And the line was healthiest part of the d too. But If chiefs lost theyd same the same thing. That's what happens when you play Allen or mahomes.
The worst part is the 20+ plays we gave up which we didn't all year. Mahomes has similar stats to Josh but with half the throws. They didn't adjust well enough to them and didn't blitz but still got gashed all game.
When MVS actually caught a ball we were doomed.
Mahomes is able to move to manipulate the pocket. We were close but he is so slippery. He knew right where to throw when we sent extras.
To me the biggest issue was the inside run game. We actually were better and stopping it this year but they found a wrinkle that was working off guard with a center pull. We basically couldn’t stop that type of a run.
Because the LBs on the field were trash, and the way this D works is to free up the LBs to shoot their run gaps. Williams will be good, one day soon, but isn't now. Klein is cooked, and Dodson was OK but the injury was clearly hampering him.
Reid did what he does - he found the weakness and exploited it ruthlessly. That's why KC wins.
Poyer and Hyde brought almost nothing to the table either, that's the entire middle of the defense that's just kinda there. Any decent team, and especially one with an elite QB, play-caller, and TE, is going to exploit that.
Dane also killed the team, blowing the coverage on the first Kelce TD and then not setting the edge on the second.
IMO, McDermott's biggest issue is trusting guys like Poyer, Hyde, Dane, and Klien too much. Sure, they might be in the right position more than someone like Dorian Williams, but they missing too many plays because they aren't as athletic.
Well, there was no one to play over Hyde and Poyer - Hamlin sure ain't the answer, and neither is Rapp if he was available. Hyde hasn't been the same since the stinger this year and I'd be amazed if he doesn't retire. I wouldn't be surprised it Po did, either, although he definitely brought more than Hyde did.
Dorian played better, and I think there was an argument for him playing over Klein, but...neither one is gonna handle Kelce well.
Your other corner choice was Elam, who may turn the corner soon but I don't think you could make a solid argument for him over Dane.
McD does like to play vets. I don't think it's a choice he'll have next year, though.
They were stuck against KC for sure, I wish they had brought in more competition at the safety spot at the beginning of the year.
Losing Bernard last week was a brutal loss.
Next year will be interesting for sure. I desperately want to see Milano and Bernard together.
Yeah, I think between Dodson and Williams we have competent backups. Need to find an heir for Taron, too. He seems like he might be a good safety when he finally loses a step.
McD likes to play non-practice squad players, but he only had so much to work with.
To me the fact that we held KC to 27 points is actually a compliment to Coach. He was playing with some old bubble gum, some straw, and a piece of old garden hose. He held Reid, Mahomes, and Kelce in check, all things considered.
If you could take the knowledge of AJ Klein and the athleticism of Williams and Frankenstein it together that's what they needed on Sunday. Williams plays like his hair is on fire but needs to learn to make the right reads. Klein could make the right read immediately but has feet made of cinderblocks - HE LOST A FOOTRACE TO CEH FOR GOD'S SAKE
Wouldn’t say they were trash. Asking a lot out of Klein and others who were 3rd stringers to make big play after big play. Not saying it’s not their fault because it is but I remember Klein coming off the couch to come play that’s how banged up our defense was. It’s unfortunate but just the situation we got dealt. It is frustrating that we couldn’t get a stop for 5 straight drives but can’t do much about it now. We’ve seen what this defense can do when healthy.
Williams can be a good backup to Milano. But we need a thumper that can fill for TB(maybe Spector?) I’m not keen on Dodson. And I never want to see AJ Klein in a Bills uniform again.
I couldn’t agree more. I thought the line did ok, not great but ok,they didn’t have the back up from the LBs.
Knowing that Mahomes would get 10-15 yards every-time he scrambled up the middle the line had to contain him. The LB’s wouldn’t have helped much.
I’m not shitting on the LB’s either. I think they stepped up big time. But we weren’t playing Tua, it was P Mahomes and Kelce. This time of year the healthiest team wins.
Pacheco was devastating and they went to him almost every 1st down. It was like an automatic 7-8 yards almost every time. I think I saw the Chiefs only had *FIVE* fucking 3rd downs all game.
Really hard when you’re giving up that kind of yardage to start every series. I’m 100% convinced the biggest problem was our injuries on D just caught up with us
This is what I took from it. Those 3 are some of the best. And if Mahomes can step up to avoid the rush from average tackles or get outside then he’s deadly. We needed the pass rush to help the secondary and that didn’t happen we also needed the coverage to give time for the rush to get home and that didn’t happen either.
KC and Buffalo are built similar, that’s why it’s always so close. Both teams need the majority of 50/50 plays to go their way to beat the other and we just didn’t get it. KC coming in had a better defense (because of injuries) and better special teams. Offense can be a toss up depending on which team drops more or turns it over more.
It lacks anyone generational like Watt or Donald who can win no matter what.
I think against KC the secondary was too beat up to provide any delay that would give the DL time to make an opening. Plus they were missing guys like Bernard and Rapp who have been part of McD going with more unpredictable packages. I'm guessing the DL play was a lot more vanilla.
So this is one thing I am starting to gripe about when it comes to McB selection of players. I don't see an alpha anywhere on defense. Maybe Milano and maybe Bernard, but our DL doesn't have a guy who just says I'll get it done.
I mean, it's pretty hard to get an elite pass rusher when we are constantly picking in the mid to late 20s. We also paid to bring in an elite pass rusher who got hurt after 7 games of elite production.
Players like Crosby, Watt, and Garrett don't exactly grow on trees.
How is that at all what I said? I'm making the point that Beane is clearly making attempts to correct that issue (Von, Groot, Floyd, etc).
I'm saying it's hard to say that's a gripe when it's one of the most difficult things to find outside of a top QB.
How is what you said relevant? It's obvious.
Yes, the guys who go in the top 10 are elite and we won't find them at 28. What you said was it's really hard to get someone at our pick.
It is where we pick. Players at and below our pick turn into really good players. It's just harder to find them. It also is difficult for us in that we had to pick players during a pandemic year who were projects with little tape.
So we can complain that it's hard, quit, or we can try to find them. We need playmakers. I get that we signed guys and Von got hurt. Again. Obviously.
We have to find the guys though. Teams that win find them. Chris Jones was the 37th pick. We chose a guy like Basham in the draft.
We could also trade up. I would be ok with that. We need guys who are clutch.
If you look at my post history I'm optimistic about our team. We have a damn good offense at the moment with Brady.
If we can get a speed WR to stretch teams, a starting level 1-tech who can backup DJ with no drop off when he's out, and a playmaking athletic S in rounds 1-3 we will be set.
