TONY’S TAKE – A PREVIEW OF BILLS-CHIEFS
- Tony Fiorello
- 5 days ago
- 22 min read
by Tony Fiorello
Welcome to Week Nine of the 2025 NFL season. Here at Buffalo Sports Page we will attempt to inform and educate our readers about the Buffalo Bills’ upcoming opponent and what each team might do to emerge victorious.
The Bills’ eighth game of 2025 will take place at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York as they face the Kansas City Chiefs. Here’s what you should know:
CHIEFS’ OFFENSE IS TYPICALLY DANGEROUS
Andy Reid’s version of the West Coast offense has taken on many forms over the years. In Philadelphia his passing game with quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick was vertical-based to take advantage of their arm strength, conversely with Alex Smith it became conservative and horizontal.
Now with Patrick Mahomes under center it has returned to its downfield version. The system has also incorporated many college concepts in recent years and heavily relies on the design of the play to get people open. According to former MMQB/SI writer Andy Benoit, “Kansas City’s passing game is unique because it doesn’t depend on wide receivers winning one-on-one battles outside. The scheme relies on route combinations and creating opportunities for tight ends and running backs. This means the throws are more about timing than velocity.
“Reid features presnap motion, misdirection and multi-option reads. Those tactics put a defense on its heels by presenting the illusion of complexity, but they can transition into traditional concepts once the ball is snapped…. (they) aim to isolate specific defenders – often linebackers – present them with run/pass assignment conflicts and also get defenders flowing one way as the ball goes another.”
Some other calling cards of the Chiefs’ include their creative red zone concepts. Reid will concoct unusual formations with screens and shovel passes with motion, and these have set Kansas City apart from the rest of the league for years.
Between 2015 and ‘21 Kansas City employed wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who is perhaps the league’s fastest player and can line up anywhere – out wide, in the backfield and in the slot, where he is especially dangerous on post routes out of trips formations. Following a trade to the Miami Dolphins, Reid and general manager Brett Veach decided to replace him by committee.
Although they don’t boast quite the same speed as Hill does, men like Rashee Rice, Tyquan Thornton, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster and Xavier Worthy (who has shown that he can be the third man in trips formations – Hill’s old spot) give the Chiefs a group who can beat anyone vertically and all are used liberally in motion by Reid. Reid also likes to give his wideouts reduced splits along the line of scrimmage to use defenders’ leverage against them and present two-way go’s.
Rice, who the Chiefs’ offense had shifted its focus to a year ago due to his versatility and ability to pick up yards after the catch, missed most of 2024 following knee surgery. Now healthy and back after a suspension derailed the start of his campaign, he’s become a key playmaker for them once again.
Travis Kelce, one of the best talents at his position, is versatile and can also align in different ways in the formation (especially as the lone receiver on the backside in bunch – otherwise known as the boundary ‘X’ receiver). Perhaps the most athletic tight end in football, he can beat most defensive backs and linebackers on many different routes, especially on corners, sticks and crossers, is excellent at creating yards after the catch and has a good feel for finding voids in zone coverage.
Kelce set a record for receiving yards by a tight end with 1,416 in 2020 and although he’s aging, he continues to remain his usual elite self. Backups Noah Grey and Robert Tonyan’s roles have expanded as Kansas City has incorporated more formations featuring multiple tight ends in recent memory.
At running back the pair of Isiah Pacheco – out for Sunday’s game – and Kareem Hunt (both are downhill, north-south type of runner) are adept at hurting teams not just on the ground but through the air as well, especially on screen passes.
Those backs and Mahomes operate behind an offensive line that has undergone many changes over the last few years. Injuries and underperformance have seen the Chiefs say goodbye to names like Eric Fisher, Mitchell Schwartz, Austin Reiter, Kelechi Osemele, Orlando Brown Jr., Donovan Smith, Andrew Wylie, D.J. Humphries and Joe Thuney and hello to new faces like Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, Jawaan Taylor, Kingsley Suamatala and rookie Josh Simmons (out for Sunday). Taylor hasn’t quite worked out so far and because of this Reid has been using his tight ends and backs to help in pass protection more often (Taylor has taken more penalties than anyone in the NFL over the last few years). They also have had a hard time blocking in the run game lately too, as they have shown issues in reaching linebackers after getting past defensive lines.
