AFC Championship Game Week Thread - Bills at Chiefs

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

 

[NI Bills Fan]

16 minutes ago, Danger Mouse said:

I would love, love, love an offensive playbook that didn’t involve Josh’s legs for this game. 
 

they are going to be so all over that. We should have enough talent to not rely on it. 

Surely this is a game where you use all any weapons you have available, including one of your most effective... Josh Allen's legs.

 

If we struggled to move the ball, lost the game and Josh Allen had less than 5 rushing attempts I'd wonder why they hadn't tried everything to find a way.

 

[Ya Digg?]

23 minutes ago, Danger Mouse said:

I would love, love, love an offensive playbook that didn’t involve Josh’s legs for this game. 
 

they are going to be so all over that. We should have enough talent to not rely on it. 

I would love to be up enough late in the 4th where he doesn’t have to use his legs. He’s a weapon though, can’t gameplan to not use him 

[Magox]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

Thanks for your explanation!

 

I wouldn't pretend to know what position Bernard was supposed to be in, in zone coverage.  I don't have the "key" to the Bills coverage rules.  What I saw, especially in the first half, was that the Bills defense as a whole was having success in containing Jackson and Henry - 73 yds on 18 plays was not where the Ravens hoped to be IMO.  I thought the Bills did a good job adjusting pre-snap to give themselves success and it seemed clear Bernard was the chief conductor there. I also thought the Bills used multiple guys at the point of attack to compensate for the likelihood that our LB might not be able to shed behemoths like Ricard.  Cover1 breaks some of those down I think.  

 

In the second half, I thought the Bills wore down, including Bernard.  It didn't help a bit that our first 2 offensive possessions were 3 and out then 6 and out.  I thought the whole D started to look flat.  As a friend said once about a rock singer who came to a sad end, "that's what you get when you take a 60 watt singer and run him at 350W for a few years".  At the end of the day, physics is undefeated.

 

I got no quarrel with calling him the 2nd best LB on the field to Milano.  I thought Milano looked closer than ever to his old self and just hope his trip to the Blue Tent wasn't anything serious, along with Bernard's trip and the shots of him using the Theragun on the sidelines.

 

As far as Dorian Williams, the guy only played 24 snaps.  When you got a guy who is playing Left Bench 60% of the snaps against a physical, large offense like the Ravens, comparing him to a guy who is on the field Every Defensive Snap is a rigged comparison IMO.

May your beers be ever tasty and tinged with lime (if that's what you prefer)

I disagree with Simon’s view on Bernard, we all know of the huge play he made on Andrews but that’s not the only consequential play he made.

 

This is one of my favorite defensive plays of the game, no one probably noticed it and it won’t show up anywhere in the stat sheets but it was huge.

 

Watch the video below, watch Rickard and watch Bernard.   This was the very first play right after the Bateman play that led to a first down from the 2.  This set the tone for what probably everyone thought was going to be 7 points for this drive.

 

Bernard takes Rickard on one on one and Bernard torpedos Rickard’s thighs and stops him in his tracks and causes Rickard to fold over and essentially become like a big 300 pound boulder blocking the path 1 yard behind the line of scrimmage and doesn’t allow for Henry to have any momentum and speed to hit the hole.

 

He did his 1/11th and it was huge and consequential that changed up the Ravens hopes of rushing it in to forcing the Ravens to pass on 2nd and 3rd down and they eventually only get 3 points .

 

 

[Bimmer323i]

On 1/20/2025 at 1:52 AM, DapperCam said:

Sick of Tony Romo

Awe man I hope he’s not doing the game this week …All he did was give Lamar Jackson a rim job the whole game

I don’t care what anyone says I don’t think the Chiefs are a good team at all… You go look at there schedule and see all the crap teams they’ve barely beaten by a point or two.. And 4 or 5 of the games would have been a loss if it wasn’t for the refs or Denver missing a fg… As long as we cover d**k face Kelce and don’t let him run wide open like every one else does and the refs stay out of the way it should be a comfortable win…

[BillsFooteball]

I never been so anxious about a Wednesday injury report as I am for tomorrow 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

considering his play in their stadium (for the most part)  seems foolish of them if that's their plan 

Yea idk…this feels like a game the bills will be able to run and stop the run.  KCs big impact playmakers seem to skew more to slowing down the passing game whether it be pass coverage or Chris jones rushing the passer and they have to be able to stop the run to give those guys a chance to make plays. 
 

the bills were running effectively on two teams that really nobody runs on to the point where Sean Payton pretty much admitted ‘yo I don’t understand how that happened’ in his press conference haha and kc has looked a little bit leaky in their rush defense as of late 

 

some of those late runs that got bottled up by Baltimore were there we just had a few execution errors.  I think when people see a run fail they assume it was a bad call but a handful of them down the stretch weren’t..  and on top of all that, outside of the goal line sequence passes outnumbered runs pretty significantly in that second half and quite a few times josh looked to push it deep but ended up settling for a check down that went for a decent gain and kept everything on schedule 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Kelly to Allen]

10 minutes ago, BillsFooteball said:

I never been so anxious about a Wednesday injury report as I am for tomorrow 

 

It's going to be everyone full practice and a few limited 

Edited 5 hours ago by Kelly to Allen

[Solomon Grundy]

1 hour ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

I think they’re going to try a couple of deep shots.

