Bills fans are feeling great after watching their team defend their dirt against the no longer undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. While Buffalo improved to 9-2, the Chiefs dropped their first game of the season and lost the tiebreaker advantage to the Bills should they both end with the same record at the conclusion of Week 18.
For the fifth consecutive week, the Bills have scored 30+ points and for the first time this season, the Chiefs have given up 30 points despite having one of the best defensive units going into this game. Buffalo will have next weekend off as they will enter their bye week and will have some extra time to rest to prepare for the San Francisco 49ers on December 1st.
While there were a lot of highlights from this victory, there were four players who stood out for Buffalo in this win. Without their contributions, who knows if we would be celebrating a Bills victory.
4 winners from Bills statement win over Chiefs
S Taylor Rapp
The Buffalo Bills defense stood out right from the start of this game. Buffalo won the toss and elected to defer, so Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense took the field first to open up this game. On the second play of the game, Mahomes overthrew his intended target and it went right into the hands of Taylor Rapp.
Rapp’s interception paid off as James Cook got the Bills on the board first with a rushing touchdown. Rapp also had himself a pass deflection and he finished third in tackling on the defense. There were a handful of times where he attacked the ball when Kareem Hunt started to break loose and Rapp kept him from getting upfield.
WR Curtis Samuel
Finally, Curtis Samuel made an impact for the Bills. Whether you want to say Samuel has been a bust or the Bills just never use him right, things finally clicked for him against the Chiefs. He was tied for the second most targets by Josh Allen and he was tied for the second most receptions, finishing with 5 receptions for 58 yards and his first touchdown as a member of the Bills.
Samuel had some great catches on the sideline and his touchdown early on in the 4th quarter put the Bills up by nine which put the pressure on the Chiefs.
LB Terrel Bernard
Going back to the defensive side, Terrel Bernard showed Bills Mafia just once again why he is so valuable for this unit. He led the team in total tackles (8) and he had one of Buffalo’s two sacks on Mahomes. Not to mention, he sealed the game-winning pick off of Mahomes that gave Buffalo their sixth consecutive win.
Bernard continues to grow as a leader and as a player, and it is just a matter of time before him and Matt Milano are on the field again together.
QB Josh Allen
Despite having yet another bad interception, Josh Allen’s efforts and clutchness is the reason why the Bills are celebrating this week. Throwing for 262 yards and a touchdown to Samuel, Allen put on the Superman cape and put the Bills on his back to victory. His obvious highlight took place just outside of the two minute warning in the 4th quarter on a 4th down situation.
Rather than kicking the field goal to take the lead by five and putting the ball back into Mahomes’ hands to pull yet another upset against the Bills, Allen decided to deliver the knockout punch to Kansas City by running it 26 yards to the house on 4th down to shut down any kind of comeback for the Chiefs.
Allen’s 2nd half performance will be remembered throughout this season and be one of the few reasons why the Chiefs will not have an undefeated record anymore.