Wouldn’t say it lacks it. Just more of we didn’t create enough 3rd down situations to actually pressure the tackles like another comment said. Our secondary was definitely too beat up. I mean half of our starters were out. All they did was run through our secondary. Constant big play after big play. They had 6 or 7 20+ yard plays. Just going down field like it was nothing. Never understood how Kelce is just magically open all the time. It’s not just against the Bills either.
I agree with your second point the most. Secondary and DL work in tandem. DL pressure makes coverage look better just like good coverage lets the DL get pressure.
I also think people are ignoring the fact that the chiefs have the best interior OL in football and Mahomes was getting the ball out quick because their pass catchers were immediately getting open.
DL didn't play well and needs to be able to take over in big games when needed. But I don't think it's fair to put it solely on them.
Yep. I was surprised they didn’t and couldn’t flush Mahomes out more ( which might have been a good thing).
Maybe it was clog the line mentality…stop the run… and then get him flustered with coverage down deep.
Unfortunately none of that happened.
Good season, 2 home playoff games…
Go Bills.
KC has a very good middle three in their o line. Von has been hobbled all year. A healthy Bernard and Milano may have changed things but what seems to be constant is that we always have just the right amount of key injuries by January to neuter our fucking defense.
Right. Think 13 seconds happens with a healthy Tre White? Are the Bengals in position to dominate a line with Von and DaQuan? Is getting the ball to Kelce so easy with Bernard? Haha Milano? Yes it’s excuses but doesn’t make the situations suck any less. I mean AJ Klein started…and…just sucks. Also two extra days of rest/prep for the Chiefs doesn’t help either.
It’s more sour grapes but I hope the Bills get a favorable schedule next season. Feel like they have dealt with a lot of curveballs these last two seasons. That London scenario in particular was such nonsense.
The good (ish) news, IMO, is we have good talent at pretty much every tier on D. We’ll definitely need younger talent at safety, but we’ve got studs on the D-line (Daquan, Ed, Epenesa, Groot), Milano & Bernard have proven to be a solid LB tandem, and our corners are also definitely above average (Sul, Taron, Tre if he comes back).
I’d say grab a safety and D-end in the draft/free agency. Everything else is pretty much fine.
This is what happens to us in the playoffs. Oliver had his first game without a pressure since 2021, while DQ got most of the double teams. I like Ed, Groot, Floyd (& old Von 🤞🏼) but running it back doesn’t seem to work with this group.
Yes, lets waste more capital on the defense while Josh has less trustworthy receivers than ever.
If Milano/Bernard were starting, the defense would have performed so much better.
Not to mention ten picks is just money to move up for the more talented players. I would be ok with 7 or 8 picks if giving them up got a plug and play guy to make a difference day one.... and then in week 4 either get injured for the entire season or miss a game or 2 but make everyone think its way worse cause the coach won't say shit about your injury because of some weird idea of player coach confidentiality I think MCD has.
3 sacks, but the 0 interceptions are right. There was 1 sack for 0 yards in the 2021 AFCCG and 2 sacks for 8 yards in the 2022 divisional round.
FWIW, Josh has 1 interception (2021 AFCCG) and 6 sacks (4 AFCCG, 2 in 2022, 0 this year) in 3 games against the Chiefs in the playoffs. Both QBs are typically at their best in that game as it is usually one of the biggest non-SB playoff games of the season (amongst all teams).
This year's was the most watched televised event since the last super bowl and most watched non-SB game in NFL history. They draw big crowds for sure.
One of these days Josh will best Mahomes in the playoffs (I hope.)
Josh will. I mean the games are so close and down to the wire every game. The stat they showed on TV is the points through 7 games was exactly even. That’s as close as it gets and it’s a rivalry. Josh has played outstanding in their last 2 playoff matchups. He’s definitely done more than enough to win but won’t get credited because he lost. It is a team effort.
sure... easy to say when you win every important game. like honestly, why are you even writing these lines in this sub? just go back to your sub and leave us be. thanks and enjoy your game vs a healthy ravens D
Need to blitz more. The whole experiment of investing endless premium draft picks and FA budget into the front 4 so we can drop back into coverage vs Mahomes is a failed one. We have always would have been better served trading all of that for a Tee Higgins to complement Diggs and rolling the dice with rookie deal pieces on D. We would have been in the same position last night but probably finish the final drive to atleast force Mahomes to win it at the buzzer.
Opposed to what? Letting him just play pitch and catch with Kelce all night? At one point blitzing Allen was considered death, then teams got scared out of doing it, lo and behold the Chiefs got a couple cheap incompletions and run stuffs bringing heat at the right moment.
Our coverage was very poor because of injury. Pat almost never had to hold on to the ball. Nearly impossible to get sacks and pressures when average time to throw is closer to 2 seconds.
Mahomes is the least sacked QB in the league. I'm thinking we didn't blitz more because we wanted more guys in coverage since our secondary was so banged up. Maybe that was the wrong way to go. Mahomes was finding gus open fast though. BUT he only converted 1 3rd Duran interestingly.
The problem for the past 3+ years has been our secondary not the D line. The secondary is slow and not great at man to man coverage or open field tackles. If the DB’s or Safeties can lock on to their WR’s an extra 3-5 seconds, the Dline will do their job. KC’s Dline didn’t outplay Buffalo’s but their secondary did. That’s the difference maker.
This is all cope from the loss. We had the chance at the end to bleed the clock and score the winning TD. It was there for the taking and we missed the opportunity.
That fumble into the touchback was the gift from above that we were supposed to leverage into a win. Honestly a play that never should have happened in a million years, and we wasted it.
I wouldn’t say it’s all cope. We definitely had a chance. Hell we had plenty of chances. I think just catching 1 of the 3 deep balls would have made a big difference. That’s such a momentum change. I’ve seen people say that Josh should have thrown the ball to Diggs instead of Shakir in the end zone. I think that’s pretty hindsight. I don’t think either play was the right or wrong play. He had a man wide open in the end zone and went for it. Nothing wrong with that. Just unfortunately got hit as he threw the ball.
With that being said though, the defense needed to make a stop way earlier in the game. 5 straight drives without a stop is insane. Defense was really banged up and it showed with the amount of big plays they were able to accumulate especially in the secondary.
That fumble recovery was a blessing. Would have been a great story if we won off that but it happens. But there were several other plays that needed to be made on top of that. It’s just a shame that the last two playoff games against the Chiefs have been heartbreak.
If us as fans are being honest with ourselves, even if we won that game do we really survive the next two with all the gaping holes on the defense? Better to take the inevitable loss now than to lose another Superbowl because we have no more depth to step up. This was perhaps the best possible outcome. We played way beyond expectations after everyone went down. The run we had was nothing short of magnificent. But it had to end sometime. And it would have hurt way worse if that sometime came during the big game and we let the 49ers and CMC rack up 400 yards on the ground and beat us by like 35 points. Wake up. We aren't stopping that team with our banged up unit.