The widespread comparisons of Mahomes to Brett Favre aren’t unfounded, as the former possesses most of the latter’s attributes – a cannon for an arm, an uncanny ability to extend plays and good mobility and spatial awareness, plus a willingness to fit passes into tight windows and the ability to manipulate safeties with his eyes. He’s also underrated at using dummy cadences to get defenses to declare their intentions and then setting the pass protection accordingly. But he hasn’t always played the way his coaches want him to.
At times Mahomes shows too much unnecessary movement both in and outside the pocket due to anticipating pressure that isn’t there, sloppy footwork and not playing within the timing and structure of Reid’s attack. He also sometimes doesn’t take what defenses give him coverage-wise and forces plays down the field that don’t need to be – he’s also not a high-level progression reader.
When this happens, Reid usually gets Mahomes to settle down by incorporating more short and intermediate concepts like “smash” and “flood” – resulting in him being more decisive and his offense becoming more rhythm-based and less vertical. His mechanics also need touching up at times – especially by holding the ball higher so he can throw quicker and fixing his lower body base.
In 2022 the Chiefs’ offense was their usual lethal selves, ending 2022 first in total yards, points scored and passing and 20th in rushing. A year later they fell off a bit – 15th in points (21.8, the lowest in the Mahomes era), ninth in total yards, sixth in passing and 19th in rushing are usually not bad numbers for anyone but given Kansas City’s lofty standards they should have been better.
It was more of the same in 2024 as they ended the regular season 15th in scoring, 17th in total yards and 14th in passing. But they were also 22nd in rushing and red zone efficiency, and most of their wins came in one-score games. Additionally their plus-59 scoring differential was 62 points worse than any other 15-win team ever, and was just 11th in the NFL.
So far it appears as if Kansas City’s offense is back to what they used to be. Heading into Week Nine they’re seventh in scoring, fifth in total yards, ninth in rushing and fifth in passing.
KANSAS CITY’S DEFENSE VERY CREATIVE
From 2013 through 2018 the Chiefs’ defense was conducted by Bob Sutton, a former longtime assistant with the New York Jets. During the first three seasons Sutton applied his scheme in Kansas City the Chiefs had an upper-echelon unit, but between 2016-18 it took a nosedive – bottoming out in ’18 by finishing the regular season in the bottom-half of the league in nearly every statistical category.
Reid promptly replaced Sutton with one of his old assistants from Philadelphia in Steve Spagnuolo. “Spags”, a former head coach with the Rams and Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator with the New York Giants, implemented a 4-3 system characterized by cleverly disguised five-man overload blitzes, multiple coverages with press technique by the cornerbacks and safety rotations before the snap.
The biggest key to Kansas City’s defense used to be former Arizona Cardinal and Houston Texan Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu was one of the most versatile back-end defenders in football, as evidenced by his many snaps at slot cornerback, box safety, nickel/dime linebacker, free safety and outside cornerback. His athleticism and intelligence were valuable to the Chiefs – so valuable to the point where he was mainly used as the team’s middle hole defender in Cover Two zone and not a linebacker. With Mathieu now retired (and fellow safeties Daniel Sorensen and Justin Reid also gone), Chamarri Conner and Bryan Cook now man the position. Conner can also align in the slot and is a very good blitzer.
The Chiefs also underwent a makeover at cornerback. Veterans L’Jarius Sneed, Charvarius Ward, Mike Hughes, Rashad Fenton and DeAndre Baker are gone and that position is now held down by Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson and rookie Nohl Williams. This group is mainly used by Spagnuolo in dime packages (and at the highest rate in the NFL) with McDuffie, like Conner, being able to line up both in the slot and on the outside. Besides their favored man coverages “Spags” likes to use zone-blitzes with Cover Four principles out of dime.
