Report card: Bills season ends in vs. Chiefs again
What a shame.
The buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime, 42-36, to be eliminated from the playoffs. It’s the second-straight season Buffalo’s year has ended in Kansas City.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen sat on the sidelines, watching KC QB Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs march down the field in OT. Mahomes tossed it to tight end Travis Kelce who tapped two toes down to score.
With that, here’s how Bills Wire graded the Bills positional groups after the loss:
Quarterback: A+
Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Josh Allen established himself as a top-two quarterback in the NFL. The only problem is he might have ran into the No. 1.
Allen was near perfection. He completed 27-of-37 passes for 329 yards and four touchdowns. He also led the Bills in rushing with 11 carries for 68 yards.
Allen was never frazzled. Buffalo allowed two scores to start the second half and watch Kansas City take a nine-point lead. Then Buffalo outscored the Chiefs 15-3 to take a lead.
When the Bills went down 33-29 with 1:02 left, he led the Bills to one last touchdown drive.
NFL rules prevented Allen from seeing the field one more time. This year’s playoff exit does not lie on him.
Running back: B+
(Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)
Devin Singletary started off hot, leading the Bills in receiving yards at the end of the first quarter. He didn’t finish hot.
Singletary scored the Bills first touchdown of the game and rushed 10 times throughout. He only averaged 2.6 yards on those carries. He did make three catches for 32 yards but the fourth was brutal.
On third down and seven, Singletary caught a little flip from Allen that should have just been dropped. The Bills were knocked back into a fourth down and 14 situation with the game on the line.
Singletary’s mistake could have ended the Bills season.
Tight End: B-
Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Dawson Knox was not important to the Bills’ passing offense.
Knox was targeted four times, catching two passes for nine yards. He dropped one of his targets.
Knox was more important as an extra pass blocker and chipping or lead blocking on designed quarterback runs for Josh Allen.
It’s a quiet end to a breakout season for the third-year tight end. Firmly pencil him in for the same role next season.
Wide Receiver: B
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
For as much credit Gabriel Davis deserves for an all-time performance, you need to question what happened when Stefon Diggs finishes with fewer receiving yards than your fullback with five career catches.
Davis set the playoff record with four touchdowns in one game. He had eight catches for 201 yards, including the longest play of the Bills season on a 75-yard score.
Cole Beasley was second on the Bills with six catches for 60 yards. Emmanuel Sanders had one catch for 16 yards. Diggs had three catches for seven yards on six targets.
Diggs wasn’t spectacular in the teams’ first matchup in Week 5 (2 catches, 69 yards) but the Bills need to find a way to get their All-Pro more involvement.
Offensive Line: B+
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
The Bills have some thinking to do about their offensive line next season. They seem to have found a combination that works but how sustainable is it.
Dion Dawkins, Ryan Bates, Mitch Morse, Darryl Williams, and Spencer Brown produced a good-enough effort to give Buffalo an opportunity to win.
Allen was only sacked twice and the team averaged over five yards per carry. They will never be a power run team but they’ve shown the ability to run the final weeks of the season.
Defensive Line: D
Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
The Bills defensive line pressured Mahomes but they could never get him down. Mahomes was sacked the same number of times as Allen (2) but he also finished with a career-high in rushing yards on scrambles.
Mahomes scrambled seven times for 69 yards and a touchdown. The Chiefs as a whole ran 27 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns.
Ed Oliver continued to dominate the interior of lines with three tackles, a sack, and two tackles for a loss. Taron Johnson had the other sack.
Mario Addison and Jerry Hughes rushed too far up the field, giving Mahomes a chance to make a play on the run or with his legs. Pressures only do so much against the top quarterback in the NFL.
Linebacker: D
Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds were not good enough.
Despite being the respective one and two on the Bills in tackles the Bills starting linebackers were put into conflict throughout the game that the Chiefs were able to take advantage of.
Edmunds especially was forced to make a decision on most plays in the first half and he guessed wrong the majority of the time.
Secondary: C+
Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Not having Tre’Davious White finally caught up to the Bills.
Mahomes was the second-best player behind Allen with 33 completions for 378 yards and three touchdowns.
Tyreek Hill had 150 yards and a touchdown, including a 64 yard score to give Kansas City the lead with under two minutes remaining. Then the Bills ran a prevent defense with 0:13 seconds remaining that let the Chiefs advance 44 yards in two plays and let Kansas City tie on a field goal.
The secondary was gassed by the time overtime started. The Chiefs added another 69 yards in the air during the overtime period, ending in a Travis Kelce touchdown,
Special Teams: F
(Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)
Tyreek Hill was sent back to return a punt for the first time all season. The Bills covered it well but offsetting penalties forced a re-kick. Hill then returned a punt 45 yards and was a Matt Haack tackle away from a touchdown.
Then with 0:13 seconds left the Bills opted to kick the ball into the endzone instead of forcing the Chiefs to field the kick and take precious seconds off of the clock. Then, well, you know what happened.
Two plays that could’ve shifted the game toward a Bills win were on special teams. Failure.
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