season. Each Monday I looked forward to reading your recap. So now begins the

withdraw. I wish you a great off-season and hopefully you'll continue your "Few Thought....." in September.

 

Thanks again, take care.       RWR

[Reed83HOF]

Good write up fuzzy nuts!

 

Games are won and lost in the trenches and we are able to hold up against almost any team. KC was a lot more physical in the trenches, rushing 4 and getting to us and them neutralizing any pass rush we had.

 

There wasn't much Josh could do, no one was open and he pressed. Even if he took what was there, I am not sure it would have been enough. A big issue was in between Josh's ears. The disguised coverage by Spags worked as expected, we would call a play line up, Josh would audible to what he saw and they would drop the disguise a second before the ball was snapped, there was no time left for josh to revert back to the original play. His growth this offseason in film study will be to get to the line quicker and to be able to know when to roll with the play or when to check out of it. I love that he is reading and reacting to defenses, but I want to see us be able to dictate to the D and beat them anyways.

 

To start the season I picked Josh as MVP and to have a TB Bills SB. I figured I would ride and die with him, because if we didn't see this growth during the season, this offseason would be, ugh, like every other one since JK retired.

 

We need a speedy RB who can catch, Motor has regressed, he is a FORD, Found on Road Dead.While I don't want to run the ball much more than we did, I need a better runner with break away speed who is a great pass catcher out of the back field.

 

OL is still an issue, I mentioned it in another thread earlier today, we need a big nasty OLman. I though Feliciano was it, but he had his ass handed to him by Jones (who is a helluva player). We need one more guy who is a road grader.

 

Though about this earlier after hearing a brief conversation on WGR, is it scheme that leaves the TEs open against us. Every team will have its weakness and it is almost like we scheme to allow the TEs to have room and minimize the impact WRs can have against us. What makes this an interesting point, is that there are more WRs who can hurt you league wide vs the 2-4 TEs. The issue we ran into with KC is taht we simply couldn't keep up with them.

 

In 2019, KC's first pick in the draft (2nd rd) was Mecole Hardman. ATL took Calvin Ridley when they were still loaded on WR. They focused on making the strong points on their team that much better. I found this interesting as well.

 

McD was protecting the psyche of the team by not having them go 4 and out, he will never admit it. We all know that we wouldn't have made the 4th down play. That being said, the play calls on the first 3 downs were not great and our execution was terrible.

 

Looking ahead, there has to be a serious conversation about who the core is and if we believe what McD said today about Bigger, Faster, Stronger - we need to add those pieces to our core. I think there will be some long and hard discussions about who to keep and who to move on from. We are in year 4 and KC is in year 8, we still have some building to do. We aren't that far off and we are right there with every other team not from KC...

[MrEpsYtown]

Good stuff Virgil. The one thing I will say is that I felt like Williams played pretty well. Feliciano was God awful and so totally overmatched. I get it, he’s tough and brings his lunch pail, so people like him. But he’s bad and he’s been terrible over the last 5-6 weeks. And I know its Chris Jones we are talking about, but I don’t see it with him. Boettger and Ford are our guards next year imo. 
 

 

[Andy1]

NFL Network is replaying the game now if anyone wants a second look at it.

[MrEpsYtown]

3 minutes ago, Andy1 said:

NFL Network is replaying the game now if anyone wants a second look at it.

I would feel like I’m in one of those saw movies and have to slice my eye out to get the remote. 

[GETTOTHE50]

I cant say I disagree with any of this. #9 is what bothers me the most. I am still puzzled by the game plan and prep.

 

And I think #8 needs to be part of #9. McD has to know that the refs let the teams play hard and loose come championship weekend and the greatest example of that is Robey's PI against the Saints.

 

Im just puzzled about how McD handled everything. He didnt prepare the team at all, and he wasnt prepared himself.

 

Like he's OK with going for it on 4th down at midfield on the first drive, but is scared while in the redzone?

 

I am just so confused by it all since I could have sworn he was preparing the team all year for this game against the Chiefs.

 

I hate to say it, but the Chiefs are currently the best team in the NFL by quite a bit. And I know this because they handily beat the Bills, who were the best team going into this past weekend.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Agree Allen never looked comfortable all game, throws were often high.  He made a few good ones, but more bad ones than we'd seen all season.  I just commented in another thread, maybe part of Allen's problem this year was he never really faced much adversity.  Other than the Tenn and 1st KC game, were we ever behind by more than one score all year?  And those two games Allen supposedly was playing hurt.  So now when things weren't going well, makes it harder to know what to do when you've hardly been in that position all season.