The Chiefs’ defensive line is the most talented part of this unit. All-Pro Chris Jones is their linchpin and one of the best defensive linemen in the league thanks to his combination of burst and hand usage off the line of scrimmage. Derrick Nnadi, Mike Danna and George Karlaftis are the team’s other contributors in their front four and all are versatile. At linebacker Kansas City employs Nick Bolton – who is their best second-level defender – Drue Tranquill and Leo Chenal. Bolton is smart and athletic, Tranquill excels in zone coverage and Chenal is a good run defender.
Over the last few years the results from Spags’ defense were uneven, ranging anywhere from great to good to mediocre in multiple categories. Although 18th against the run and 27th in takeaways, his defense last season in 2023 was sublime ranking second in points allowed (17.3, the lowest of any Reid-coached team since the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles), second in total yards given up, fourth against the pass and second in sacks. The Chiefs also set a record for the most games in a season allowing less than 28 points with 20 such instances.
A year ago Kansas City was fourth in points allowed, ninth in total yards surrendered and eighth against the run. But they were just 14th in takeaways, 18th versus the pass and in sacks. Additionally their blitz rate was the fifth-highest in the NFL (35.6) and the Chiefs’ pressure rate is 10th – but when they don’t send extra rushers they had the third-worst pressure rate. So far in 2025 they’re second in points given up, fourth in total yards, third against the pass and 11th versus the run. They’ve also struggled to cover tight ends, as they’ve given up an 82 percent completion percentage to them this year.
BUFFALO’S DEFENSE USUALLY GOOD, BUT HAS HAD A ROUGH 2024 AND ‘25
For most of head coach Sean McDermott’s time in Buffalo, the Bills’ defense was one of the league’s best. Points allowed (fourth in the NFL in that category in 2023), total yards per game allowed (ninth), passing yards given up (seventh), rushing yards surrendered (15th), takeaways (third), interceptions (tied for fourth) and sacks (fourth, tied for second-most in their history with the 2014 team) have generally been the categories that the Bills have excelled at over the years, with 2023’s sack total being the best of the McDermott era.
2024, however, was a year of transition for the Bills on defense. Due to age and salary cap complications, out the door were longtime veterans such as Jordan Poyer and Tyrel Dodson (Miami Dolphins), Tre’Davious White (Baltimore Ravens), Leonard Floyd (San Francisco 49ers, who had 10.5 sacks a year ago – the most of any Bill since Lorenzo Alexander in 2016), Linval Joseph (Dallas Cowboys), Tim Settle (Houston Texans), Kaylon “Poona” Ford (Los Angeles Chargers), Dane Jackson (Carolina Panthers) and Shaq Lawson.
Especially when one includes names from the past on the defensive line such as Kyle Williams, Marcel Dareus, Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison, Star Lotulelei, Quinton Jefferson, Carlos “Boogie” Basham, Trent Murphy, Vernon Butler, Justin Zimmer, Efe Obada, Harrison Phillips, Dawuane Smoot, Austin Johnson and Casey Toohill – that’s a lot of turnover during the last eight years. The answer, according to McDermott, general manager Brandon Beane and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, is youth and cheap veterans to provide cost-effective depth (Buffalo made it to the AFC title game last year with the third-most dead money on the salary cap in the NFL and used just 71 percent of the cap).
Some of those younger players – albeit young veterans since they are in their fifth and sixth professional seasons, respectively – who have been asked to take on a greater role include Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa, who can line up both on the edge and go inside in passing situations. Da’Quan Jones (out for Sunday’s game), perhaps their best run-stuffing lineman, is effective on T-T stunts with Ed Oliver (out for the rest of the regular season), an excellent gap penetrator.
They are backed up by a familiar face in Jordan Phillips and second-year men Javon Solomon and DeWayne Carter (Carter is out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon) while rookies Deone Walker, T.J. Sanders (currently injured) and Landon Jackson learn the ropes of the NFL. Ex-Charger Joey Bosa, a five-time Pro Bowler and 10-year pro, will likely get between 10-15 snaps a game in obvious pass rush situations and fill the role that future Hall of Famer Von Miller settled into after a torn ACL 11 games into his first season compromised his play on the field. Additionally, veterans Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoecht provide valuable depth (Hoecht is an intelligent and versatile chess piece who McDermott and Babich can deploy in multiple ways).