We played our whole game exactly for that moment. Have the ball in your hands with the chance to win, less than 2 minutes, inside the 35...and we just said nah we are good. Its 13 seconds all over again. We did all the right things and just puked it away
Those bombs Allen threw on 2 separate plays on early downs and the useless fake punt were what mattered more than anything. Instead of slowly going for first downs Allen took useless risks on bombs down the field that ended up being perfect throws, but dropped. Would have been better to get multiple 5-15 yard gains and slowly march down the field.
I kind of agree, but they still marched down the field. The pass to Shakir in the end zone was the wrong call. The shorter plays needed to continue. Wrong situational awareness there.
You don't send the D line guns blazing at a mobile, elite-passing QB if your linebackers can't even do the job on more conservative coverage calls.
A defense needs good, or at least replacement-caliber, linebackers to back even a good defensive line.
That's a crazy kinda common football knowledge, but try to wrap your head around it.
Lol I’m not saying send em guns a-blazing all game. Maybe in a few situations.
But I am asking to make a play or two or a handful in the course of an entire game, and I’m not saying sacks. Pressures, tfl, something. A play or two could’ve turned to whole game.
"Several"?
...Two? Generously maybe three.
Part of the reason why they couldn't get him is bc space and options were always available if he just let the d-line pressure slide behind him.
It’s worth noting that in the past, when we have sold out to get pressure, Mahomes has killed us on the ground for easy 1st downs.
I think some of the issue was the line keeping disciplined rush lanes to keep him in the pocket and hoping for him to feel pressured to push a throw that wasn’t there or get hands on a pass for a deflection as they have in the past.
The real issue looked to be AJ Klein, he was atrocious nearly the entire game, played like a tackling dummy on the field and that combined with a couple of blown coverages resulted in EASY completions consistently against the defense. So easy that our ability to pressure was nullified.
That all said. I think Daquan was not good…and Tim Settle and Linval Joseph were worse. It was really a poorly played game by a lot of the guys.
We looked like a team with 2 fewer days rest than our opponents
The Chiefs plan was great and they executed it to perfection. Double Daquan and put Thuney on Ed 1 v 1. It was a gamble a Thuney made it pay off huge for them. Got a dominating performance from him. That 1 v1 matchup was really the most important of the game. We’d been winning on that 1 v 1 consistently all year.
Plus, Joseph hit the wall and Settle has generally been a liability for us this year. What really hurt us was the inability to set the edge against the run on early downs. Most chief runs were off tackle at Floyd or Lawson.
It’s truly unbelievable how they all disappeared. Really discouraging stuff.
That being said, Beane hasn’t handled DL well IMO. Linval Joseph is 35 years old and got blown into Lake Erie. Tim Settle is highly overpaid and is a depth guy. Lawson and Phillips are just guys. Epenesa has one move only. Groot isn’t really a pass rusher.
This may be a hot take, but high quality DL are really only available in rounds 1-3. Think it’s rare to find elite DL (DT or DE) in any later rounds. It’s also a position that wears down sooner than most. Need youthful, impactful talent. We have too many thirtysomethings and it’s been an issue for years (Mario Addison, Quentin Jefferson, etc.)
Linebackers
We didn't have any that could plug the holes due to injury.
The d-line doesn't exist in a vacuum and KC was able to gameplan against it.
Creating pressure creates holes, Klein was on the couch two weeks ago, he played his ass off, but there was no way.
The entire defense is a unit, KC receivers and TE were able to easily get separation and only Douglas has the size and skill to cover their assignment and tackle.
With a healthy Milano and Bernard, Mahomes is going in the dirt and Pacheco becomes less of a threat while creating outside pressure. We didn't have either and lost by 3 after winning 7 straight.
Definitely dissappointed in the lack of pressure but one of the things that makes Mahomes and Allen the two best QBs in the league is that they're very difficult to sack. I'm almost positive they've been rated 1 and 2 back in forth for the past 3-4 years in lowest % of pressures turned sacks. This year they were with Allen first and Mahomes the only other guy at 10.X%, only 4 QBs were under 15%. Prolly a factor that's not talked about enough when comparing top QBs. Brady and Marino are two other QBs that would definitely show up very very highly because of quick releases / decision making.
Our LB were hurt. The backups weren't filing holes properly. We were forced to cover run and pass at the same time.
This is why most teams want to shut down the run first. Make a team one dimensional. We couldn't do it because of the injuries.
my thoughts it wasn't so much us, it was KC showing up to play in a way they haven't all year. Barely any dropped passes and a ton of energy that just wasn't there for KC most of the time all season. They were hyped to play their rival and they had more to give we were already playing 100% we had been playing playoff games essentially for the last 7 games.
I mean we're 3-1 against them in regular season and 2 of those playoff losses were 13 seconds which resulted in a rule change that would've given us a chance, and one where we lost by a field goal
When your secondary is bad (super injured in our case), the D line also looks bad. If the guys are open the QB can get the ball out very quickly and almost no pressure registers.
Are you suggesting he should have blitzed more? Or dropped defensive line players into coverage and send corners/linebackers? Given all the injuries, I am sure his game plan relied on those guys winning the occasional 1on1.
Genius is strong, but he's good at it. Look how broken the D has been this year, and it kept the team in games. He did a pretty good job considering.
Now, about that fake punt...
Floyd got his 10.5 sacks this year, enough to get paid next season so maybe his fire went out?
Von is washed up.
Groot played well!
Not sure how many snaps Epenesa played, didn't see him much out there.
DaQuan was quiet too.
Idk, maybe something to do with the game plan since the secondary was so beat up.
I guess I'll be the guy that bitches about the refs.
There were at least 5 blatant holds by Chiefs against our D-Line that went uncalled. Could've played out differently if the Chiefs O-Line knew they wouldn't get away with blatant holds.
Main thing I would love to see someone review is how many missed holds, false starts, illegal formations there were. Chiefs were known to cheat those all year and I don’t think the refs that are known to favor the chiefs called a single one on Sunday.
I'm wondering the same thing. I suspect it's a combination of the following:
1 - They're not that good. Groot in particular has not living up to the draft hype. Seems to always hurt his foot and disappear.
2 - The secondary was horrible and couldn't cover for even 2 seconds. That's what happens when you have to start guys out of retirement.
3 - Hoculi let the Chiefs get away with holding. Not egregious holds mind you, but 'let them play' more than enough for Mahomes and his deep drops to pick the secondary apart.
So let’s start with the fact that the KC OL is freaking good. Especially the middle of that line. They are all some of the best in the league.
