Bills Central

The Massive Advantage of Arrowhead: How the Bills can overcome this extremely difficult environment

Arrowhead Stadium was recently ranked the loudest, most difficult place by NFL players. Overcoming that intensity is critical to any teams success in Kansas City.

Brian Letscher

Jan 18, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Arrowhead Stadium.
Jan 18, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Arrowhead Stadium. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
In this story:


The Buffalo Bills are preparing to play the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend in the AFC Championship game, which features the two top seeds from the AFC conference.

The Bills will head to Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, known as one of the nost inhospitable stops for visiting teams.

In a recent poll by ESPN, 111 current NFL players ranked the most difficult stadium in which to play. Unfortunately for the Buffalo Bills, the number one vote-getter - by far - was Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. Shannon Sharpe shared some of his own personal experience playing there:

RELATED: Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs updated Thursday injury report for AFC Championship

So what makes Arrowhead, well, Arrowhead?

Start with the least of a teams worries but annoying nonetheless: the visitor's lockerroom is tiny. You put 53 huge men plus coaches and staff in a cramped lockerrroom - not comfortable at all.

But according to the ESPN poll, it's what happens when the players leave that lockerroom that can really affect the outcome of the game. A sign will greet the Bills players and coaches as they make their way to the field: "Welcome to Arrowhead -- The Loudest Stadium in the World -- 142.2 DB" That is loud. Jet-engine loud. In 2014, the decibal level - 142.2 - set a Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd noise ever at a sporting event in a victory over the Patriots - a record Tom Brady didn't love.

RELATED: Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen keeps it real about Ravens play, prepares for Chiefs

mahomes arrowhea
Dec 24, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) interacts with the crowd / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

So what might the Bills do to combat this ear-splitting wall of sound created by the bowl-seating, steep decks and crazy fans called "Chiefs Kingdom"?

One, they'll pipe crowd noise into practice all week to get the players and coaches used to it on another level. They'll blast music and Chiefs Kingdom chants that the team will hear in the stadium. The Bills players will also rely on using hand signals to communicate, particularly on offense. Or, as Bills TE Dawson Knox noted in 2022, lip reading.

Josh Allen
Dec 24, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) calls signals. / Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

As Josh Allen said in 2022 in an interview with NFL Network's Kyle Brandt about playing at Arrowhead, "It can go one of two ways, right? It can be the loudest stadium that you’ll ever be in or it can be the quietest stadium you’ll ever be in. It’s this cool mix and match. If you do your job and you can go out there and win a football game, the satisfaction that you get from [it is great].”

Come Sunday's AFC Championship game, the question is not whether the Chiefs fans will have Arrrowhead rockin', it's whether Allen and the Bills can pull off the plays that bring silence to the NFL's most difficult place to play.

arrowhea
Jan 18, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs fans react during the first quarter of a 2025 AFC divisional round game against the Houston Texans at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

More Buffalo Bills News:

Published
Brian Letscher
BRIAN LETSCHER

A Michigan native, Brian graduated from the University of Michigan in another century, where he earned a degree in economics and a Rose Bowl Championship ring while playing football for the Wolverines under Head Coach Gary Moeller. Brian went on to coach Division 1A football for several years before becoming a full-time writer and actor while maintaining an unhealthy interest in sports. He is currently developing a scripted television series, THOSE WHO STAY, based on a series of historical fiction articles he wrote about Bo Schembechler's Michigan football program as they struggle to unite and win the championship - which requires beating #1 Ohio State - during the tumultuous civil rights and anti-war movements of 1969.

Home/News