 

When the Bills rushed 3 and dropped 8 in high leverage situations they gave up back breaking plays.

 

Two weeks in a row Douglas and Rapp/Hamlin have given up bombs.

 

And the Chiefs almost hit a long one to Hollywood Brown deep.

 

 

I don't think their offensive line will hold up to give him the time. That deep shot in the Ravens game is when Bishop subbed for Rapp

[BillsFooteball]

1 minute ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

It's going to be everyone full practice and a few limited 

Trust me it’s AFC championship game anyone who can possibly play will play. So I hope you are right. Let alone any other surprises it’s fair to be concerned:

Milano-assume all good but need that peace of mind 

Benford- where are we at concussion protocol 

Rapp- last time we saw him, he was carted off

Johnson- how’s the shoulder? Ready to get hit and tackle 
 

[Doc Brown]

34 minutes ago, Magox said:

I disagree with Simon’s view on Bernard, we all know of the huge play he made on Andrews but that’s not the only consequential play he made.

 

This is one of my favorite defensive plays of the game, no one probably noticed it and it won’t show up anywhere in the stat sheets but it was huge.

 

Watch the video below, watch Rickard and watch Bernard.   This was the very first play right after the Bateman play that led to a first down from the 2.  This set the tone for what probably everyone thought was going to be 7 points for this drive.

 

Bernard takes Rickard on one on one and Bernard torpedos Rickard’s thighs and stops him in his tracks and causes Rickard to fold over and essentially become like a big 300 pound boulder blocking the path 1 yard behind the line of scrimmage and doesn’t allow for Henry to have any momentum and speed to hit the hole.

 

He did his 1/11th and it was huge and consequential that changed up the Ravens hopes of rushing it in to forcing the Ravens to pass on 2nd and 3rd down and they eventually only get 3 points .

 

 

Just a side note to that.  It's mind blowing to me is how you don't just run Henry automatically four times at first and goal from the two.  These offensive coordinators tend to overthink it at times.

[Dan]

1 hour ago, BillsFan130 said:

If the bills lose this game, I want them to go down swinging.

 

Offence: Admittedly I'm a bit concerned with the heavy run approach. I think it's going to be a long day at the office if the bills try to run as much as last week.

 

Even though the Bills were very productive against the chiefs the last meeting, I feel a lot of that was Josh bailing them out of 3rd and longs- Will be hard to replicate that in Arrowhead

Josh needs 30-35 drop backs IMO

 

Defence: Love how much they blitzed Baltimore. (48 percent of drop backs)

 

Lets hope Bobby B keeps dialing up pressures.

 

assuming they get their guys back, I think this Bills defence matches up pretty well against KC 

How effective is Mahomes when blitzed?   We need to pressure him and make him uncomfortable, but is blitzing on half the plays the best way to do that?

[finn]

47 minutes ago, Bimmer323i said:

Awe man I hope he’s not doing the game this week …All he did was give Lamar Jackson a rim job the whole game

I don’t care what anyone says I don’t think the Chiefs are a good team at all… You go look at there schedule and see all the crap teams they’ve barely beaten by a point or two.. And 4 or 5 of the games would have been a loss if it wasn’t for the refs or Denver missing a fg… As long as we cover d**k face Kelce and don’t let him run wide open like every one else does and the refs stay out of the way it should be a comfortable win…

I wouldn't underestimate KC. They're a different team in the playoffs, and the Bills had to play exceptionally well to beat them this year. I do think the Bills will win, but KC is going to show up. They won't be sending gifts our way like the Ravens did. 

[MikePJ76]

My first thoughts on the game are this.

 

Denver and Baltimore had all the defensive stats that look nice and are fun to talk about.  The Chiefs defense is better than both.  If the chiefs decide to shut down the run early in the game I believe they can do it.  Kyle Hamilton said after the game sunday that Buffalo ran the same play, Duo, like ten times in a row and they just didn't stop.  This sounds a lot like what Denver said the week before, Buffalo surprised them with how good their run game is and cook was so patient and finding the hole.  I think the chiefs are better than both defenses and will not allow the bills to get those big runs in the first half that has been the calling card of this season. 