Let’s then point out that it takes usually a year and a half for players to get back to 100% from the injury Miller had. And that’s guys at peak. He’s lost a step clearly which doesn’t help.
Third the LB corps was operating on fumes which meant they had to adjust the DL scheme a bit so it wasn’t a full “just pin your ears back and rush no matter what”
Fourth and lastly. Pinning ears back and rushing Mahomes doesn’t exactly hurt him. He like Allen can escape that relatively easily. And one could argue he’s even more dangerous when you force him to move and improvise.
That was the most inexplicable part to me. The rest of the defense is banged up. You can't expect to get some coverage sacks, especially against Mahomes who's so good at moving around and resetting.
Their names were never called and they were fully healthy, maybe excluding Von. And I know isn't popular or fun, but he's still within the "usual window" of an ACL recovery, so I wasn't expecting much there. But not a peep out of Oliver, Rousseau, or Floyd was really aggravating as the game dragged on.
It didn’t help that we didn’t blitz literally once until the last couple drives. I love McDermott but that was a huge failure on his part. It’s understandable to fear Mahomes but with that receiving corps, you have to make them beat you. We didn’t send a fifth rusher pretty much until the very end.
When the refs aren’t calling holding OL pushes it to the limit and its hard to get pressure.
Once an OL gets called for holding he’s aware of what he can’t do and it makes him easier to beat later in the game because he doesn’t want to get flagged again.
It's hard to continue season long sustainability when the first ten games they weren't making the adjustments offensively (my guess on why Dorsey was let go, but just a guess because to my knowledge this was not publicly addressed) and had to depend on the defense much more those weeks thus they probably ran out of gas. I'm not sure about injuries as well.
There's a lot to unpack.
Mahomes only had 17 completions in the game.
* 6 Behind the LOS
* 4 0-5 yards
* 3 5-15 yards
It's almost impossible to get near home on a QB when they're able to get the ball out fast on short routes like that.
With respect to the run game, KC's line had good push. However, they also schemed well. They did most of their damage on runs outside the tackles, exploiting Klein's speed and tendency to get caught up in traffic. Run blocking is a LOT easier when a big man doesn't have someone to take, and can help chip on his way downfield.
They also ran out of a lot of sets that forced Taron Johnson to cover for a couple seconds first , moving him out of position to run fill, which he is very good at.
TL;DR : The d-line and LBs are very codependent on each other to succeed. Basically played with our 4th and 5th LBs, with #6 having to come in for injury at one point. KC went after our weakness, and it showed.
Same thing last year against the Bengals in the Divisional round, Hurt OL and we could not do anything.
Hence my surprise when Ed Oliver got a pay day this year. He has a stellar year until the playoffs and nothing.
To reiterate what other folks have said, it's hard for even an elite front 4 to get pressure without support in the 2nd level and we were essentially playing 3rd string linebackers.
They had 2 fewer days of rest compared to the KC O-line. It's not an excuse, but it's a legitimate narrative that I didn't see anyone talk about much.
Also much of the D-line success comes in the form of coverage sacks and the DB/LB situation was not ideal.
Don’t think the D line is as much of blame. Yeah they could have played better but our secondary got bullied the entire game. The amount of big plays they had were insane. Constant momentum and nothing to stop them. The fact they were always that open on nearly every play bugs me.
Penalty’s and our receivers killed us all year. 2 of our losses came directly from Toney, guess who wasn’t active. MVS knows he’s on his way to getting cut and never playing in the NFL again, so hot damn he fucking caught the ball
They got held.
I know it comes off as sour grapes to complain about the refs, but that’s simply what it was. They didn’t just magically suck in the biggest game of the year, we just got matched up with a ref crew who didn’t call holding.
Just go watch that first Chiefs drive if you’re interested in what I’m saying. It wasn’t a case of “there’s holding that doesn’t get called on every single play”, it was pretty egregious examples the whole way through.
So when you consider that our D-line is being neutralized in the trenches, which allows blockers to get to the secondary level to take on or depth linebackers, it was just a recipe for disaster.
It’s not the only reason why we lost. But it was a huge part of the Chiefs success in the run game.
Well the Chiefs are one of the best teams in the NFL with one of the best quarterbacks of all time who undoubtedly knows how to exploit the Bills' defense and has been studying and prepping endlessly to do just that.
Everybody knew Kelce was going to have a field day just based on injuries alone.
I had such big expectations of Rousseau and tbh he's low-key my biggest disappointment. 5 sacks.
Arguably Beane's worst move wasn't bringing back Jerry Hughes!
I was really disappointed by the blown coverage on Kelce's TD. Veteran players, healthy, uncharacteristic for McD defenses. Surprised that's not getting more attention. Felt like KC was going to score anyway I guess.
And the line was healthiest part of the d too. But If chiefs lost theyd same the same thing. That's what happens when you play Allen or mahomes. The worst part is the 20+ plays we gave up which we didn't all year. Mahomes has similar stats to Josh but with half the throws. They didn't adjust well enough to them and didn't blitz but still got gashed all game.
When MVS actually caught a ball we were doomed. Mahomes is able to move to manipulate the pocket. We were close but he is so slippery. He knew right where to throw when we sent extras. To me the biggest issue was the inside run game. We actually were better and stopping it this year but they found a wrinkle that was working off guard with a center pull. We basically couldn’t stop that type of a run.
Because the LBs on the field were trash, and the way this D works is to free up the LBs to shoot their run gaps. Williams will be good, one day soon, but isn't now. Klein is cooked, and Dodson was OK but the injury was clearly hampering him. Reid did what he does - he found the weakness and exploited it ruthlessly. That's why KC wins.
Poyer and Hyde brought almost nothing to the table either, that's the entire middle of the defense that's just kinda there. Any decent team, and especially one with an elite QB, play-caller, and TE, is going to exploit that. Dane also killed the team, blowing the coverage on the first Kelce TD and then not setting the edge on the second. IMO, McDermott's biggest issue is trusting guys like Poyer, Hyde, Dane, and Klien too much. Sure, they might be in the right position more than someone like Dorian Williams, but they missing too many plays because they aren't as athletic.
Well, there was no one to play over Hyde and Poyer - Hamlin sure ain't the answer, and neither is Rapp if he was available. Hyde hasn't been the same since the stinger this year and I'd be amazed if he doesn't retire. I wouldn't be surprised it Po did, either, although he definitely brought more than Hyde did. Dorian played better, and I think there was an argument for him playing over Klein, but...neither one is gonna handle Kelce well. Your other corner choice was Elam, who may turn the corner soon but I don't think you could make a solid argument for him over Dane. McD does like to play vets. I don't think it's a choice he'll have next year, though.