 

The entire play of offense took a big step back once playoffs started.  Was it due to facing better defenses? Certainly true of Indy and Ravens, but Allen certainly didn't look as rattled and the line gave him time to throw.  Not so much in this game as constantly under pressure.

 

Excluding Brown the WR's were pretty healthy all season, but they all caught up at once it seemed.

 

Running game is a complete mess.  I do wonder as proficient as the passing game was all season, did they not devote enough practice time to the running game?  Just looked up Singletery's stats for the past two seasons. Actually surprised me to see they were pretty close both season dropped from 775 yards to 687 2 TD's each year  , 151 t o156 attempts, little better receptions and yards passing in 2020, dropped  from 4 fumbles in 2019 to 1 this season.  So how come he seemed light years better in 2019??

[SoCal Deek]

Take your best shot and if you lose, okay.  This didn't feel like our best shot and that's what's frustrating

 

Well done Virgil.

The above line may be the most accurate statement that I've read about the Chiefs game.

 

Still, it was a great season and after winning against Indy, I felt we were playing with House Money.  The Bills will keep building for sure.  They're just not quite there... yet.

Edited January 27, 2021 by SoCal Deek

[LABILLBACKER]

Just finished watching this again. Very painful watching no one jam, press or even run anywhere near Kelce. I think Sean lost his mind on this strategy. Meanwhile the one guy (49) who's big and fast enough to play Kelce man was doing what he does best. Backpedal into nowhere land. After this game Dingleberry no longer gets to be called Motor. Frankly I don't see him making the team next season. The refs did what they were told to do. Gently steer the game toward the Goat v Kid matchup. Mission Accomplished. And sorry but the coaches deserve 75% of the blame for terrible planning. I'm sure some of Josh's bad decisions were a factor of his mind being somewhere else ( dad fighting covid). This season was spectacular but it sure ended with a dud. Next year we'll be better prepared and hopefully have this thing called  " a running game " ?

[Reed83HOF]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Just finished watching this again. Very painful watching no one jam, press or even run anywhere near Kelce. I think Sean lost his mind on this strategy. Meanwhile the one guy (49) who's big and fast enough to play Kelce man was doing what he does best. Backpedal into nowhere land. After this game Dingleberry no longer gets to be called Motor. Frankly I don't see him making the team next season. The refs did what they were told to do. Gently steer the game toward the Goat v Kid matchup. Mission Accomplished. And sorry but the coaches deserve 75% of the blame for terrible planning. I'm sure some of Josh's bad decisions were a factor of his mind being somewhere else ( dad fighting covid). This season was spectacular but it sure ended with a dud. Next year we'll be better prepared and hopefully have this thing called  " a running game " ?

[RiotAct]

Sorry to hear about your parents.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

Typically, when there's a delay between the end of the game and when I post these, it's because I needed more time to process the results or they played a late game and work was busy the next day.  In this case, I watched the message boards and saw countless amount of threads where people rushed into off season mode, tried summarizing the entire season into this game, or immediately got out the pitch forks.  For me, I was ready to write this as soon as the game was over, as I wasn't really upset or surprised with the outcome.  We lost to a team that should very well be going to their 3rd consecutive Super Bowl and has proven to have a dynamic offense that can flip a switch like anyone else.  Was I upset?  No.  Disappointed?  Of course.  But only 2 teams make it and 1 team wins it all. 

 

1 - Chess - As we've seen in each of the previous playoff games, the coaching game plans take it up a notch.  Our defense pulled out all the stops against the Ravens in an absolute masterful performance just a week prior.  In this game, the Bills clearly had a game plan, it was just unfortunately outdone by a better one.  The Bills weren't going to let the Chiefs go deep on them and they weren't going to get run all over.  In response, the Chiefs found ways to get the ball into their main two play makers hands within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage and let them take it from there.  The Chiefs kept shifting the pocket, neutralizing front four pressure and getting Mahomes outside the pocket, where he is the most comfortable.  And on defense, they pressed our guys and dared us to beat them man on man while we tried to run our offense through Motor.  Right or wrong, the Chiefs plan was better this game and the play makers took it home.

 

2 - Josh - It's frustrating when you lose a big game, especially when you know you didn't put your best effort out there.  Going into the game, some had concerns that the offense took a step back in the playoffs and the start of this game didn't help alleviate those concerns.  Josh looked off in this game, never looking comfortable, and making the high throws we last saw against the Titans and forgot how to throw out of a sack while trying to play hero ball.  On many replays, it was shown where the receivers weren't able to get open in the first half, and many would believe the Chiefs got away with their fair share of holding.  They definitely played physical and found a way to neutralize our best weapons.  Allen will tell you he didn't have a great game, but it wasn't all on him.

