This game shows that a fully healthy D would have beaten KC in last year's playoffs

[GunnerBill]

12 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

While the line blocking for the running game, minus Allen, was nothing to get excited about the difference maker for me was how the Bills offensive line picked up and handled the Chiefs blitz package.  

 

And how Brady called aggressive shots against the blitz. He called plays that attacked down the field when they wanted to bring extra guys better that we have ever done before in these matchups where our response to the blitz has been more just to survive. Eff that. They wanna throw extra guys at us, make them pay on the backend. 

[chris heff]

11 hours ago, RiotAct said:

you think they’ll start Milano against SF , or give him another week or two?

No, Milano will play a bit against SF, he will be on a snap count.

[SoTier]

 

 

7 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

I didn't realize that was the only game we played against them in the playoffs. You do realize Mahomes has 28 TD and 2 INT's in the Divisional and Championship rounds. Did you think we got his best today or that Bernard is going to turn him into a pumpkin come playoff time? It was a great win. Lets pump the breaks on rewriting history. 

 

Nobody is rewriting history.   In the 2023 divisional round, they lost to a KC team that got back key players from injury for the game because of a missed FG in the closing seconds despite fielding a so undermanned defense that they had to start a MLB called out of retirement -- and that MLB had been a marginal player even in his prime.

 

As for Mahomes not being at his best yesterday, well, maybe that was because of the Bills defense.     The Bills pass rush continually pressured Mahomes.   He threw INTs on his first and last passes of the game because of that pressure -- and the Bills' determined efforts to keep him in the pocket  -- a defense led by Bernard. 

 

Oh, yeah, and the Bills put up 30 points on the vaunted Chiefs defense that hadn't given up more than 28 points in nine games with an offensive unit missing OLer Brown, WR Coleman, and TE Kincaid.   Yesterday, the Bills were better prepared and better coached than the Chiefs, and they were the better team.  If the Bills come into the playoffs with a reasonably healthy roster, they are certainly capable of turning Mahomes and Company into a pumpkin.

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Which faction is more dogged?  Grammar Police or Thread Title Marshal? 🤔🤔

[Mikie2times]

 

1 hour ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

 

Yeah I just looked it up 

Both burrow and Allen have played in 5 div rd or further playoff games 

 

Allen has 8 passing touchdowns and 2 int

Burrow has 6 passing touchdowns and 4 int

 

Allen has 11 total tds and 2 total turnovers 

Burrow is the same 6 to 4

 

 

And Mahomes has what, 28TD and 2INT? Where did this conversation about Burrow come from?

9 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

 

 

Nobody is rewriting history.   In the 2023 divisional round, they lost to a KC team that got back key players from injury for the game because of a missed FG in the closing seconds despite fielding a so undermanned defense that they had to start a MLB called out of retirement -- and that MLB had been a marginal player even in his prime.

 

As for Mahomes not being at his best yesterday, well, maybe that was because of the Bills defense.     The Bills pass rush continually pressured Mahomes.   He threw INTs on his first and last passes of the game because of that pressure -- and the Bills' determined efforts to keep him in the pocket  -- a defense led by Bernard. 

 

Oh, yeah, and the Bills put up 30 points on the vaunted Chiefs defense that hadn't given up more than 28 points in nine games with an offensive unit missing OLer Brown, WR Coleman, and TE Kincaid.   Yesterday, the Bills were better prepared and better coached than the Chiefs, and they were the better team.  If the Bills come into the playoffs with a reasonably healthy roster, they are certainly capable of turning Mahomes and Company into a pumpkin.

 

The unbalance this place has from wins and losses is hilarious  

Edited Monday at 03:36 PM by Mikie2times

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, chris heff said:

No, Milano will play a bit against SF, he will be on a snap count.

 

Agree. I doubt Milano starts any of the next 3. I think they ramp him up and hope he is ready to start those final 3 regular season games and ready for the post season. 

[FireChans]

14 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

 

And Mahomes has what, 28TD and 2INT? Where did this conversation about Burrow come from?

The unbalance this place has from wins and losses is hilarious  

What I find really interesting is that no one has brought up that we beat KC in the regular season last year. 
 

I think we can beat KC in the playoffs. Do I think this game proved it? No.

[Mikie2times]

57 minutes ago, FireChans said:

What I find really interesting is that no one has brought up that we beat KC in the regular season last year. 
 

I think we can beat KC in the playoffs. Do I think this game proved it? No.