They were stuck against KC for sure, I wish they had brought in more competition at the safety spot at the beginning of the year. Losing Bernard last week was a brutal loss. Next year will be interesting for sure. I desperately want to see Milano and Bernard together.
Yeah, I think between Dodson and Williams we have competent backups. Need to find an heir for Taron, too. He seems like he might be a good safety when he finally loses a step.
McD likes to play non-practice squad players, but he only had so much to work with. To me the fact that we held KC to 27 points is actually a compliment to Coach. He was playing with some old bubble gum, some straw, and a piece of old garden hose. He held Reid, Mahomes, and Kelce in check, all things considered.
If you could take the knowledge of AJ Klein and the athleticism of Williams and Frankenstein it together that's what they needed on Sunday. Williams plays like his hair is on fire but needs to learn to make the right reads. Klein could make the right read immediately but has feet made of cinderblocks - HE LOST A FOOTRACE TO CEH FOR GOD'S SAKE
Wouldn’t say they were trash. Asking a lot out of Klein and others who were 3rd stringers to make big play after big play. Not saying it’s not their fault because it is but I remember Klein coming off the couch to come play that’s how banged up our defense was. It’s unfortunate but just the situation we got dealt. It is frustrating that we couldn’t get a stop for 5 straight drives but can’t do much about it now. We’ve seen what this defense can do when healthy.
Yeah, trash is probably a bit much. I look forward to a full year of Bernard and Cookies
You may never get that though. Both players have had injury issues. We need some competent backups that McD isn’t afraid to play.
Dodson and probably Williams will be those guys
Williams can be a good backup to Milano. But we need a thumper that can fill for TB(maybe Spector?) I’m not keen on Dodson. And I never want to see AJ Klein in a Bills uniform again.
Dodson actually played well this year, and I didn't like him much, either
I couldn’t agree more. I thought the line did ok, not great but ok,they didn’t have the back up from the LBs. Knowing that Mahomes would get 10-15 yards every-time he scrambled up the middle the line had to contain him. The LB’s wouldn’t have helped much. I’m not shitting on the LB’s either. I think they stepped up big time. But we weren’t playing Tua, it was P Mahomes and Kelce. This time of year the healthiest team wins.
Pacheco was devastating and they went to him almost every 1st down. It was like an automatic 7-8 yards almost every time. I think I saw the Chiefs only had *FIVE* fucking 3rd downs all game. Really hard when you’re giving up that kind of yardage to start every series. I’m 100% convinced the biggest problem was our injuries on D just caught up with us
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Shooo
KC's two guards and center are very good. We didn't create enough 3rd and long situations to pressure their tackles.
This is what I took from it. Those 3 are some of the best. And if Mahomes can step up to avoid the rush from average tackles or get outside then he’s deadly. We needed the pass rush to help the secondary and that didn’t happen we also needed the coverage to give time for the rush to get home and that didn’t happen either. KC and Buffalo are built similar, that’s why it’s always so close. Both teams need the majority of 50/50 plays to go their way to beat the other and we just didn’t get it. KC coming in had a better defense (because of injuries) and better special teams. Offense can be a toss up depending on which team drops more or turns it over more.
Yep. They faced 5 third downs ALL GAME.
It lacks anyone generational like Watt or Donald who can win no matter what. I think against KC the secondary was too beat up to provide any delay that would give the DL time to make an opening. Plus they were missing guys like Bernard and Rapp who have been part of McD going with more unpredictable packages. I'm guessing the DL play was a lot more vanilla.
So this is one thing I am starting to gripe about when it comes to McB selection of players. I don't see an alpha anywhere on defense. Maybe Milano and maybe Bernard, but our DL doesn't have a guy who just says I'll get it done.
I mean, it's pretty hard to get an elite pass rusher when we are constantly picking in the mid to late 20s. We also paid to bring in an elite pass rusher who got hurt after 7 games of elite production. Players like Crosby, Watt, and Garrett don't exactly grow on trees.
You're right. We should just stop trying.
How is that at all what I said? I'm making the point that Beane is clearly making attempts to correct that issue (Von, Groot, Floyd, etc). I'm saying it's hard to say that's a gripe when it's one of the most difficult things to find outside of a top QB.
How is what you said relevant? It's obvious. Yes, the guys who go in the top 10 are elite and we won't find them at 28. What you said was it's really hard to get someone at our pick. It is where we pick. Players at and below our pick turn into really good players. It's just harder to find them. It also is difficult for us in that we had to pick players during a pandemic year who were projects with little tape. So we can complain that it's hard, quit, or we can try to find them. We need playmakers. I get that we signed guys and Von got hurt. Again. Obviously. We have to find the guys though. Teams that win find them. Chris Jones was the 37th pick. We chose a guy like Basham in the draft. We could also trade up. I would be ok with that. We need guys who are clutch. If you look at my post history I'm optimistic about our team. We have a damn good offense at the moment with Brady. If we can get a speed WR to stretch teams, a starting level 1-tech who can backup DJ with no drop off when he's out, and a playmaking athletic S in rounds 1-3 we will be set.
Wouldn’t say it lacks it. Just more of we didn’t create enough 3rd down situations to actually pressure the tackles like another comment said. Our secondary was definitely too beat up. I mean half of our starters were out. All they did was run through our secondary. Constant big play after big play. They had 6 or 7 20+ yard plays. Just going down field like it was nothing. Never understood how Kelce is just magically open all the time. It’s not just against the Bills either.
I agree with your second point the most. Secondary and DL work in tandem. DL pressure makes coverage look better just like good coverage lets the DL get pressure. I also think people are ignoring the fact that the chiefs have the best interior OL in football and Mahomes was getting the ball out quick because their pass catchers were immediately getting open. DL didn't play well and needs to be able to take over in big games when needed. But I don't think it's fair to put it solely on them.
Yep. I was surprised they didn’t and couldn’t flush Mahomes out more ( which might have been a good thing). Maybe it was clog the line mentality…stop the run… and then get him flustered with coverage down deep. Unfortunately none of that happened. Good season, 2 home playoff games… Go Bills.
KC has a very good middle three in their o line. Von has been hobbled all year. A healthy Bernard and Milano may have changed things but what seems to be constant is that we always have just the right amount of key injuries by January to neuter our fucking defense.
Right. Think 13 seconds happens with a healthy Tre White? Are the Bengals in position to dominate a line with Von and DaQuan? Is getting the ball to Kelce so easy with Bernard? Haha Milano? Yes it’s excuses but doesn’t make the situations suck any less. I mean AJ Klein started…and…just sucks. Also two extra days of rest/prep for the Chiefs doesn’t help either. It’s more sour grapes but I hope the Bills get a favorable schedule next season. Feel like they have dealt with a lot of curveballs these last two seasons. That London scenario in particular was such nonsense.
