Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - What a week it was for the Buffalo Bills, as they handed the Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the 2024 season on Sunday with a 30-21 win at Highmark Stadium.
While Buffalo's win still has the team a half game back of the Chiefs in the AFC standings, it puts the Bills at 9-2 on the season, which is a record the team has not achieved since 1992.
The Bills entered their matchup with the Chiefs without a few key pieces of the offense due to injury, as wide receiver Keon Coleman, tight end Dalton Kincaid and right tackle Spencer Brown all sat out Sunday's contest.
However, Buffalo did get wideout Amari Cooper back in the lineup, and came up with a couple of pivotal catches for the Bills in Sunday's win.
The defense not only helped set the tone early with an interception of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, courtesy of safety Taylor Rapp, the unit also came up in the clutch with two sacks, seven quarterback hits, and a game-clinching interception from linebacker Terrel Bernard.
Offensively, the Bills relied heavily on the arm of quarterback Josh Allen, as he completed 27-of-40 pass attempts for 262 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also added in 55 rushing yards on 12 attempts, including an impressive 26-yard touchdown run on a 4th-and-2 with less than three minutes remaining in the game that put Buffalo up by nine points.
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Following their sixth-straight win, the Bills will now get a bit of a break with their bye week. It will provide a chance for some players to not only get some much-needed rest ahead of the home stretch, but it will allow others to recover from injuries and other ailments.
The following the bye, the Bills will return to action when they host the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers on "Sunday Night Football" at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
That kicks off a stretch of games against NFC opponents, as Buffalo will then travel to take on the Los Angeles Rams before heading to Detroit to take on the juggernaut Lions.
Then the Bills will close out the final three games of the season with three-straight AFC East games where they play the New England Patriots twice, with a home matchup against the New York Jets sandwiched in-between.
The huge win over the Chiefs will now allow Howard Simon to relax quite a bit heading into the bye week. While the Bills head to their off week, it's no bye week for Howard, as he carried out his weekly obligations for the loyal listeners of WGR: Picking the Bills!
Coming back from the bye, Howard continues to see the Bills having success, as has been the case during the duration of Sean McDermott's tenure as head coach in Buffalo.
Not only does he see Buffalo continuing their winning ways, Howard only sees the Bills losing once more to the Lions in Detroit, while finishing the 2024 campaign with a franchise-best 14-3 record. It also gives Buffalo a change at competing and earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC heading into the playoffs.
Be sure to follow along on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the latest picks from Howard by using the hashtag #HowardPicksTheBills. You can also track all of Howard's picks throughout the season with Brayton Wilson's picks tracker on X: @BraytonJWilson.
You can listen to, as well as watch the latest edition of "Howard Picks the Bills" below: