KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Arriving here in Kansas City, the memories are still fresh.
Even to an experienced follower of the game, staring down from the press box at some level of disbelief at what was unfolding below on the field at Arrowhead Stadium. From the lead changes to the final 13 seconds of regulation to the single possession of overtime that decided things.
42-36 Chiefs.
On to the AFC title game for Kansas City.
It’s a game that has a legacy on a number of levels. One that’s been added to a substantial list of infamous outcomes in Bills' history to be sure.
It’s also a game that altered playoff overtime.
Rich McKay, chair of the NFL’s competition committee spoke to that at the league meetings in March.
“The Buffalo game. It was potentially the greatest 20-30 minutes of football that I’ve ever seen, ever, just watching a game. To think that it ended that way definitely brought up the idea of hey, is that equitable? Does that work for everybody?"
It served as the impetus for NFL owners to vote 29-3 in favor of a rules change that guaranteed each team possession in playoff overtime.
It brought about change.
In a sense, as the Bills arrive to face the Chiefs in a week six match-up on the same field, the more things have changed, the more they’ve stayed the same.
Buffalo and Kansas City are each 4-1 and atop the AFC, widely considered the class of the conference. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are two of the finest quarterbacks in the game.
The divisional playoff loss underscored the need for the Bills to continue improving the pass rush. The addition of Von Miller has done that, allowing Buffalo to get pressure more often with just four pass rushers, to a degree changing the dynamic in defending against Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense.
Receiver Tyreek Hill, who tormented Buffalo in each of the postseason meetings the last two seasons is gone, traded to the Dolphins in the offseason. The Bills did a good job of limiting him in week three down in Miami. Tight end Travis Kelce leads the Chiefs with seven touchdown receptions. A somewhat revamped group of receivers features Juju Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and former first-round pick Mecole Hardman.
Beyond the match-ups on the field, coaching was justifiably called into question after the playoff loss here. I asked Bills coach Sean McDermott how he and the organization have changed since then.
“If you had two hours, we could sit here and talk for two hours probably. There are some big things, there are some smaller things. I think just overall you learn a lot through your experience whether it’s positive or negative and you use it as you go forward.”
“Just being in those games, to begin with, is a great educator for us as coaches and players… You’re always just trying to improve in every facet of what we do and how we do it.”
The Bills' 23-20 win in week four in Baltimore suggests they may have made progress. Rallying from 17 points down against the Ravens, and running the remaining time off the clock on the game’s final drive as Tyler Bass kicked the winning field goal preventing Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore offense from touching the ball again. Elite coaching and execution by any standard. It snapped a streak of seven straight games decided by one score where Buffalo was on the losing end.
That’s far from delivering with a season on the line, but it speaks to McDermott’s point.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen echoed that.
“I think there’s a lot of things you can take away from that game that can help you. Whether it’s situational football, understanding the flow of games, knowing the importance of home playoff games. So again, that’s neither here nor there right now. It’s a situation we can take a lot from that and try to apply it to practice and when we play.”
That’s a statement from Allen that goes beyond the “next game on the schedule” convenient cliché. He’s right to suggest this game could go a long way toward determining home-field advantage in the playoffs. It is only week six of the regular season, but Allen knows the outcome now could have an important influence on when things matter the most.
There’s a long way between now and January, but there’s plenty to suggest the full legacy of 13-seconds is still to be written.