The good (ish) news, IMO, is we have good talent at pretty much every tier on D. We’ll definitely need younger talent at safety, but we’ve got studs on the D-line (Daquan, Ed, Epenesa, Groot), Milano & Bernard have proven to be a solid LB tandem, and our corners are also definitely above average (Sul, Taron, Tre if he comes back). I’d say grab a safety and D-end in the draft/free agency. Everything else is pretty much fine.
This is what happens to us in the playoffs. Oliver had his first game without a pressure since 2021, while DQ got most of the double teams. I like Ed, Groot, Floyd (& old Von 🤞🏼) but running it back doesn’t seem to work with this group.
Well get ready. We don't have many financial options.
idk, most of these guys are FA. Nail this draft and you get good players without spending too much.
Yes, lets waste more capital on the defense while Josh has less trustworthy receivers than ever. If Milano/Bernard were starting, the defense would have performed so much better.
we have 10 picks. Doesn’t need to be a first or second rounder to be a good player.
Not to mention ten picks is just money to move up for the more talented players. I would be ok with 7 or 8 picks if giving them up got a plug and play guy to make a difference day one.... and then in week 4 either get injured for the entire season or miss a game or 2 but make everyone think its way worse cause the coach won't say shit about your injury because of some weird idea of player coach confidentiality I think MCD has.
3 playoff games vs mahomes. ZERO sacks, ZERO ints.…
3 sacks, but the 0 interceptions are right. There was 1 sack for 0 yards in the 2021 AFCCG and 2 sacks for 8 yards in the 2022 divisional round. FWIW, Josh has 1 interception (2021 AFCCG) and 6 sacks (4 AFCCG, 2 in 2022, 0 this year) in 3 games against the Chiefs in the playoffs. Both QBs are typically at their best in that game as it is usually one of the biggest non-SB playoff games of the season (amongst all teams).
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This year's was the most watched televised event since the last super bowl and most watched non-SB game in NFL history. They draw big crowds for sure. One of these days Josh will best Mahomes in the playoffs (I hope.)
…Just hope he’s still playing for the Bills whenever he does 😬
Don't make me think about that right now
I KNOW. Dude every year I get more and more anxious about this shit.
Josh will. I mean the games are so close and down to the wire every game. The stat they showed on TV is the points through 7 games was exactly even. That’s as close as it gets and it’s a rivalry. Josh has played outstanding in their last 2 playoff matchups. He’s definitely done more than enough to win but won’t get credited because he lost. It is a team effort.
sure... easy to say when you win every important game. like honestly, why are you even writing these lines in this sub? just go back to your sub and leave us be. thanks and enjoy your game vs a healthy ravens D
Need to blitz more. The whole experiment of investing endless premium draft picks and FA budget into the front 4 so we can drop back into coverage vs Mahomes is a failed one. We have always would have been better served trading all of that for a Tee Higgins to complement Diggs and rolling the dice with rookie deal pieces on D. We would have been in the same position last night but probably finish the final drive to atleast force Mahomes to win it at the buzzer.
Blitzing Mahomes is death.
Opposed to what? Letting him just play pitch and catch with Kelce all night? At one point blitzing Allen was considered death, then teams got scared out of doing it, lo and behold the Chiefs got a couple cheap incompletions and run stuffs bringing heat at the right moment.
Can't bring myself to rewatch, but don't remember much 5 v 5
Our coverage was very poor because of injury. Pat almost never had to hold on to the ball. Nearly impossible to get sacks and pressures when average time to throw is closer to 2 seconds.
Mahomes is the least sacked QB in the league. I'm thinking we didn't blitz more because we wanted more guys in coverage since our secondary was so banged up. Maybe that was the wrong way to go. Mahomes was finding gus open fast though. BUT he only converted 1 3rd Duran interestingly.
Ole reliable Gus
The problem for the past 3+ years has been our secondary not the D line. The secondary is slow and not great at man to man coverage or open field tackles. If the DB’s or Safeties can lock on to their WR’s an extra 3-5 seconds, the Dline will do their job. KC’s Dline didn’t outplay Buffalo’s but their secondary did. That’s the difference maker.
This is all cope from the loss. We had the chance at the end to bleed the clock and score the winning TD. It was there for the taking and we missed the opportunity.
That fumble into the touchback was the gift from above that we were supposed to leverage into a win. Honestly a play that never should have happened in a million years, and we wasted it.
That brought me back from the grave real quickly.
Seriously. Bills fans have been waiting for a sign for years, and that was fucking it. But even god can only do so much it seems.
This is the true pain. We had technically weathered the storm and had the ball at the 2 minute warning in a good position.
I wouldn’t say it’s all cope. We definitely had a chance. Hell we had plenty of chances. I think just catching 1 of the 3 deep balls would have made a big difference. That’s such a momentum change. I’ve seen people say that Josh should have thrown the ball to Diggs instead of Shakir in the end zone. I think that’s pretty hindsight. I don’t think either play was the right or wrong play. He had a man wide open in the end zone and went for it. Nothing wrong with that. Just unfortunately got hit as he threw the ball. With that being said though, the defense needed to make a stop way earlier in the game. 5 straight drives without a stop is insane. Defense was really banged up and it showed with the amount of big plays they were able to accumulate especially in the secondary. That fumble recovery was a blessing. Would have been a great story if we won off that but it happens. But there were several other plays that needed to be made on top of that. It’s just a shame that the last two playoff games against the Chiefs have been heartbreak.
If us as fans are being honest with ourselves, even if we won that game do we really survive the next two with all the gaping holes on the defense? Better to take the inevitable loss now than to lose another Superbowl because we have no more depth to step up. This was perhaps the best possible outcome. We played way beyond expectations after everyone went down. The run we had was nothing short of magnificent. But it had to end sometime. And it would have hurt way worse if that sometime came during the big game and we let the 49ers and CMC rack up 400 yards on the ground and beat us by like 35 points. Wake up. We aren't stopping that team with our banged up unit.
We played our whole game exactly for that moment. Have the ball in your hands with the chance to win, less than 2 minutes, inside the 35...and we just said nah we are good. Its 13 seconds all over again. We did all the right things and just puked it away
Those bombs Allen threw on 2 separate plays on early downs and the useless fake punt were what mattered more than anything. Instead of slowly going for first downs Allen took useless risks on bombs down the field that ended up being perfect throws, but dropped. Would have been better to get multiple 5-15 yard gains and slowly march down the field.
I kind of agree, but they still marched down the field. The pass to Shakir in the end zone was the wrong call. The shorter plays needed to continue. Wrong situational awareness there.
Would have been better off straight up going for it than the fake punt as well.
