Buffalo Bills: Final score prediction for the AFC Championship Game

The Buffalo Bills have earned their spot in the AFC Championship against the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Bills have greater aspirations of punching their ticket to the Super Bowl.

Both the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs came out victorious last week, in games that were unusual to their typical standards. For the Bills, they managed to win contrary to their usual winning formula, which is won primarily by offensive prowess. The Bills managed to beat the Ravens mostly because of a stout defensive performance, highlighted by Taron Johnson’s 101-yard interception return.

This begs the question of how well the Buffalo defense will play this week against an electric Kansas City Chiefs offense. The Chiefs had an interesting week, beating the Browns after Patrick Mahomes suffered a concussion in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Despite playing without their superstar quarterback, the Chiefs advanced to the AFC Championship which reinforces the effectiveness of the Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy coached offense.

For much of the week, it was uncertain if Mahomes would progress through concussion protocol fast enough to play in the AFC Championship Game. Mahomes will be active for this game, thus the Bills will have played the reigning regular-season MVP last week and are set to play the reigning Super Bowl MVP this week. If the Bills can win and get to the Super Bowl, it will be quite an impressive path through the AFC.

Heading into this AFC Championship matchup, the Bills have a relatively light injury report. The Bills only have two players, Gabriel Davis and Vernon Butler, who are questionable for this game against the Chiefs. With some key names on the injury report without a designation, it is important to note that players like Cole Beasley and Stefon Diggs will be playing a bit dinged up.

Similar to Beasley and Diggs, Davis might have to play in this AFC Championship game a bit injured considering what is on the line. It was obvious Davis injured his ankle during his dropped touchdown catch late in the first quarter last week, but he toughed out the rest of that game which he will likely do again this week. Butler also played through his injury in last week’s game, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume both of the Bills’ questionable designations will be active for this AFC Championship game against the Chiefs.

As for the Chiefs, they have fewer players on their injury report but more with injury designations. The only player that is ruled out for the Chiefs is linebacker Willie Gay, who is more of a rotational contributor to the defense. Additionally, the Chiefs have another five players carrying questionable designations. These players include running backs Le’Veon Bell and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, former Bill Sammy Watkins, as well as cornerbacks Rashad Fenton and Bashaud Breeland. The two interesting cases are with Bell and Breeland.

On top of a shoulder injury, Breeland was in the concussion protocol but was cleared on Saturday. This should be a boost for the Chiefs’ defense as they try to replicate how they slowed Josh Allen down earlier in the season.

Furthermore, with the way the Bills were beaten by the Chiefs in Week 6, making sure to account for the Chiefs running game is certainly part of the game plan this time around. It appears that Bell will be a long shot to play after trying to practice on Friday and not being able to participate in a limited capacity at all this week.

Additionally, with Edwards-Helaire nursing an ankle and a hip injury, the backfield duties may get thrust upon backups Darwin Thompson and Darrel Williams. Although it is unlikely that both Bell and Edwards-Helaire are inactive, these injuries may allow the Bills defense to focus on taking away the Chiefs’ air attack more than they initially anticipated.

If the Bills can complete even some of the keys to victory in this AFC Championship game against the Chiefs, it should greatly improve their chances of advancing to the Super Bowl. Given the circumstances of both injury reports, it appears the Bills will have a slight edge in regards to overall physical health.

Not sure exactly how much that will play a factor at the end of the day, but the Bills are undoubtedly as hot as any team remaining in the playoffs. My final score prediction for this year’s AFC Championship game is 30-27, with the Bills advancing to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1993 playoffs.