'Reinvigorated' veteran provides exactly what Bills' defense was missing vs. Chiefs

Buffalo Bills' defensive end Joey Bosa spent his first nine NFL seasons as a defensive centerpiece for a Kansas City Chiefs' division rival, seeing plenty of Patrick Mahomes over the years.

In 12 games against the Chiefs prior to this season, Bosa accounted for 26 tackles and 5.5 sacks for the Los Angeles Chargers.

For all the individual success that the five-time Pro Bowl performer enjoyed in Southern California, however, the Chargers could do nothing to prevent the Chiefs from claiming the AFC West title year after year.

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This past offseason, after being released by the Chargers as a salary cap casualty, Bosa signed a one-year contract to join the reigning five-time AFC East champion Bills, who had won four consecutive regular season meetings against the Chiefs.

In Week 9, Bosa had a hand in Buffalo' s fifth straight regular season triumph over Kansas City. He played 73 percent of defensive snaps, recording 1.0 sack and while consistently harassing Mahomes.

“Just happy. It's fun to win. It's fun to play well. Just feel reinvigorated here. So happy to be here. Proud of everybody," said Bosa after the 28-21 victory.

As a team, the Bills generated pressure on more than half of Mahomes's drop backs. Such a performance has rarely been the case for Buffalo against the Chiefs in both the regular season and playoffs. According to Next Gen Stats, the result was "+14.3% higher than their pressure rate in any of their other 9 matchups against the Chiefs since 2020."

The Bills have routinely struggled to get Mahomes on the ground, and even disrupt him in the pocket, over the years. It was evident in last January's AFC Championship Game loss when the quarterback beat the defense on multiple key scrambles.

In six regular season battles against the Bills, Mahomes lost more than 20 total yards on sacks once, and it was this past Sunday. In addition to dropping the Chiefs' quarterback three times and forcing one odd intentional grounding penalty, Buffalo limited Mahomes to the lowest single-game completion percentage (44.1) of his career.

Buffalo Bills defensive end Joey Bosa sacks Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes with linebacker Terrel Bernard coming in to help on Nov. 2, 2025. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"Man, it feels good. Just proud of everybody — the way we rushed, kept him in the pocket, affected him. Just couldn't be happier right now. It's always a close one against those guys. They battled to the end," said Bosa.

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The 30-year-old Bosa is clearly enjoying his time with the Bills both on and off the field, and he's undoubtedly making Buffalo a more formidable opponent for Mahomes and Co.

"There's just really not much to say, but it's a long season. We got a lot of work left to do, and we just have to move on," said Bosa.

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