Over the years Buffalo has been inconsistent in two areas – creating a consistent pass rush and stopping the run. The run issues are mainly caused by poor tackling (their missed and broken tackle percentage has been among the highest in the NFL for years), a lack of gap integrity and ability to get off blocks, subpar eye discipline, inefficient communication and an inability to handle motion (which causes issues with leverage, spacing and run fits). Perhaps the infusion of new faces this season can eventually put those issues to bed once and for all, but they’ve reared their ugly heads yet again in 2025.
Schematically the Bills’ defense mostly relies on basic zones after the snap (they’re usually among the top units in the NFL in usage of coverages with two high safeties such as Cover Two, Four and Six, although they used more single-high man coverages against the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens last year so they could put more bodies in the box to stop the run and to limit communication) but before the snap it is complex. Safety rotations to disguise their intentions keep opposing quarterbacks guessing and selective pressure looks at the line of scrimmage and coverage exchanges are the team’s calling cards.
Those blitz looks usually happen in the A-gaps with the smaller, but smart, speedy and athletic Matt Milano and Terrell Bernard to confuse opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks, but Buffalo rarely sends five or more pass rushers – their favorite blitz tactic besides A-gappers are four-man zone exchanges. In 2024’s regular season they were 27th in blitz rate but Buffalo blitzed Lamar Jackson on 15 out of 31 drop-backs (48.4%) in the playoffs, their fifth-highest blitz rate in a game under McDermott and their highest in a game since Week 15 of 2021, according to Next Gen Stats.
Bernard has become a good blitzer and coverage ‘backer – his 6.5 sacks in 2023 were the most by an off-the-ball linebacker in Bills annals and he became the first NFL player since Seth Joyner in 1991 with six sacks, three picks and three fumble recoveries in a season. He and Milano are also adept at being used to spy quarterbacks – they spied Jackson on every third down in last year’s postseason.
For the third straight year, Milano has suffered a major injury – this time a pectoral problem (although he’s healthy enough to play as of now). When he misses time, backup Dorian Williams usually picks up the slack. Williams displays flashes of quickness and burst but is sometimes slow to key and diagnose at the line of scrimmage. He also takes many false steps and needs to process better while in coverage, but is athletic, long and fluid and has improved with more experience game by game. He had increased playing time in the playoffs to stop Baltimore’s running game, as evidenced by being on the field for a third of Buffalo’s snaps.
Additional depth comes from former Carolina Panther Shaq Thompson (out for Sunday) and Joe Andreessen. Andreessen, a University at Buffalo product who hails from nearby Lancaster, showed excellent diagnostic skills at the line of scrimmage in the preseason while also displaying strong hands, a quick downhill trigger that allows him to shoot gaps well and some speed and range. It helps that he played in a similar role as Milano while in college. Thompson, meanwhile, has turned back the clock with some strong performances in pass coverage.
The Bills have mainly utilized nickel personnel, as evidenced by Buffalo using five defensive backs between 90 and 100 percent of their snaps since 2020 but their percentage of 4-3 base personnel has gone up so far this year to combat the run. When Milano is out with injury, they’ve also increased their usage of dime personnel with three safeties to help offset his loss in pass coverage and in the past, that setup featured Poyer near the line of scrimmage, Micah Hyde and ex-Ram Taylor Rapp on the back end.
The Bills’ safety position is now manned by Rapp, who is better playing near the line of scrimmage, the rangy and physical but inconsistent Damar Hamlin (he and Rapp are both on injured reserve), Poyer and Cole Bishop, who is an underrated and cerebral athlete.