We beat KC in the regular season in 2021, 2022, 2023, and now 2024. So 4 straight years. They have this knack of turning it on more in the playoffs which isn't all that uncommon with dynasty level teams. That's not to say it wasn't a great win. We looked really good. But I just can't draw many conclusions about what that means for the future given our history. Having said that, I'm largely with you here. I think we CAN beat them in the playoffs. With that, I think people around here are going to think if we do our Super Bowl destiny is nearly guaranteed. That is where I think we will be in for a rude awakening. We have spent so much energy on beating KC and I don't even think KC is our biggest obstacle. We match up well with them. I never thought post 13 seconds we would have beat that Bengals team, at the peak of what they did and you can see around here people view that as a basic afterthought. We don't match up very well against Baltimore or Houston. Pittsburgh is a dangerous team with even average QB play.  It is a very long path to the Super Bowl and if we have a chance to make that happen we can't treat one team as if it's our Super Bowl. That is my fear as we keep going.  

[Mat68]

I agree.  Kc won last year because Safety play and linebaker play.  Missing Benard, Milano and Rapp significantly hampered the defense ability to limit Kelce.  Buffalo matches up very well with KC.  Im really liking the Dime package they have too.  With Milano Im not sure I abandon it.  Lewis and Johnson in the slot have played very well. 

[Success]

I think just having Bernard in there would have won that game. We just needed one more stop, one more big play on D.

 

Edited Monday at 05:42 PM by Success

[Big Turk]

2 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

 

 

Nobody is rewriting history.   In the 2023 divisional round, they lost to a KC team that got back key players from injury for the game because of a missed FG in the closing seconds despite fielding a so undermanned defense that they had to start a MLB called out of retirement -- and that MLB had been a marginal player even in his prime.

 

As for Mahomes not being at his best yesterday, well, maybe that was because of the Bills defense.     The Bills pass rush continually pressured Mahomes.   He threw INTs on his first and last passes of the game because of that pressure -- and the Bills' determined efforts to keep him in the pocket  -- a defense led by Bernard. 

 

Oh, yeah, and the Bills put up 30 points on the vaunted Chiefs defense that hadn't given up more than 28 points in nine games with an offensive unit missing OLer Brown, WR Coleman, and TE Kincaid.   Yesterday, the Bills were better prepared and better coached than the Chiefs, and they were the better team.  If the Bills come into the playoffs with a reasonably healthy roster, they are certainly capable of turning Mahomes and Company into a pumpkin.

 

 

The Chiefs were averaging over 10 yards per play into the 4th quarter of that game. It was absurd that the Bills were leading most of the game and could have easily won it.

[Jauronimo]

7 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

Irrefutable proof? No. Does it lend credence to that theory? Definitely. Bernard and Benford are big for this defense because they are match up pieces. The Bills have three guys of that ilk on this current defense - Taron Johnson being the third. And in that game in January the first two were injured and Taron was playing hurt. 

 

We need to get to the playoffs with those three, Ed and Groot healthy and firing. If they do there is enough there on this D while our O keep scoring 30. 

I think our offense has yet to show their full potential.  We have seen Samuel emerge the past 2 weeks and begin to look like the player we were expecting to see when he signed in free agency.  Cooper has yet to be fully integrated in the offense due to injury and lack of familiarity with the playbook.  Coleman continues to trend upward pre-injury.   All of these guys healthy and in the mix with Kincaid...could be special if we are managing 30 points a game with Hollins playing significant snaps.

 

[theRalph]

Which is why I'm so pleased there isn't a single mile logged as yet on the Milano odometer. 

[SoTier]

50 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

We beat KC in the regular season in 2021, 2022, 2023, and now 2024. So 4 straight years. They have this knack of turning it on more in the playoffs which isn't all that uncommon with dynasty level teams. That's not to say it wasn't a great win. We looked really good. But I just can't draw many conclusions about what that means for the future given our history. Having said that, I'm largely with you here. I think we CAN beat them in the playoffs. With that, I think people around here are going to think if we do our Super Bowl destiny is nearly guaranteed. That is where I think we will be in for a rude awakening. We have spent so much energy on beating KC and I don't even think KC is our biggest obstacle. We match up well with them. I never thought post 13 seconds we would have beat that Bengals team, at the peak of what they did and you can see around here people view that as a basic afterthought. We don't match up very well against Baltimore or Houston. Pittsburgh is a dangerous team with even average QB play.  It is a very long path to the Super Bowl and if we have a chance to make that happen we can't treat one team as if it's our Super Bowl. That is my fear as we keep going.  