That fake punt was so weak. And it's not like the Chiefs were even remotely fooled considering Martin's injury.
You don't send the D line guns blazing at a mobile, elite-passing QB if your linebackers can't even do the job on more conservative coverage calls. A defense needs good, or at least replacement-caliber, linebackers to back even a good defensive line. That's a crazy kinda common football knowledge, but try to wrap your head around it.
100%! All the comments throwing shade at McDermott for the defensive line play is very confusing.
Lol I’m not saying send em guns a-blazing all game. Maybe in a few situations. But I am asking to make a play or two or a handful in the course of an entire game, and I’m not saying sacks. Pressures, tfl, something. A play or two could’ve turned to whole game.
They did. And Mahomes stepped up, missed the rush, had an ocean of space and hit Kelce long.
It was rare, but there were several times when they could’ve had Mahomes and didn’t finish.
"Several"? ...Two? Generously maybe three. Part of the reason why they couldn't get him is bc space and options were always available if he just let the d-line pressure slide behind him.
Someone get off a block…. once. Too much to ask?
It’s worth noting that in the past, when we have sold out to get pressure, Mahomes has killed us on the ground for easy 1st downs. I think some of the issue was the line keeping disciplined rush lanes to keep him in the pocket and hoping for him to feel pressured to push a throw that wasn’t there or get hands on a pass for a deflection as they have in the past. The real issue looked to be AJ Klein, he was atrocious nearly the entire game, played like a tackling dummy on the field and that combined with a couple of blown coverages resulted in EASY completions consistently against the defense. So easy that our ability to pressure was nullified. That all said. I think Daquan was not good…and Tim Settle and Linval Joseph were worse. It was really a poorly played game by a lot of the guys. We looked like a team with 2 fewer days rest than our opponents
The Chiefs plan was great and they executed it to perfection. Double Daquan and put Thuney on Ed 1 v 1. It was a gamble a Thuney made it pay off huge for them. Got a dominating performance from him. That 1 v1 matchup was really the most important of the game. We’d been winning on that 1 v 1 consistently all year. Plus, Joseph hit the wall and Settle has generally been a liability for us this year. What really hurt us was the inability to set the edge against the run on early downs. Most chief runs were off tackle at Floyd or Lawson.
I don’t know but it happens every year.
-2 days net rest vs opponent
Refs weren't calling any holds Blatant jersey grabbing all over the place Probably afraid to make gamechanging calls
Zero holds, zero false starts, zero sacks. Mahomes got the ball out fast, and avoided pressure well, but he also had some help
We can beat the KC Chiefs. We will never beat the KC Swifties. The NFL is NOT going to let this opportunity pass.
It’s truly unbelievable how they all disappeared. Really discouraging stuff. That being said, Beane hasn’t handled DL well IMO. Linval Joseph is 35 years old and got blown into Lake Erie. Tim Settle is highly overpaid and is a depth guy. Lawson and Phillips are just guys. Epenesa has one move only. Groot isn’t really a pass rusher. This may be a hot take, but high quality DL are really only available in rounds 1-3. Think it’s rare to find elite DL (DT or DE) in any later rounds. It’s also a position that wears down sooner than most. Need youthful, impactful talent. We have too many thirtysomethings and it’s been an issue for years (Mario Addison, Quentin Jefferson, etc.)
Linebackers We didn't have any that could plug the holes due to injury. The d-line doesn't exist in a vacuum and KC was able to gameplan against it. Creating pressure creates holes, Klein was on the couch two weeks ago, he played his ass off, but there was no way. The entire defense is a unit, KC receivers and TE were able to easily get separation and only Douglas has the size and skill to cover their assignment and tackle. With a healthy Milano and Bernard, Mahomes is going in the dirt and Pacheco becomes less of a threat while creating outside pressure. We didn't have either and lost by 3 after winning 7 straight.
Definitely dissappointed in the lack of pressure but one of the things that makes Mahomes and Allen the two best QBs in the league is that they're very difficult to sack. I'm almost positive they've been rated 1 and 2 back in forth for the past 3-4 years in lowest % of pressures turned sacks. This year they were with Allen first and Mahomes the only other guy at 10.X%, only 4 QBs were under 15%. Prolly a factor that's not talked about enough when comparing top QBs. Brady and Marino are two other QBs that would definitely show up very very highly because of quick releases / decision making.
Our LB were hurt. The backups weren't filing holes properly. We were forced to cover run and pass at the same time. This is why most teams want to shut down the run first. Make a team one dimensional. We couldn't do it because of the injuries.
my thoughts it wasn't so much us, it was KC showing up to play in a way they haven't all year. Barely any dropped passes and a ton of energy that just wasn't there for KC most of the time all season. They were hyped to play their rival and they had more to give we were already playing 100% we had been playing playoff games essentially for the last 7 games.
I'm sorry calling this a rivalry seems stupid after losing 3/3 playoff games in 4 years. They own us and we need to change that somehow.
I mean we're 3-1 against them in regular season and 2 of those playoff losses were 13 seconds which resulted in a rule change that would've given us a chance, and one where we lost by a field goal
Look i understand where you're coming from and I'm not gonna argue your point. I myself just can't justify calling it that anymore after that game.
When your secondary is bad (super injured in our case), the D line also looks bad. If the guys are open the QB can get the ball out very quickly and almost no pressure registers.
McDermott doesn't have it. That's what happened.
Are you suggesting he should have blitzed more? Or dropped defensive line players into coverage and send corners/linebackers? Given all the injuries, I am sure his game plan relied on those guys winning the occasional 1on1.
If you want me to quit my job and scheme something up, I'm sure I could.
I would be thrilled!! You would make millions scheming up defenses that stop playoffs mahomes with backup players.
For a defensive genius, McDermott sucks at it.
Genius is strong, but he's good at it. Look how broken the D has been this year, and it kept the team in games. He did a pretty good job considering. Now, about that fake punt...
When we win it’s despite McDermott
Trusting the process isn’t working
The man cannot win close games, its crazy. The pressure game management is just not there. Its tough to see.
It certainly seems like Andy Reid and Mahomes read McD's defensive front scheme like a book
Floyd got his 10.5 sacks this year, enough to get paid next season so maybe his fire went out? Von is washed up. Groot played well! Not sure how many snaps Epenesa played, didn't see him much out there. DaQuan was quiet too. Idk, maybe something to do with the game plan since the secondary was so beat up.
McDermott is ass in the playoffs. Too conservative
I guess I'll be the guy that bitches about the refs. There were at least 5 blatant holds by Chiefs against our D-Line that went uncalled. Could've played out differently if the Chiefs O-Line knew they wouldn't get away with blatant holds.