At the boundary cornerback spots are White (who, like Poyer, is back after a year away to replace Rasul Douglas) and Christian Benford and they are backed up by the tall and physical Ja’Marcus Ingram, Dane Jackson (another experienced face back on the practice squad) and speedy rookies Max Hairston and Dorian Strong (also on injured reserve). Slot corner Taron Johnson remains strong in the quickness and tackling departments and he’s backed up by tweeners Cam Lewis and rookie Jordan Hancock, who can both fill in at safety too.
2024 saw the Bills end the regular season 11th in points allowed, 12th against the run, 17th in total yards, tied for 18th in sacks and 24th versus the pass. They were also 29th in third down percentage, gave up the most completions, yards and touchdowns in the NFL on screen plays and allowed nine touchdowns on plays of four seconds or longer – the most in the league according to Cover 1’s Eric Turner. However, they were third in takeaways and were fifth-best in allowing plays of 20 yards or more.
Yet the team’s start to the 2025 season has been quite uneven. Although they’re second versus the pass and in pressure rate, tied for eighth in sacks and ninth in points allowed, they’re just 12th in total yards given up and second-last versus the run (those numbers were made worse after Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson had 238 yards from scrimmage against them – the third-most the franchise has ever given up in a game). The Bills also aren’t getting the amount of takeaways they normally do, and they’ve taken too many penalties as of late (13 in their last three games). Clearly McDermott – who has had a bigger say in play-calling on gameday lately – and Babich have their work cut out for them on this side of the ball.
BILLS’ UPPER-ECHELON OFFENSE STILL PRODUCTIVE
For five consecutive seasons, the Bills boasted one of the NFL’s elite offenses for the first time since the K-Gun was running roughshod over the league more than 30 years ago. Led by quarterback Josh Allen’s improved processing skills both pre and post-snap, ball placement, patience within the pocket and touch on passes and a cadre of gifted pass-catchers, those factors allowed Buffalo to become one of the most feared attacks in pro football (last year Allen was ninth in passer rating and rushing touchdowns and tied for seventh in passing scores).
In 2023 the Bills were sixth in scoring, fourth in total yards, seventh in rushing and eighth in passing. They were also fifth in red zone efficiency, yet their offense performed poorly over a six-game stretch where they averaged just 20.5 points per game. It resulted in then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey getting the boot in favor of quarterbacks coach and former Carolina Panthers play-caller Joe Brady.
Like their defensive counterparts, the Bills went through changes on this side of the ball because of age, the salary cap and a new coordinator. With Brady taking over the role full-time, the biggest philosophical question on offense for Buffalo was how to retain elements of what made them so good in the first place while adding new and fresh concepts.
Between 2018 and ‘23, Buffalo’s offense was an Erhardt-Perkins system brought in from New England by then-coordinator Brian Daboll. It was built upon concepts involving option and crossing routes from the slot, downfield routes from the outside, run-pass options (especially in the red zone), designed quarterback runs to take advantage of Allen’s mobility and alignments that created favorable matchups and some trick plays with jet/orbit motion and sweeps. It was mostly out of “11” personnel groupings (one back, one tight end and three wide receivers) and “10” personnel (one back, no tight ends, four receivers) – and they would also go no-huddle from time to time to limit the opposition’s defensive calls.
The Bills’ multi-receiver sets were traditionally their offensive calling card. In 2020 they used four wide receivers or more 155 times – the second-most in the NFL at the time – and they utilized someone in motion on 43 percent of their offensive snaps, a huge increase from their 25 percent rate in 2019. Daboll, now the head coach of the New York Giants, also called for a passing play on 64 percent of their first downs, according to ESPN Stats and Information (no team with a winning record in the prior 20 years did it more than Buffalo) and that rate continued in 2021 and ’22 with “11” personnel used on nearly three-quarters of their plays.
Daboll’s successor, Ken Dorsey, got away from some of those concepts and tried to rely on the talent at his disposal winning one-on-one matchups instead of having the scheme get them open. Once Brady was promoted, the Bills returned to them. He also included more under-center formations and play-action (which can still stand to increase after being a top-four team in run-fakes in 2020 and ’21), pre-snap shifts, motions and designed passes to running backs and route combinations with defined reads for Allen so he can play within timing and structure.
