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Chiefs Brilliantly Copied a Play By AFC Rival to Burn Bills for Two Huge Touchdowns
The Kansas City Chiefs have one of their AFC rivals to thank for a play that helped them find the end zone twice against the Buffalo Bills in Sunday's conference championship game at Arrowhead Stadium.
Andy Reid and his staff went back to the Bills' blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season and found a play by the Ravens that Buffalo couldn't stop. The Chiefs then popped it into their game plan last Sunday, the Bills couldn't stop it twice, and now Kansas City is heading back to the Super Bowl for a third straight year.
The play is a simple counter-read-option that had two tight ends in the backfield. On the first score, quarterback Patrick Mahomes handed off to running back Kareem Hunt, who ran it in for a 12-yard touchdown on the Chiefs' opening drive. The second score came in the fourth quarter when Mahomes kept the ball and ran in for a 10-yard touchdown to give Kansas City a 29–22 lead.
Charles Goldman from A to Z Sports found the play from the Buffalo-Baltimore game, which had Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson running in for a TD:
The Chiefs can thank an AFC rival for the play they used to score two touchdowns against the Bills in the AFC Championship Game. The Ravens ran this same counter-read against Buffalo in Week 4. This is what elite coaching and game prep look like. pic.twitter.com/6fcarzJFX8
— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) January 27, 2025
Here's ESPN's Dan Orlovsky breaking down the Chiefs' touchdowns while using that play, which was something he hadn't seen from Kansas City all year:
I have never ever seen the @Chiefs run these plays#nfllive pic.twitter.com/iHygKh6gfI
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 27, 2025
Kansas City's coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for putting in the work to finding that play and then using it at perfect times against the Bills.
Feels like there's a reason why the Chiefs are just a win away from becoming the first NFL team to win three straight Super Bowl titles.
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Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.