Buffalo Bills Intercept Patrick Mahomes For 24-20 Revenge Win at Chiefs
In our pregame conversation with Tony Romo, some things in particular stood out.
"The Buffalo Bills are a complete team defensively and offensively,'' said the CBS Sports analyst. "The big question mark is going to be, 'Can the Kansas City Chiefs stop the Bills?' No one's really been able to do that.''
The Bills - who'd waited nine months to make up for 13 seconds, their revenge plan's mandated staging coming on Sunday in Week 6 at KC - answered those "some things'' in an all-important 24-20 victory.
Could KC stop the Bills? Not often enough, though there were not 78 points scored here as was the case in the last meeting.
Is Buffalo's defense really as "complete'' as its vaunted offense? Two interceptions of KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes, including a Taron Johnson game-sealer with 51 seconds left, insist that the answer is, "Absolutely.''
While the Bills, now 5-1, were going to undoubtedly remain in the NFL's metaphorical penthouse of championship contenders win or lose, defeating the hosting Chiefs would surely serves as a next-level-up for a team that has seen its season end at Arrowhead Stadium in each of the past two years.
Western New York supporters need little reminder of the significance 13 seconds has on their franchise until further notice, the time removed from the Divisional playoff clock when the Chiefs undid Josh Allen/Gabriel Davis magic to set up a 42-36 overtime victory. One year prior, the Bills were merely the Chiefs' final hurdle to AFC supremacy, serving as their conference title game victim in 2020-21.
To that end, Buffalo did what anyone who has to face the Mahomes-led Chiefs in an adversarial fashion for the next decade-plus: shore up the defense.
And the Bills have done that. Have they mostly gotten over the loss from a mental standpoint? Sure, but no one will be convinced that the demons are fully exorcised until they get the best of Kansas City.
They did so here, holding the Chiefs to 20 points while knocking them down to 4-2. A matchup generally defined by the aerial antics of Allen and Mahomes maybe instead came down to the differences from last year's group, with players like new vet Von Miller (who had two sacks) and new rookie Kaiir Elam (who had the first interception, an end-zone pick) tilting the rivalry Buffalo's way.
Miller came into the game announcing that he was always "naturally a (Chiefs-)hater,'' so it was fun to see him flex that muscle as part of a defense that largely controlled scary KC. That's not to say Allen (27 of 40 passing for 329 yards) and his three TD passes ...
To Miller (as usual) ...
And to Stefon Diggs (10 for 148 yards), as usual ...
And finally, with 1:04 remaining, to Dawson Knox ...
Weren't huge.
But 24 points being enough to win at KC?
"Oh my goodness,'' said Romo on his live CBS wrap-up of the game. "(The Bills) might have to be the team to beat now.''
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