Brady got his start in the NFL working for the New Orleans Saints and then-coach Sean Payton. Payton himself came from a melting pot of a background including stints running the Erhardt-Perkins scheme for Bill Parcells in Dallas and learning the West Coast offense from Jim Fassel with the New York Giants and from Jon Gruden during their one-year stint together in Philadelphia in 1997, so Brady will bring a similar approach to the table while likely keeping some things the same in Buffalo.
Their biggest transaction on offense last year was trading the aging Stefon Diggs to Houston. Diggs (now in New England), while never a burner on the outside, was an exceptional route runner who specialized in making contested catches and operated well out of bunch and stack formations – leading him to re-write many of the Bills’ single season receiving records.
In addition to Diggs, Buffalo has let veterans like John Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Cole Beasley, Isaiah McKenzie, Jamison Crowder, Trent Sherfield, Deonte Harty and Amari Cooper walk over the years. Many of them were productive, but nothing can last forever – hence the overhaul of the Bills’ wide receiver room.
The Payton offense is built through having big, physical targets who can get open over the middle of the field, especially on deep in-cuts, or “dig” routes. Payton has employed such players in those roles before like Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham, Michael Thomas and Courtland Sutton, and the drafting of Keon Coleman from Florida State last year fits the bill for Brady. Coleman, whose game evoked comparisons to Colston, Brandon Marshall and Anquan Boldin coming out of college, brings size and physicality to the boundary ‘X’ position with good body control and strong hands to make contested catches and has some run after the catch ability. He does need to work on his speed, quickness and ability to beat press coverage, but in time he may improve in those areas.
Along with Coleman is Curtis Samuel – a poor-man’s Mecole Hardman who can line up both in the slot and outside the numbers and take handoffs – and free agent pickups Josh Palmer (out for Sunday) and Elijah Moore. Shifty pass-catcher Khalil Shakir mans the slot with his quickness, sure hands and savviness to get open versus zone coverage, Gabriel Davis has returned to the practice squad to supply depth and Tyrell Shavers could prove to be a new weapon after making the team’s active roster out of training camp. Overall, this group doesn’t possess a ton of speed – which makes the ability to manufacture intermediate and vertical plays harder.
Tight end Dawson Knox is joined by third-year man Dalton Kincaid and their diverse skillsets have allowed the Bills to throw curveballs at opponents with multiple tight end sets. Kincaid lived up to the hype with 73 receptions as a rookie, the most of any first-year Bill and surpassed Pete Metzelaars for the most catches by a Bills tight end in one season. He also became the fourth rookie tight end since 1960 with 70 or more catches in a year.
The Bills’ offensive line is composed of Dion Dawkins, David Edwards, Connor McGovern (taking over at center for the departed Mitch Morse), O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown. This crew, along with fullback Reggie Gilliam has mainly executed outside zone runs along with zone-reads, pin-and-pull concepts, traps (especially with Dawkins as the puller), counters, sweeps, split inside zone/duo and sprint draw plays sprinkled in for running back James Cook. Cook, who boasts great vision, patience and burst, is backed up by physical second-year man Ray Davis and ex-Jet Ty Johnson brings solid receiving skills to the table.
The starting front five used to be iffy in providing push in the running game and in pass protection but has become a strength in recent years. In the past, most of the team’s rushing production came from Allen’s legs and few came from their backs – the Bills’ rushing attempts per game in 2022, 18.2, was last in the NFL but that number jumped to the highest in the NFL after Brady was promoted. In 2023 Allen was taken down just 24 times overall in 17 regular season outings, the best mark in pro football, and the team again led the league with just 14 sacks allowed last year (tied for the sixth-least since 2000).
Buffalo also carried over their trend of using an extra offensive lineman to help in the running game. Now that Edwards has moved into the starting lineup, the sixth guy is currently Alec Anderson and the Bills had the highest rate of offensive snaps with six linemen on the field in ’24 – with most of them being called runs, and were near the top of the NFL in yards per carry and yards per play with six linemen on the field (rookie tight end Jackson Hawes, an excellent blocker and the replacement for Quintin Morris, is being used more in this regard with “13” personnel looks which diversifies what they can throw at opponents).
