Patrick Mahomes: KC Chiefs Wanted to 'Prove a Point' Against Buffalo Bills
For the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Kansas City Chiefs had to go on the road to square off against a conference opponent in the playoffs. Technicalities throughout the week led to debates on whether this was Mahomes's first actual road playoff game but for all intents and purposes, it's considered exactly that.
Facing a hostile 'Bills Mafia' crowd at Highmark Stadium, Kansas City emerged with a Divisional Round victory.
Supported by an impressive offensive showing and some timely defensive stops, the Chiefs locked down a 27-24 victory against one of their biggest rivals. In the process, they booked their trips to Baltimore for the AFC Championship Game and silenced a few more doubters in the process. Of course, those doubters were folks who questioned whether Mahomes would be able to thrive on the road in the postseason.
Speaking to CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson after the game, Mahomes made it clear that he and his teammates had something to prove on Sunday.
"First off, this is a great environment," Mahomes said. "It really is. But we did hear it all week, man, about playing a road game. We were here to prove a point, man, and show that we can play anywhere. We know we're going to have a heck of a challenge this next week, but our guys are going to get ready to go out there and go and see what we can do."
Bringing up Super Bowl LV against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Mahomes alluded to the Chiefs having played road playoff games with him at quarterback. Even if that doesn't truly count, he did very little in the Divisional Round to allow room for those question marks to come creeping back up. Describing Sunday as a "challenge" the team embraced, Mahomes engineered an attack that averaged a scorching 7.7 yards per play and scored 27 points despite having the ball for just 22:57 of play.
Kansas City's postseason path has looked different this year. Not only did the team have its worst regular season (and offense) since Mahomes took over back in 2018, but this road game was relatively uncharted territory. The conference title game, albeit one featuring the Chiefs once again, will be hosted in a place other than GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for the first time in over half a decade. Mahomes says while he loves being in front of the home crowd, all he cared about in Orchard Park was surviving and advancing in a tough road environment.
"Guys come together," Mahomes said. "I love being at Arrowhead. I love being at Arrowhead and playing in front of that crowd but when you're on the road, it's you versus them. It's you versus everybody in the stadium and you have to come together as a team, and the guys do that. You saw that in the game today. Through three quarters, offensively, we were moving the ball up and down the field but we got shut down in the fourth quarter. I went over to the defense and I told them, I said, 'Y'all shut it down and we'll win this football game. We'll go to the AFC Championship Game.' And they did going into that fourth quarter. I told them next time, I'll try to tell them earlier. If I can tell them at like halftime to do that and they're going to just shut them out from there..."
Don't get it twisted — nothing was perfect for the Chiefs versus Buffalo. On offense, things were a bit sloppy at times and a fourth-quarter turnover gave the Bills a chance to get right back into the game. Defensively, stopping the run was a huge obstacle in the first half and the third quarter didn't completely bridge the gap. With that said, style points aren't particularly important come playoff time. Mahomes knows that it took both sides to get the job done by any means necessary.
"It was a team win, and that's what you need in the playoffs," Mahomes said.
