It was the rematch that many football fans had been looking forward to this season, and it was the 2020 AFC runner up that exacted some revenge on the road.
The Buffalo Bills put up another complete effort on Sunday night, resulting in a dominant 38-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium and a fourth-straight win on the 2021 schedule.
The Chiefs received the opening kickoff and were able to drive into Buffalo territory on a long 17-play drive. However, the Bills defense was able to only limit quarterback Patrick Mahomes to 2-of-8 passing on the opening drive for 18 yards. With that, the Kansas City offense only got as far as the Bills' 14-yard line before settling for a 38-yard field goal from kicker Harrison Butker.
The Bills responded right away on their opening drive of the game, and it resulted in seven points on the scoreboard.
Led by quarterback Josh Allen mainly on the ground, the Bills drive down the field in less than four minutes to set themselves up in scoring position. The drive ended with Allen punching the ball up the middle for nine yards for his second rushing touchdown of the season.
On Buffalo's opening drive, Allen rushed the ball for 42 of the Bills' 52 yards rushing.
The special teams unit came up with a big play on the ensuing kickoff, as the Bills recovered a fumble forced by safety Siran Neal. The fourth-year safety was able to force the ball loose from returner Byron Pringle, and the fumble was recovered at the Chiefs' 34-yard line by linebacker Andre Smith.
However, Buffalo would go backwards from there, as Allen ended up facing pressure on a 3rd-and-11 and took an intentional grounding penalty that cost the Bills 18 yards and to put the team well out of field goal range.
The Chiefs took advantage of Buffalo's miscue by re-taking the lead in the early stages of the second quarter.
It was another long drive for Kansas City, as the Chiefs took the drive 80 yards down the field on 12 plays to find the end zone. This time, the Chiefs got cute with plenty of pre-play action, but it resulted in Mahomes rolling out to his right and eventually firing a five-yard touchdown strike to Pringle.
The Bills didn't waste any time re-taking the advantage, as Allen connected with wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to put Buffalo up by a 14-10 score. After getting to the Kansas City 35-yard line, Allen was given plenty of time to throw the ball in the pocket and fired a strike to Sanders in the end zone.
After the Bills defense came up with a big three-and-out of the Kansas City offense, Allen connected big with his No. 1 wide receiver to set Buffalo up in scoring position. On a 3rd-and-8 at the Bills' 28-yard line, Allen was given good protection in the pocket, while wide receiver Stefon Diggs broke free from coverage. The two then connected for a monster 61-yard gain all the way down to the Chiefs' 11-yard line.
However, Buffalo was unable to put up seven points on the scoreboard, as a Tyler Bass 30-yard field goal helped put the Bills up 17-10 with 3:16 to go in the first half.
Kansas City's offense was given great field position on their next drive after Bass' ensuing kickoff went out-of-bounds. Despite getting as far as the Buffalo 32-yard line, the Bills defense came up with a huge fourth down stop to give the offense the ball back with less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Two plays later, Allen went deep once again to one of his favorite targets and it resulted in another touchdown.
As Allen faced some pressure and rolled to his right, he connected with tight end Dawson Knox, who was wide-open for a 53-yard touchdown strike. It is the fourth time in as many games that Allen has thrown a touchdown pass to the third-year tight end.
With some time still remaining in the half, the Chiefs managed to get into field goal range for Butker once again, and he was able to cut the deficit to 24-13 just before halftime.
With the Bills leading at halftime, it was the 14th-straight regular season game in which Buffalo took the lead to the locker room, which is a NFL record.
After a lengthy weather delay of about an hour and 15 minutes, action resumed for the second half with the Bills getting the football right off the bat. However, the opening drive of the third quarter for Buffalo resulted with a three-and-out.
On Buffalo's next drive, Allen and Knox connected again for a big gain, this time for 41 yards on the first play from scrimmage. That reception for Knox put him at 117 receiving yards on just three catches.
Unfortunately for the Bills, they wouldn't gain anymore traction on the drive, as they ended up punting from the Kansas City 40-yard line.