Another area the Bills needed to clean up was protecting the ball. They used to be one the league’s sloppiest teams – Allen had 14 interceptions and 13 fumbles in 2022 and he led the NFL with 18 interceptions in ’23. Last year Allen cut down on his interception total significantly with just six – a sign of progress in this regard (Allen became the third signal caller in NFL history to start a season with 10 touchdowns and no picks through his team’s first seven games).
In fact, the Bills tied the league record for fewest turnovers in a season with just eight (with the 2019 Saints). They also became the first team ever with less than 15 sacks allowed and fewer than 15 turnovers in the same season.
Buffalo ended the 2024 regular season second in points scored (the highest scoring team in franchise history) and red zone efficiency, 10th in total yards and ninth in rushing and passing and became the first team to ever have 30 passing and 30 rushing touchdowns in one season. They, along with the Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders, were also the top four teams in the NFL on fourth down conversion rate – so far they’re first in the NFL in rushing and time of possession, fourth in points scored, third total yards gained and 15th in passing.
Ex-49er Mitch Wishnowsky is the team’s third punter this year and kicker Tyler Bass has missed time due to a groin injury – with 41-year-old former All-Pro Matt Prater replacing him. Prater, who holds the NFL record for most 50-plus yards field goals in a career, also owned the league mark for longest career field goal after he connected on a 64-yarder in 2013.
12 STATS TO MUSE OVER
· Last year Buffalo tied the franchise record for wins in a season with 13 and are 17-5 all-time at home in postseason play. They won seven games by 20-plus points (a franchise record) and they went undefeated at home for the first time since ’90.
· Buffalo faced eight-man boxes 32 percent of the time in 2024, the most in the NFL according to Cover 1’s Erik Turner. It’s a stark contrast to the prior four years in which they went against them 16 percent of the time in 2020 (32nd), 18.6 in ’21 (27th), 20.4 in ’22 (20th) and 19.9 in ’23 (19th).
· Allen had 40 combined scores for the fifth straight year in 2024 – no other quarterback has done it more than three times (Drew Brees from 2011-13) – allowing him to be named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player by the Associated Press, an honor previously bestowed upon just two other Bills (Thurman Thomas in 1991 and O.J. Simpson in ‘73).
· Buffalo’s quarterback is also a threat to become the first signal caller to ever rush for six scores or more in each of his first eight years in the NFL. The only other players to do so are Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown, Marshall Faulk and LaDanian Tomlinson.
· Allen has broken the league record (first held by Cam Newton with 45) for most career games with a passing and rushing touchdown. He also tied Newton for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback of all-time.
· Buffalo has forced a turnover in 16 straight home games – their longest streak since a 31-game outing from 1988-92.
· McDermott has the highest winning percentage among all head coaches after a bye week in NFL history (with a minimum of eight such games) with a 9-0 record. Former Bills coach Marv Levy is second all-time with an 8-1 record and a percentage of .889 – Buffalo, by the way, hasn’t lost the game following their bye week since 2014.
· Cook rushed for 216 yards last week in Carolina – the first Bill to have that many yards in a game since November 25, 1976 when O.J. Simpson had 273. He’s also the first Bill to get 200 yards on the ground since Fred Jackson did the deed in Week 17 of the 2009 season versus Indianapolis.
· Epenesa recorded the third interception of his career, the fourth Bills defensive lineman ever to do so (Ron McDole with six, Aaron Schobel and Chris Kelsay both had three).
· Allen owns a 4-1 record versus Mahomes in the regular season while the latter is 4-0 against the former in the postseason. The last six of those games were decided by 10 points or less.
· Kansas City has also claimed the top seed in the AFC playoffs four times in the last five years while Buffalo has been the second seed every year since 2020.
· Curiously, the Bills have just a 3-4 mark against teams with a winning record since last year.
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