The Buffalo Bills played a masterful, physical brand of football chess against the suddenly hot Kansas City Chiefs, winning 28-21 and improving to 6-2. Buffalo’s win at least temporarily sends Kansas City reeling backwards to “in the hunt” and out of the playoffs if the season ended today.
Despite the obvious hype entering this game, the Bills felt like the vastly superior team in Week 9. Head coach Sean McDermott is a broken record about complementary football. Buffalo played that perfectly, committing zero turnovers while forcing one by Kansas City. The criticism and complaints that ran rampant about a Buffalo defense observably limited in prior weeks must now be praised for putting together one of the most complete performances against Mahomes and Andy Reid this season.
Of course, Bills Mafia knows the season is only half over, and these Chiefs are likely to come around on the schedule again. At 5-4, Kansas City is now in full playoff mode, where each game moving forward is essentially an elimination-round matchup. Buffalo, conversely, sits in the five slot as the top Wild Card seed, and a game behind the now 7-2 New England Patriots.
While there’s always murmurs of concern from Bills Mafia about “giving too much away” to the Chiefs in the regular season, this was a critical win that puts real pressure on KC to win out for a shot at the playoffs. Make no mistake, the Chiefs had been one of the best teams the last month, but they are not an invincible foe even at their best. Now they’re in a fight to stay alive long enough the rest of the season. Will Buffalo and Kansas City meet again in the postseason? Betting against it would be foolish.
Again, there’s plenty of time for the playoff field to change, which means Buffalo could find itself all the way back up top with the right combination of wins. For now, it’s time to enjoy the Bills’ dominating win while reflecting on key moments that could shape the rest of the regular season.
Starting fast looks great on Bills’ offense
The Bills lost the opening coin toss but dealt a crushing first blow to Kansas City’s defense, methodically working their way down the field en route to a seven-minute touchdown drive. It was a huge statement in a game where each possession would prove critical. For Buffalo, it was clear they had no interest in kicking field goals.
While the Chiefs did respond to that opening blow, putting up 10 points before the Bills responded back in any form, that was the only point in action where Buffalo had to reclaim the lead. Their 21-point first half did just enough damage to offset the adjustments defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo made to slow them down in the second half. By adding another touchdown in the third quarter, it proved just enough to hold on to the lead and win during a scoreless and stress-filled fourth quarter.
Hello there, Buffalo Bills pass rush!
Where did this Bills defense come from? In the last two weeks, Buffalo has unleashed a devastating pass rush that’s totaled 10 sacks (3 of Mahomes) and done just as much damage when forcing Andy Dalton and Mahomes to hurry throws. It’s rare that you watch Mahomes play rattled, but that’s exactly what he was reduced to for long stretches against Buffalo. Mahomes was under constant pressure being hit 15 times and a sub-50% completion rate, and the Chiefs were held to 3-of-13 on third down.
Too often, defenders seem reticent to give full chase of Mahomes, fearful of penalty flags. But that wasn’t true of the Bills’ defense, which used every inch of the rule book in pursuing Mahomes in the field of play. Certainly, an awful flag for what really wasn’t intentional grounding helped to limit Mahomes a bit in the second half. But at every snap, it was clear that Mahomes was in a dog fight just to stay upright.
Defensive end Joey Bosa has been a revelation for the Bills. He’s been everything general manager Brandon Beane likely had in mind back when he signed edge rusher Von Miller. Bosa’s built different, and he’s someone truly able to kick inside as an interior pass-rushing defensive lineman thanks to his massive frame. Bosa pivoted around the D-line often against the Chiefs, often finding his way to Mahomes far earlier than invited. At this point in time, Bosa is a key player, and someone Beane should look to sign to a longer-term contract next spring.
Defensive ends Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa continue to flash with more regularity now, surrounded by a better supporting cast. It’s possible we see more snaps for both in the coming weeks due to defensive end Michael Hoecht’s injury. Or, maybe it’s finally time for the team’s only designated edge rusher, rookie Landon Jackson, to have an impact?
We’ll discuss Hoecht in more detail just below here, but his play has been instrumental to the dominant defensive play, notably the relentless pass rush.
Michael Hoecht is a Bills Bill, a warrior through and through
Devastatingly, defensive end Michael Hoecht is now likely to miss at least the rest of the season after tearing his Achilles tendon. Replays showed the injury “pop” during a burst off the line. Hoecht was playing out of his mind prior to the injury, a real force even when stats weren’t officially registered to his name. A lot was unknown about how Hoecht would fit in on defense following his six-game suspension. It’s now clear that the system fits him like a glove, and he may be among the team’s most important chess pieces as a true defensive X-factor. It was just two games, but there’s unlikely anyone who can capably replace all he brought to Buffalo’s defense. Hopefully Beane has someone in mind they can trade for. This is a massive blow to a defense that finally seemed to be clicking.