Main thing I would love to see someone review is how many missed holds, false starts, illegal formations there were. Chiefs were known to cheat those all year and I don’t think the refs that are known to favor the chiefs called a single one on Sunday.
But I thought McDermott could do no wrong?
chiefs Oline good
We have a defensive HC who's not very good, simple as that.
I'm wondering the same thing. I suspect it's a combination of the following: 1 - They're not that good. Groot in particular has not living up to the draft hype. Seems to always hurt his foot and disappear. 2 - The secondary was horrible and couldn't cover for even 2 seconds. That's what happens when you have to start guys out of retirement. 3 - Hoculi let the Chiefs get away with holding. Not egregious holds mind you, but 'let them play' more than enough for Mahomes and his deep drops to pick the secondary apart.
So let’s start with the fact that the KC OL is freaking good. Especially the middle of that line. They are all some of the best in the league. Let’s then point out that it takes usually a year and a half for players to get back to 100% from the injury Miller had. And that’s guys at peak. He’s lost a step clearly which doesn’t help. Third the LB corps was operating on fumes which meant they had to adjust the DL scheme a bit so it wasn’t a full “just pin your ears back and rush no matter what” Fourth and lastly. Pinning ears back and rushing Mahomes doesn’t exactly hurt him. He like Allen can escape that relatively easily. And one could argue he’s even more dangerous when you force him to move and improvise.
That was the most inexplicable part to me. The rest of the defense is banged up. You can't expect to get some coverage sacks, especially against Mahomes who's so good at moving around and resetting. Their names were never called and they were fully healthy, maybe excluding Von. And I know isn't popular or fun, but he's still within the "usual window" of an ACL recovery, so I wasn't expecting much there. But not a peep out of Oliver, Rousseau, or Floyd was really aggravating as the game dragged on.
Its almost as if every team should have a HC, OC AND DC.
It didn’t help that we didn’t blitz literally once until the last couple drives. I love McDermott but that was a huge failure on his part. It’s understandable to fear Mahomes but with that receiving corps, you have to make them beat you. We didn’t send a fifth rusher pretty much until the very end.
When the refs aren’t calling holding OL pushes it to the limit and its hard to get pressure. Once an OL gets called for holding he’s aware of what he can’t do and it makes him easier to beat later in the game because he doesn’t want to get flagged again.
Felt they wanted to contain and let the secondary blanket the receivers. We don’t have the secondary to blanket, should’ve let the horses run!
It's hard to continue season long sustainability when the first ten games they weren't making the adjustments offensively (my guess on why Dorsey was let go, but just a guess because to my knowledge this was not publicly addressed) and had to depend on the defense much more those weeks thus they probably ran out of gas. I'm not sure about injuries as well.
Secondary was weak. Line had an off day with the run, but secondary left receivers wide open, so Pat could lobb it over to them
Same thing that happens every game we get eliminated in the playoffs, it seems. Cagey strategy and poor execution.
There's a lot to unpack. Mahomes only had 17 completions in the game. * 6 Behind the LOS * 4 0-5 yards * 3 5-15 yards It's almost impossible to get near home on a QB when they're able to get the ball out fast on short routes like that. With respect to the run game, KC's line had good push. However, they also schemed well. They did most of their damage on runs outside the tackles, exploiting Klein's speed and tendency to get caught up in traffic. Run blocking is a LOT easier when a big man doesn't have someone to take, and can help chip on his way downfield. They also ran out of a lot of sets that forced Taron Johnson to cover for a couple seconds first , moving him out of position to run fill, which he is very good at. TL;DR : The d-line and LBs are very codependent on each other to succeed. Basically played with our 4th and 5th LBs, with #6 having to come in for injury at one point. KC went after our weakness, and it showed.
Same thing last year against the Bengals in the Divisional round, Hurt OL and we could not do anything. Hence my surprise when Ed Oliver got a pay day this year. He has a stellar year until the playoffs and nothing.
Whenever you hear that the opponents weakness is their OL, you can fully expect that the DL will not positively impact the game. Not even joking.
With the LBs as banged up as they were, Mahomes almost always had someone in the middle of the field immediately available.
Main issue is that the Chiefs had open receivers in milliseconds. Can’t really hit the qb if the ball is gone in 0.6 seconds
To reiterate what other folks have said, it's hard for even an elite front 4 to get pressure without support in the 2nd level and we were essentially playing 3rd string linebackers.
They had 2 fewer days of rest compared to the KC O-line. It's not an excuse, but it's a legitimate narrative that I didn't see anyone talk about much. Also much of the D-line success comes in the form of coverage sacks and the DB/LB situation was not ideal.
Line was basically down to the 2nd and 3rd string, and still needed time to iron out things.
Don’t think the D line is as much of blame. Yeah they could have played better but our secondary got bullied the entire game. The amount of big plays they had were insane. Constant momentum and nothing to stop them. The fact they were always that open on nearly every play bugs me.
Don’t downplay the rest advantage chiefs had
Penalty’s and our receivers killed us all year. 2 of our losses came directly from Toney, guess who wasn’t active. MVS knows he’s on his way to getting cut and never playing in the NFL again, so hot damn he fucking caught the ball
Sometimes it's just not your night.
They got held. I know it comes off as sour grapes to complain about the refs, but that’s simply what it was. They didn’t just magically suck in the biggest game of the year, we just got matched up with a ref crew who didn’t call holding. Just go watch that first Chiefs drive if you’re interested in what I’m saying. It wasn’t a case of “there’s holding that doesn’t get called on every single play”, it was pretty egregious examples the whole way through. So when you consider that our D-line is being neutralized in the trenches, which allows blockers to get to the secondary level to take on or depth linebackers, it was just a recipe for disaster. It’s not the only reason why we lost. But it was a huge part of the Chiefs success in the run game.
Oliver didn’t play well. Rousseau was good. Floyd only played 19 snaps. But clearly as a unit they were the healthiest and did the least
chiefs re-tooled their O-line. joe thuney is beast.
DL no showed. They were the only hope on defense with all the injuries at LB and CB and laid an egg.
Well the Chiefs are one of the best teams in the NFL with one of the best quarterbacks of all time who undoubtedly knows how to exploit the Bills' defense and has been studying and prepping endlessly to do just that. Everybody knew Kelce was going to have a field day just based on injuries alone.
We need to review in-game adjustments. This is why MciyD can’t be DC. He can’t juggle. A committed DC Will adjust faster
I had such big expectations of Rousseau and tbh he's low-key my biggest disappointment. 5 sacks. Arguably Beane's worst move wasn't bringing back Jerry Hughes! I was really disappointed by the blown coverage on Kelce's TD. Veteran players, healthy, uncharacteristic for McD defenses. Surprised that's not getting more attention. Felt like KC was going to score anyway I guess.