 

My second thought is the Bills are going to have to win this game playing the complete opposite of the game they have been playing.  They will probably end up with the ball first.  They will probably at some point in the second half be chasing the game a little and trying to tie it up or take a small lead.  The game will play out where KC has the ball into the half and out of it so unlike most of this season the first few possessions will be extra important.   

 

Although I believe Buffalo is comfortable at this point playing in KC (at this point they are like divisional opponents playing twice a year) I still think it is going to cause some problems.  

 

I hope this is the year.

[Carptom1]

3 hours ago, PoundingDog said:

If the Bills expect to use the same script like they used on Nov 17, the result will be disappointing. I believe the saying "you learn more from defeat." The Chiefs will be ready. And they have important re-enforcement with that corner. Can Cooper beat that guy?

 

What I remember of that game from the offensive side is how poorly we ran the ball. Cook/Davis/Johnson combined for 50 yards the whole game. The Chiefs have a defensive group similar to the Bills and they rally to the ball from everywhere, creating number advantage.  I feel this time they have to do better. Mixon was able to run 88 yards on them, I feel the Bills have to find a way to at least match that.

 

Bottom line - winning the trenches on both side and I think we have a chance to do that. 

To answer your question, Cooper cannot beat Jalen Watson or Mcduffie. Most of your passing success will come from TE and running back. The biggest concern I would have as a Bills fan would be safety. Hamlin is a nice story and has certainly made some good plays, but I look for Reid to put both in conflict situations with Worthy and Brown. The question is whether or not the line can hold up to make this happen. A big concern is Pacheco and his ankle. He has not had the burst since coming back. I think this game will be close as both teams have their flaws. If you guys do end up moving on you can’t let the Eagles win.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Mahomes will be looking to get the ball out quick. Will McDermott play more man coverage? OBD says they've been playing more of it recently 

If we play more man let’s hope

we can get our hands on Worthy and Brown.  We don’t have the DB speed to stay with those guys.  Douglas especially 

[Billl]

1 hour ago, Danger Mouse said:

I would love, love, love an offensive playbook that didn’t involve Josh’s legs for this game. 
 

they are going to be so all over that. We should have enough talent to not rely on it. 

I would love that as well.  Start the petition, and I’ll sign it.

[Kelly to Allen]

12 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

My first thoughts on the game are this.

 

Denver and Baltimore had all the defensive stats that look nice and are fun to talk about.  The Chiefs defense is better than both.  If the chiefs decide to shut down the run early in the game I believe they can do it.  Kyle Hamilton said after the game sunday that Buffalo ran the same play, Duo, like ten times in a row and they just didn't stop.  This sounds a lot like what Denver said the week before, Buffalo surprised them with how good their run game is and cook was so patient and finding the hole.  I think the chiefs are better than both defenses and will not allow the bills to get those big runs in the first half that has been the calling card of this season. 

 

My second thought is the Bills are going to have to win this game playing the complete opposite of the game they have been playing.  They will probably end up with the ball first.  They will probably at some point in the second half be chasing the game a little and trying to tie it up or take a small lead.  The game will play out where KC has the ball into the half and out of it so unlike most of this season the first few possessions will be extra important.   

 

Although I believe Buffalo is comfortable at this point playing in KC (at this point they are like divisional opponents playing twice a year) I still think it is going to cause some problems.  

 

I hope this is the year.

 

Just win. This is the type of game where I honestly don't care how it looks. Every single yard is going to be tough to get, everything is going to be left on the field....Just win. Whatever it takes 

 

I'll be praying 🙏 the entire time 

Edited 4 hours ago by Kelly to Allen

[BillsFan130]

24 minutes ago, Dan said:

How effective is Mahomes when blitzed?   We need to pressure him and make him uncomfortable, but is blitzing on half the plays the best way to do that?

I hear you- But Lamar was also insane against the blitz before the Bills game.

 

His stats when the Bills blitzed him according to Joe marino? 6 for 12 for 99 yards with an INT

 

His stats when he wasn't blitzed? Something like 12 for 13 for around 150 yards and 2 TDs.

 

Moral of my point is- The front 4 isn't good enough to get consistent pressure, and I think they will have to lean into sending 5 guys a fair amount of the time

[Success]

1 hour ago, zow2 said:

Was listening to Mad Dog Russo on Sirius this afternoon. He had a caller with a deep southern accent saying he’s praying that the Bills win. He said he won’t watch the Super Bowl if Kansas City makes it again. It was funny and Russo agreed and says he’s praying with him.  People are really sick of the chiefs 

 

Fans are sick of every dynasty.  I'm pretty certain most Chiefs fans felt about New England exactly how everyone feels about them. And how we've all felt about teams like the Cowboys, Steelers, Niners, Warriors, Lakers, et al.

 

Personally, I usually appreciate dynasties a lot more when they're over. I even have much more respect for what the Pats did now than I ever would have imagined.