 

3 - Motor - When given the opportunity on the second biggest stage in the NFL, you hope your guys will step up and make the most of it.  Motor, unfortunately, did not in this game.  Motor's lack of burst and top end speed was apparent in this game and eventually got benched after an early drop in the wide open flat, which eventually led to a punt.  While he wasn't bad overall, he clearly wasn't going to be able to be the guy we could take advantage of to give us an edge.  The Chiefs were going to leave Motor alone for the most part, and he was unable to punish him.

 

4 - Dear old daddy rest his soul, left my mom a heavy load

She tried so very hard to fill his shoes

Workin' hours without rest, wanted me to have the best

Oh she tried to raise me right, but I refused.

 

5 - Offensive Line - This was easily one of the worst performances by our offensive line of the season.  Chris Jones dominated Williams on the right side and Josh faced pressure for most of the game.  The Chiefs didn't run a spy and Josh was able to make them pay on a few plays.  With the press, tight coverage and the eventual pressure. Josh was never able to get comfortable and the tempo was clearly in favor of the Chiefs

 

6 - Hill/Kelce - Tyreek was an absolute monster on the field and showed off why speed matters.  You had to tip your cap to him on the 70 yard slant route pass, where he juked out every single Bills player on the field.  Even when Tre was on him, Hill's speed was uncoverable and Mahomes had the time to wait for him to get open.  Kelce was more of a concern for me because we didn't seem to make any attempt to cover him in man.  By his seventh catch, I couldn't wrap my mind around why Milano or Poyer wasn't shadowing him or at least bumping him off the line.  To his credit, even Tre covered him a few times and couldn't slow him down.  When 70% of the offense runs through two players, you do have to question the defensive scheme a little. 

 

7 - Bass - If only he could have gotten that XP another foot higher, it would have been good.  Other than that, just great job by the rookie hitting some absolute bomb field goals.  Any concerns I had about this kid are gone and I feel really strong about him for the future.

 

8 - Refs - To be clear, I'm not putting this game on the refs, however they should have gotten ahead of the physicality in this game sooner.  Jones was caught on camera throwing a punch and there was A LOT of contact downfield against our receivers.  I understand letting them play, but there's a line.  You never want to say that another team beat you up, but the Chiefs beat us up in the first half and we couldn't recover.  By the end, emotions boiled over and we looked like the kids who can't handle a loss.  It was frustrating for a team that's shown such great composure and had a great time on the sidelines be reduced to this.

 

9 - Coaching - There's always going to be a lot of second guessing after a loss like this.  Why run the offense through Motor?  Why not go for 6 when in the redzone all those times?  Where were the blitzes?  Why not double Tyreek and Kelce and make someone else beat you?  Shoulda, coulda woulda.  I'm sure all the coaches would do something different if they could.  My bigger concern was the overall prep of the team.  Josh never looked dialed in this game and Mahomes was cool as a cucumber, even down 9-0.  They knew they were going to win this game and were better prepared.  That part is unacceptable.  Take your best shot and if you lose, okay.  This didn't feel like our best shot and that's what's frustrating

 

10- Season - Anyone who tells you they expected more out of this season is a liar.  We earned every win and did it against a really tough schedule.  Allen took an amazing leap forward and I leave the season knowing this.  The Bills learned from every single opportunity presented to them this year.  They took their licks, got right back up, and got better.  They will learn from this loss like they did against the Texans.  I have zero doubt this team will be back and win the whole damn thing.

 

Go Bills!!!!

your best write-up of the year.

 

You are absolutely right about coaching. We lost the coaching battle in the pre-game prep work. The gameplans didn’t work. 

[billsfan714]

Much like a player like GBs King can have an awful game, the defensive game plan for Kelce was the equivalent.   We criticize players a lot, but that game plan was terrible.   As someone who was an adult during the SB years, it always bothered me, that in the first SB we didnt run Thurman 30 times against a 2 man front at times.   I thought Daboll and Frazier didnt come up big.  They need to get better as much as any player to get over the hump.  No doubt Reid/Bienemy/Spagnola did better than our two.   And then its up to Beane to improve the talent.   KC is the bar.   What was just awesome about this season  is its clear that process is working and our standards  we expect of this team are much higher.