Kansas City at Buffalo in the Divisional Round!

[transplantbillsfan]

To me, the huge news is that Taron was limited.  I understand there's protocol, but I think he's going to play.  After the game, Matt Parrino was saying in his podcast with Ryan Talbot that after he was pulled from the game he was visibly upset on the sideline he wasn't allowed to go back in.  Hopefully that's an indicator it was minor.

 

The news on Bernard is huge.  I doubt he plays this week, but nice that there's still an opening for him and if we're able to advance, hopefully he comes back.

 

Douglas probably coming back is gigantic.  If Douglas can play and Taron can play, I'm not really worried about Benford potentially being out, though we'd obviously like him back.

 

LB is what's going to intrigue me this week.  It'd be great to get Dodson back, but who's our other LB playing and which positions will they play?  I love the Klein pickup, but obviously a Dodson & Klein duo is likely to get picked apart by Mahomes.  Wonder if McDermott primarily uses one as a blitzer.

 

I hope Gabe doesn't play.

 

What happened to Josh's neck?

[Shortchaz]

31 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Our Achilles heel on D in the playoffs against Mahomes has been in large part a woefully underperforming pass rush—if Rousseau really wants to cement his place as the next iteration of Bruce Smith, now would be a great time for a statement game—also building on what’s already been a great year for him so far. Looking for big things from our D line to help offset the injury holes in the middle and back end of the D. 

Guy has 5 sacks this year, 8 last year. He’s average at best. 

[Punch]

The Chiefs' injury list is pretty long, but most are practicing fully. Sneed being limited is something to keep an on:

 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

2 minutes ago, Shortchaz said:

Guy has 5 sacks this year, 8 last year. He’s average at best. 

Stop invading my highly optimistic hot takes with your facts! 😁. We can hope, can’t we? 

[Shortchaz]

2 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Stop invading my highly optimistic hot takes with your facts! 😁. We can hope, can’t we? 

I want him to be MUCH better 

[Beck Water]

26 minutes ago, Process said:

Are they ever not the healthiest team in the entire league? It's ridiculous. 

 

 

 

Technically, they had 13 players on injury report to the Bills 12.

 

The most serious for the Chiefs is Derrick Nnadi, who is a new add to their injury report with a tricep injury.  He's their starting nose tackle and the only DNP.  Sneed limited with a calf is of interest, he's one of their starting corners.

 

It's notable that Omenihu, one of their DEs, and Rashee Rice, are both nursing hammies.  Unknown how serious.

Edited January 17 by Beck Water

[Doc Brown]

12 minutes ago, balln said:

We’re better when healthy. We’re woefully unhealthy 

On offense I don't know if we'd ever been as healthy this time of year.  Davis is the only starter pry out and I'll leave it to other's to debate if it helps or hurts us (I think it slightly hurts us against KC).  Five o-lineman healthy all season and through a playoff game is unheard of.  Hell, even Harty somehow didn't get injured this season.  We need their A game or we'll lose like the Dolphins did last week who also had a similarly depleted defense.  This is definitely Josh Allen's biggest game of his career and I don't think it's particularly close.

[Dr.Sack]

10 minutes ago, Punch said:

The Chiefs' injury list is pretty long, but most are practicing fully. Sneed being limited is something to keep an on:

 

This probably will be a game where the roles reverse and KC will lose 4 players in the 1st Qtr. (Sneed, Bolton, Pacheco, Rice). 

[RunTheBall]

On 1/16/2024 at 3:47 PM, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

I'm feeling very ominous about this game. I don't view that things are lined up all that well other than Josh had a great game and we're at home. I want someone to give me reason to feel better about this matchup other than anything can happen.

Getting Johnson back would be HUGE. He’s the #1 guy I want back even before Bernard. 

Douglas and Dodson are going to play, I think Benford, Bernard and Rapp are out (or severely limited in the case of Bernard)

So we have enough guys to run the 4-2-5 and also switch up to the Dime with Poyer in the box and Lewis over the top in Rapp’s position.

 

The key on defense is to 1) Stop the run 2) Keep Mahomes in the pocket. I think we can do this with our D-line. KC’s strength is in the middle of their line, so if our guys can get a little push or hold their own our DE’s in a contained rush can collapse the pocket on their average tackles and force Mahomes to step up instead of escape out. At the same time, if they aren’t rushing balls-to-the-wall on non-obvious passing downs they can play Pacheco better and keep our LBs clean. Combine this with a spy who either takes Pacheco out of the backfield or spy’s Mahomes if he stays in.  There are ways to play leverage on Kelce and the WRs to close the middle of the field and force things outside. Yeah, Mahomes can definitely make those throws but they are more difficult and you can use the sidelines to limit YAC.

