Bills, Chiefs brace for high-octane rematch
KANSAS CITY, MO.
Stefon Diggs walked off the field inside Arrowhead Stadium back in October with two very distinct feelings: elation that his Bills had avenged an AFC title game loss to the Chiefs and the conviction that they would meet again.
Get ready for the latest throw-down between two of the league’s best teams Sunday night.
Fresh off a near-perfect 47-17 blowout of New England last weekend, Diggs and the Bills are headed back to Kansas
City for the divisional round of the playoffs. And awaiting them are Patrick Mahomes and the highflying Chiefs, who turned around their season after a lackluster start and then throttled Pittsburgh 42-21 in their wild-card matchup.
“They’ve got all the talent in the world,” Diggs said. “They’ve been playing at a high level. They’ve been to the Super Bowl twice. They have a hell of a quarterback, hell of receivers, good defense — they’re a great team.”
Turns out he wasn't the only one that anticipated another showdown, either.
“We’ll probably play them a lot of times. It’ll be great competition,” Mahomes said, “and it’s definitely going to be a great challenge for us as a team to compete with them.”
Indeed, it’s difficult to find a game with more star power than this one.
Josh Allen threw five TD passes against the Patriots to set a Bills playoff record, while Diggs and resurgent running back Devin Singletary give him plenty of playmakers. On the other side, the Buffalo defense featuring All-Pro safety Jordan Poyer and running mate Micah Hyde led the league in just about every meaningful statistical category.
Buffalo, which has lost eight straight playoff games on the road, scored on each of its first seven drives against the Patriots and became the first NFL team to finish a playoff game with no punts, field goals or turnovers.
“It’s tough to have a perfect game,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said,
“and they did a nice job with it last week.”
As for the Chiefs? Well, they’ve merely won their past five playoff games at Arrowhead Stadium.
Mahomes became the first player to throw for at least 400 yards and five touchdowns with fewer than 10 incompletions in the postseason in last week’s romp past Pittsburgh. His familiar targets, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill, did most of the work while the suddenly stout
Kansas City defense held the Steelers to 44 yards in the first half.
Throw in the fact that both teams are intimately familiar with each other — Bills coach Sean McDermott even spent most of his formative years working for Reid in Philadelphia — and the stage is set for a riveting matchup.
“We don’t want to have that feeling that we had there last year. We know our season ended there last year,” Allen said, “and now we have to do everything in our power to put our foot forward and make sure yards, never a good sign for the Bucs.
Los Angeles cornerback Jalen Ramsey noted a lot has changed since, ranging from the Bucs having a different look due to injuries and the Rams adding Odell Beckham Jr. on offense and Von Miller on defense.
“That was a while ago. Different people have stepped up for each team
... and a lot more is on the line right now,” Ramsey said.
What hasn’t changed is what the Rams feel they have to do to win.
In addition to another strong performance from quarterback Matthew Stafford, who got the first postseason win of his 13year career last week, Los Angeles feels it’s imperative that the Aaron Donald-led pass rush has a big that it doesn’t end there this year.”
REMEMBER WHEN
The Bills were 4-1 and riding high after their 3820 win at Kansas City, when Dawson Knox’s 117 yards receiving tied the third-best output by a tight end in team history. Then they lost five of their next eight games, a slide that began when Knox broke his right hand during a 34-31 loss at Tennessee.
Buffalo rebounded by closing with four straight wins to clinch its second consecutive AFC East title. game, too.
“Seems like Week 3 was an eternity ago now,” coach Sean McVay said, adding the Rams embrace the challenge of facing Brady and the defending champs.
“It’s a great opportunity. ... I’m hoping that we continue to earn more opportunities,” Stafford said. “That’s the goal at this point – find ways to win games, no matter what it looks like.”
SECONDARY CONCERNS
The Rams’ secondary actually played well last week despite the absence of both starting safeties, holding Arizona to 122 net yards passing. Starter Taylor Rapp is out again with a concussion, so Los Angeles must continue to rely heavily on backup
That run has coincided with Singletary giving Buffalo a more balanced attack with 456 yards rushing over his past six games.
WHITE STILL WATCHING
Buffalo is without top cornerback Tre’Davious White after he had a season-ending knee injury in a 31-6 win at New Orleans on Thanksgiving night. Levi Wallace took over his job while second-year cornerback Dane Jackson moved into the other starting job.
Poyer said he received a text from White on Tuesday safeties Nick Scott — who didn’t come off the field against Arizona — and Terrell Burgess along with 37-year-old Eric Weddle, who ended a two-year retirement and played 19 snaps for LA.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
The Rams’ rushing game got exponentially more dangerous in the past two weeks with the addition of Cam Akers, the second-year pro who tore his Achilles tendon in July. Akers had 95 total yards against Arizona, showing off an explosiveness that juiced a struggling running attack. With a fresh Akers splitting work with dependable Sony Michel, Los Angeles easily could improve on its 76 yards rushing against Tampa Bay in the teams’ first meeting this season.
night, which read: “Hey, we got to go crazy. Best in the world.”
IN DEMAND
Buffalo coordinators Leslie Frazier (defense) and Brian Daboll (offense) are both attracting attention to fill head coaching vacancies. Daboll met with the Bears on Sunday and both assistants met with the Vikings.
HEALTH CHECK
The Bills listed only defensive end Mario Addison as limited in practice by a shoulder injury, while Chiefs’ backup running back Darrel Williams (toe) and cornerback Rashad Fenton (back) missed practice.