To reinforce just how awesome Hoecht is, he refused a cart ride to the locker room so he could stay on the sideline with the team. Heal well, warrior. We’ll all be waiting for your return.
The Bills might be alright at safety
That heading doesn’t do justice to the work of safeties Cole Bishop and Jordan Poyer did against the Chiefs. Bishop, in particular, was everywhere and often playing with a hunter’s mentality while making at least five key plays to break up a pass or stop a ball carrier. Bishop has been under an intense spotlight since training camp, and he didn’t have the best start to his season. There may have been more to that than just Bishop’s play alone, as we recently found out that starting safety Taylor Rapp had essentially been playing with an injured knee since Week 1.
Rapp’s now on Injured Reserve, which opened the door for Poyer to make his fulltime return to the field. Since that point in Week 8, Bishop has played with a different motor, and sounder discipline, better instincts. What’s behind it? I’d be quick to credit Poyer’s veteran leadership and his ability to communicate what’s happening on offense. While Poyer’s lost speed and agility, he’s clearly still an elite and cerebral defensive back. Early in action, Poyer limited further damage Rashee Rice could have done by keeping him in front and contained to the sideline on a long completion.
There’s so much knowledge for Poyer to share, and tons for Bishop to learn from All-Pro Po. Many fans have been calling for changes at safety, but Bishop doesn’t appear ready to pick up the phone. If he keeps making plays like those on Sunday, Bishop will earn praise as a player no one wants to meet on the other end of the line. The play he made to prevent Travis Kelce from catching a pass in the end zone was a classic safety highlight.
The future now appears very bright for Cole Bishop.
Bills needed Josh Allen to play MVP football, and he delivered
You may have missed my long-form on this very subject in the hours before Bills-Chiefs kicked off, where I dove deep through charts, graphs, and a few thousand words trying to get to the heart of Josh Allen’s recent slump.
Well, slump’s over! Allen could still use a go-to wide receiver who isn’t Khalil Shakir catching passes at or behind the line of scrimmage, but he played elite football using almost every option at his disposal. It’s arguable there were too many screens to Shakir, but we also finally saw not one, but two screen passes to running backs Ty Johnson and James Cook III. Yes, that James Cook!
I won’t pretend that Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady read my analysis, but I am happy to see everything I wanted to find out of Brady and Allen in the passing game. At least with what’s in-house. Allen finished 23-of-26 for 273 yards with one touchdown; adding six rushes for 19 yards and two more touchdowns.
If Beane can find a way to land a true downfield threat via trade, Buffalo’s passing game may prove too diverse to contain. That’s pie-in-the-sky stuff right now, but it’s still one of the team’s biggest personnel needs. Encouragingly, every receiver was involved and each made at least one key play during the game. That allowed Allen to set a franchise single-game record for completion percentage (88%).
Dalton Kincaid appears to be the go-to for downfield passes at the moment, and he caught all six passes his way for 101 yards and a touchdown. It was the first 100-yard receiving performance Kansas City surrendered in 13 games (dating back to December 2024).
The fast start helped Buffalo in more than just the win column, as it allowed Allen to get in rhythm that kept him dialed-in throughout the game. Later on, Allen and the offense leveraged no-huddle looks to dictate favorable defensive matchups in the red zone.
The key to Brady’s offense is balance, and that’s something head coach Sean McDermott demands. When Allen’s dial-in and firing out of a balanced attack, no one can stop him.
James Cook III needs to be NFL MVP conversations
Seriously. What more can be said about Cook’s incredible season? How much more does he need to do before people start noticing how important he is to Buffalo’s success? And yes, fullback Reggie Gilliam deserves some respect on his name as an elite run blocker working in tandem with a deadly efficient run-blocking unit.
Cook once again went over the century mark, finishing with 114 yards on 27 carries, and adding one catch for 11 yards. It was the first 100-yard individual rushing effort against the Chiefs in 11 games (also dating back to 2024, like Kincaid). Cook now has 867 rushing yards in eight games.
To think that many were calling for the Bills to move on from Cook and his contract desires. Ty Johnson is a talented player (and actually has a faster 40 time), but he isn’t the same caliber of player that Cook is. Had they played this season without Cook, things probably would have looked very different for Buffalo.
One thing’s clear: This chef’s special!
There’s so much more to discuss, so sound off with what stood out to you during the Bills’ win over the Chiefs in Week 9!
Bills vs. Chiefs Week 9 Game Stats