 

On offense, Josh is starting to peak at the right time. Brady has developed an offense that isn’t 100% dependent on Josh, he doesn’t have to be perfect to win. Obviously limiting TOs is #1, but I think the key is for us to be a ball control offense. Run the sht out of it, KC’s defense is not great against the run. Continue to take what’s given like Josh has been doing. Have an answer to the zero blitz which we’ve seen happen the last few games and against Pittsburgh. Run the ball, drain the clock, limit Mahomes possessions and capitalize on ours. I think we have the team to do this against KC. If Josh keeps playing like he did against Pitt we win.

 

W.

 

[Beck Water]

10 minutes ago, transplantbillsfan said:

What happened to Josh's neck?

 

First showed up after a "stinger" a couple weeks ago.  After the Patriots game I think. 

[PBF81]

29 minutes ago, balln said:

We’re better when healthy. We’re woefully unhealthy 

 

We're all but perfectly healthy on offense and that's all that should matter.  

 

Keep in mind that our defense has typically folded at this juncture in our recent playoffs.  

 

Either way, even if it's a track meet, it favors us.  

 

I mean the OLs are comparable.  Would we rather have Mahomes/Pacheco/Kelce/Rice and a bunch of JAGs, or Allen/Cook/Diggs/Kincaid/Shakir/Knox and Davis who may be back.  Easy decision as I see it.  

 

Then throw in homefield.  

 

Coaching is definitely a wildcard.  

 

 

Edited January 17 by PBF81

[NoHuddleKelly12]

22 minutes ago, Punch said:

The Chiefs' injury list is pretty long, but most are practicing fully. Sneed being limited is something to keep an on:

 

Local intel from my nephew the Chiefs fan: “they do that with Sneed a lot so he can rest.” As for the other adds to their report, he says: “I’m not concerned about Rice or Omenihu, Nadi yeah, I think he could miss. He’s usually decent about helping out the run. Rice came back into the game vs the dolphins so I’m sure they’re just letting him rest.”

Edited January 17 by NoHuddleKelly12

[The Wiz]

 

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

Baldy after the regular season game on part of the Chiefs strategy

 

 

 

 

Baldy on how the KC pressure strategy backfired at times

 

 

[Doc Brown]

10 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Pretty sure they were all healthy offensively the last couple years entering the playoffs… the injuries have mostly always on defense which is also another reason for why I’ve been bitching for them to stack the offense with better starters as opposed to their opposite approach of defense.

Do Kincaid, Torrence, and McGovern qualify?  Developing Cook and Shakir.  Last year we had Allen dealing with that elbow injury making his short term accuracy awful, no slot presence having to call the corpse of Cole Beasley with the Crowder injury/McKenzie failed experiment, and an o-line that was shaky all year with a beat up Spencer Brown.  This year Kincaid and Shakir have given us that middle of the field slot presence.  McGovern was a significant upgrade to Stafford and Spencer Brown has played much better fully healthy this year.  Combine that with the emergence of Cook to provide more balance and I expect a much better performance this postseason than last one from our offense.

[RiotAct]

15 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

 

you know, I’ve always liked DeShon Elliott.

[Jrb1979]

2 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

Do Kincaid, Torrence, and McGovern qualify?  Developing Cook and Shakir.  Last year we had Allen dealing with that elbow injury making his short term accuracy awful, no slot presence having to call the corpse of Cole Beasley with the Crowder injury/McKenzie failed experiment, and an o-line that was shaky all year with a beat up Spencer Brown.  This year Kincaid and Shakir have given us that middle of the field slot presence.  McGovern was a significant upgrade to Stafford and Spencer Brown has played much better fully healthy this year.  Combine that with the emergence of Cook to provide more balance and I expect a much better performance this postseason than last one from our offense.

With all that talent they still struggle to score points most games or putting teams away. 

[Yobogoya!]

2 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

• I don't love Haack, but I am not going to lose sleep over a punter

 

Haack should suffice to fill in for a game, at least in theory. If we're only punting from midfield, should be ok.

 

But if if we put ourselves in a position where he has to punt from our own end zone? In the swirling winds of Highmark stadium? I'm gonna lose a little sleep over that possibility, not gonna lie 😅

[Scott7975]

1 hour ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

What I'll say is different (and what I hope is the difference maker) is that since then we have seen Brady roll out blitz beaters. I am sure there are more than this, but what stands out to me are these:

Cook TD after the Cover 0 blitz

 

I can't find a link, but Kincaid had a great reel in on a 3rd and short vs Miami 

 

A bunch of examples from Baldinger from the Steelers game

 

 

 

Probably because Josh wasn't looking for Gabe Davis.

[teef]

14 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

With all that talent they still struggle to score points most games or putting teams away. 

Broken record.