ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takeaways from the Buffalo Bills’ 24-20 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium:
1. This is how it should be when two of the NFL’s best teams face each other, methodically trading punches like a pair of heavyweights.
They were deadlocked after the first quarter … and at halftime … and after the third quarter. And then it came down to a clutch 14-yard touchdown pass with 1:04 left, Josh Allen to Dawson Knox, followed by an ultra-clutch Taron Johnson interception of Patrick Mahomes with 51 seconds left to seal the win.
Both clubs played well enough to come out on top, fully living up to their elite status.
Only time will tell whether the outcome and resulting tiebreaker edge guarantees the Bills will host the AFC Championship Game in January. For the record, Buffalo also won last year’s regular-season game at Arrowhead and still had to return to KC for the divisional round of the playoffs.
For the moment, postseason implications take a back seat to the considerable momentum the Bills carry into their bye and the considerable joy they and their fans can savor for two solid weeks.
2. We’re running out of superlatives for Josh Allen.
OK, not really.
He undoubtedly picked up some MVP votes with what he did while sharing the field with another MVP candidate, Patrick Mahomes. But it wasn’t simply because he threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions. It was because of his massive clutch-ness.
With the game on the line, Allen led the Bills on a 76-yard drive for the winning points. On first-and-10 from the Kansas City 28, he made the play of the game, if not the season, with another of his classic hurdles, vaulting over Justin Reid on the way to a 16-yard gain. Two plays later, Allen found Knox for the winning points.
3. The Bills got Von Miller to be the antidote for Mahomes’ magic. And he delivered.
Miller finished with two sacks, but his biggest play was pressuring Mahomes into the throw that Johnson intercepted.
Mahomes did throw for 338 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also had a pair of interceptions. Though Allen had the game’s biggest run, Mahomes ran more effectively, averaging 5.3 yards on four carries.
The bottom line is that after that crushing divisional-round playoff loss, the Bills set out to find the answer to dealing with Mahomes. Brandon Beane, take a bow, along with the Pegulas’ checkbook.
4. Stefon Diggs wound up being the game’s most impactful receiver, which is saying something considering that he was sharing the field with Travis Kelce.
Diggs caught a game-high 10 passes for 148 yards, averaging 14.8 yards per catch, and a touchdown. Kelce was good, with eight receptions for 108 yards, giving him a 13.5-yards-per catch average. So was JuJu Smith-Schuster (five catches for 113 yards, an average of 22.6 yards per catch, and a TD).
But Diggs repeatedly found openings against a defense that was determined to prevent him from making big plays. He effectively worked the middle and outside on intermediate and longer patterns.
5. It’s still amazing that the Bills could face one of the game’s best quarterbacks without two of their best defensive backs and come away with a triumph.
No Tre’Davious White, though he could be on track to return in two weeks to face Green Bay on Sunday Night Football. No Micah Hyde, who is gone for the season after suffering a neck injury that required surgery.
But kudos to the remarkable depth of the Bills’ secondary. Rookie Kaiir Elam made an amazing play to intercept Mahomes in the end zone to kill a scoring opportunity on the Chiefs’ first drive, after the Bills had a turnover to do the same on their opening possession.
Then, desperately needing to prevent another Chiefs Arrowhead rally, Johnson stepped up with an impressive leaping grab to make the game-sealing pick.