Alan Conklin || Issue 10 || December 3rd, 2024
Heading into the Sunday night
matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, all eyes were on Bills quarterback Josh Allen
as millions hoped he could
continue his regular season
dominance of the Chiefs
and give them their first loss
of the season. Heading into the game, Josh Allen was 3-1 all-time against the Chiefs in the regular season, seeming to be one of the only QBs that can consistently take down the defending back-to
back Superbowl champions.
And his performance in this
game certainly added to that
legacy. The Chiefs were 9-0 heading into this game, the only
undefeated team in the NFL. It has not come in typical Chiefs fashion though, as their defense has been winning them games, while their offense has been rather pedestrian. This includes a few down to the wire matches, one actually coming the previous week against
the division rival Broncos, where a blocked field goal as time expired was the only thing saving them from
going 8-1. They knew that this week was going to be their biggest test yet though. Going up against the hungry 8-2 Bills in New York certainly wasn’t going to be a gimme game. In fact, the
Bills were actually favored by two and a half points, despite holding the worse record.
The Bill’s would proceed to immediately begin proving the bettors right though by picking off Chiefs quarter back Patrick Mahomes on his first pass of the game. They would utilize this good field position and score a touchdown eight plays later, missing the PAT though, so only going up six. This score would hold for the entirety of the first quarter, but the Chiefs scored a touchdown of their own on their first drive of the second quarter to put them up 7-6. The Bill’s countered with a touchdown drive of their own. That drive was followed by a Chiefs three and out, and the Bills got the ball back and a chance to go up by two scores. They would not capitalize on this however as Josh Allen threw an interception that led to a Chiefs touchdown to put them back down by one. In the few minutes they
had left in the half though, the Bill’s marched down the field and made a field goal right as time expired to send them into halftime up 16-14. Coming back from break, many expected another entertaining quarter of scoring, but that is not what we got as the third quarter was an all-out defensive battle with each team punting twice. Then the first drive of the fourth quarter saw the Bills punch it in for a touchdown to make the score 23-14. This did not seem to faze the Chiefs though, as down nine they rallied for another touchdown to pull within two again. But with the pressure on and another
miraculous Chiefs win within reach the Bills marched down the field for their second touchdown in as many drives. Going back up nine with dwindling time all but sealed it for them, but a Patrick Mahomes interception five plays later truly ended things. This moved the Chiefs to 9-1 and the Bills 9-2. Being just a half game out of the number one seed, and holding the tiebreaker, the Bills hope to see the Chiefs drop at least one more game before the playoffs to give them the chance at a first week playoff bye as the number one seed, something not accomplished in the Josh Allen era in Buffalo.
Photo Credits: The Associated Press
The Hudsonian 