 

What does it matter if fans get excited over a win over the Chiefs in November and speculate that maybe things would have been different in previous years if the team had been healthy ...  and why do you fear that???

 

[Big Turk]

2 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I think our offense has yet to show their full potential.  We have seen Samuel emerge the past 2 weeks and begin to look like the player we were expecting to see when he signed in free agency.  Cooper has yet to be fully integrated in the offense due to injury and lack of familiarity with the playbook.  Coleman continues to trend upward pre-injury.   All of these guys healthy and in the mix with Kincaid...could be special if we are managing 30 points a game with Hollins playing significant snaps.

 

 

We hung 30 on the Chiefs missing 3 offensive starters and on a team that hasn't allowed more than 28 points in the regular season since Week 4 of 2022.

 

Also the 5th straight game the Bills have scored 30+...

 

This team is going to reach new levels by the end of the year offensively....they are already really, really good and they haven't peaked yet.

Edited Monday at 06:00 PM by Big Turk

[msw2112]

I believed at the time, have believed since, and will always believe that the Bills would have won that playoff game against the Chiefs last season with a fully healthy defense and even with just 1 or 2 more guys back than they had.  I'll even go so far as to say that if Allen had checked down to Diggs underneath instead of throwing into the end zone on the final drive, they probably would have won that game, or, at worst, gotten it to OT.  That said, yesterday's big victory is not irrefutable proof of what would have happened last year.  Every year, team, game and circumstance is different.  If the Bills had a fully healthy defense, maybe the Chiefs would have had a different game plan.  We'll never know.  I'm agreeing with the OP's premise (a healthy Bills defense likely would have won the game), but not with the choice of words (irrefutable proof).

 

I believe that this year's Bills team can beat KC in the playoffs, but it will be more difficult than yesterday.  The pressure of the playoffs (lose and your season is over) adds a whole new element to the game that is just not present in the regular season and certain teams and players handle that pressure better than others.  The Chiefs have proven to handle that pressure better than any other team in the NFL, and unfortunately, the Bills have not.  Having a more diversified offense - meaning a running game and multiple receiving options rather than Diggs-left, Diggs-right, Diggs-downfield, Diggs-underneath with an occasional Allen run or Gabe Davis pass - will make the Bills better in the playoffs.  They'll be harder to stop, as they will be much less predictable.  I think the Bills are capable of doing it in the playoffs, but it won't be easy and is far from a guarantee.

 

None of this takes away from a fantastic game yesterday.  The Bills stepped up on the big stage while the whole country was watching.

[gonzo1105]

4 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

And how Brady called aggressive shots against the blitz. He called plays that attacked down the field when they wanted to bring extra guys better that we have ever done before in these matchups where our response to the blitz has been more just to survive. Eff that. They wanna throw extra guys at us, make them pay on the backend. 

 

The biggest difference to me in this year versus previous years is that the Chiefs secondary is nowhere near as good this year versus last year. McDuffie is still McDuffie but he isn't playing up to his typical level. They downgraded from Sneed to Chamarri Conner and had Jaylen Watson starting at the other CB spot and he obviously is out and their starting Nazeeh Johnson there right now.

 

That is a huge downgrade from last year and its no wonder why they were going after Lattimore at the deadline. If Spags wants to blitz his team isn't gonna hold up near as much as it did last year.

[Danger Mouse]

15 hours ago, RiotAct said:

you think they’ll start Milano against SF , or give him another week or two?

I hope we take no chances with him. Last year’s playoff run showed anything is possible. But that 1 seed still seems a reach with the fixtures left 

 

fully healthy bills playoff roster please. We’re already there and seeding is impossible to predict at this stage 

Edited Monday at 06:59 PM by Danger Mouse

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

 

The biggest difference to me in this year versus previous years is that the Chiefs secondary is nowhere near as good this year versus last year. McDuffie is still McDuffie but he isn't playing up to his typical level. They downgraded from Sneed to Chamarri Conner and had Jaylen Watson starting at the other CB spot and he obviously is out and their starting Nazeeh Johnson there right now.

 

That is a huge downgrade from last year and its no wonder why they were going after Lattimore at the deadline. If Spags wants to blitz his team isn't gonna hold up near as much as it did last year.

 

They did end up moving McDuffie more outside 2nd half. But agree he hasn't been at his best this year.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

15 hours ago, RiotAct said:

you think they’ll start Milano against SF , or give him another week or two?

He has to play to get him back to game speed as fast as they can.  Probably pretty limited snaps though