The Bills managed to get the defense into the scoring action on the Chiefs' next drive courtesy of safety Micah Hyde. On a 3rd-and-5 play at the Kansas City 24-yard line, Mahomes attempted a pass to Tyreek Hill that was tipped and landed in the hands of Hyde. The Bills safety managed to break free from Hill's tackle attempt and return the interception for another seven points on the scoreboard.
Buffalo's defense came up huge again on Kansas City's next drive, as rookie defensive end Greg Rousseau continues to impress. With the Chiefs in action deep into Buffalo territory, Rousseau was able to get his hands on a Mahomes screen pass attempt and tip the ball in the air. The former wide receiver in high school was then able to corral the football and pick up the first interception of his career.
After the Bills immediately went three-and-out on their following drive, the Chiefs drove back down the field to close the gap to 11 early in the fourth quarter. It took seven plays and 52 yards for Kansas City to make the score 31-20, as tight end Travis Kelce found the endzone from one-yard out.
With the Chiefs closing the gap in the fourth quarter, the Bills needed to go on a long drive that chewed up a lot of time on the clock and resulted in more points on the scoreboard. That's exactly what happened.
Allen was able to lead the Bills on a long 12-play drive that took up nearly eight minutes off the game clock, and it ended with another touchdown pass to Sanders from nine yards out. The drive helped push Allen over the 300-yard passing mark on just 15 completions.
Down by 18 points, the Chiefs pushed down the field once again with an attempt to make things interesting late in the contest. However, on a 2nd-and-10 at the Bills' 15-yard line, Mahomes fumbled a shotgun snap that ended up bouncing around for a bit before being recovered by cornerback Tre'Davious White at the Buffalo 35-yard line
From there, all the Bills had to do was run out the final 3:36 on the clock, which they did by feeding the football to running back Zack Moss, who pushed the ball ahead into Kansas City territory to close out a 38-20 win.
GAME SUMMARY
First quarter:
- 3-0 KANSAS CITY: Chiefs field goal (8:32) - Harrison Butker's 38-yard field goal attempt is good.
Drive info: 17 plays, 56 yards, 6:29
- 7-3 BUFFALO: Bills touchdown (4:36) - Josh Allen keeps the football and runs in a nine-yard touchdown. (Tyler Bass' extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 8 plays, 75 yards, 3:55
Second quarter:
- 10-7 KANSAS CITY: Chiefs touchdown (10:00) - Patrick Mahomes fires a five-yard touchdown pass to Byron Pringle. (Harrison Butker's extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 12 plays, 80 yards, 7:55
- 14-10 BUFFALO: Bills touchdown (7:45) - Josh Allen fires a 35-yard strike to Emmanuel Sanders for a touchdown. (Tyler Bass' extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 5 plays, 75 yards, 2:15
- 17-10 BUFFALO: Bills field goal (3:16) - Tyler Bass' 30-yard field goal attempt is good.
Drive info: 7 plays, 62 yards, 2:33
- 24-10 BUFFALO: Bills touchdown (1:16) - Josh Allen rolls out and connects with Dawson Knox for a 53-yard touchdown pass. (Tyler Bass' extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 2 plays, 68 yards, 0:34
- 24-13 BUFFALO: Chiefs field goal (0:02) - Harrison Butker's 54-yard field goal attempt is good.
Drive info: 8 plays, 39 yards, 1:14
Third quarter:
- 31-13 BUFFALO: Bills touchdown (7:20) - Micah Hyde picks off Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and returns the football 26 yards for a touchdown. (Tyler Bass' extra point attempt is good)
Fourth quarter:
- 31-20 BUFFALO: Chiefs touchdown (13:42) - Patrick Mahomes tosses a one-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce. (Harrison Butker's extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 7 plays, 52 yards, 2:32
- 38-20 BUFFALO: Bills touchdown (5:51) - Josh Allen throws a nine-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders. (Tyler Bass' extra point attempt is good)
Drive info: 12 plays, 85 yards, 7:51
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SKYWORKS EQUIPMENT RENTAL STATS OF THE GAME:
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What's next:
The Bills will travel to Tennessee next Monday night for another prime-time matchup against the Titans on Oct. 18 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. Official pregame coverage on WGR gets started at 3 p.m. ET with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog. Kickoff is slated for 8:15 p.m. ET with John Murphy, Eric Wood and Sal Capaccio on the call.
