The cinderella run for the Buffalo Bills comes to yet another heartbreaking loss at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Four of the last five postseason exits for the Bills have now come against the Chiefs. Bills Mafia is now heading into the offseason while the Chiefs turn their attention to the Super Bowl to take on the Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch from two years ago.
The Bills suffered a one-possession loss, 32-29 and failed to make a comeback after tying the game in the 4th quarter. It was a rough start for the Bills and they couldn’t handle the pressure when it was cranked all the way up at the end.
As Buffalo heads into the offseason, there is going to be chatter about who deserves blame for this loss. Maybe it should go to everyone, but there is only one unit that deserves the most blame.
Bills’ offensive line deserves the most blame for Buffalo’s loss
Josh Allen faced a ton of pressure from the Chiefs defense. Whether it was a four-man pass rush or a corner blitz, Allen was facing pressure in his face from start to finish. Whether it was from Mike Danna, George Karlaftis, Chris Jones, Nick Bolton, anyone you want to name, Allen had to dodge the pass rush.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnoulo drew up a fantastic gameplan for his defense and he completely rattled the Bills offensive line. According to Nate Tice, per NextGenStats, in the first-half, Chris Jones was blocked one-on-one 11 times and produced 7 QB pressures.
This offensive line was one of the best, if not the best in the league this year. They only allowed 14 sacks and didn’t give up a ton of pressure. They gave up two sacks in this game and countless amounts of pressure. Offensive line coach Aaron Kromer did not prepare his guys for this ferocious Chiefs defensive line.
This unit will be looked at as the biggest failure for this Bills in this game. If they had just picked up on the blitz’ in the second half, the Bills might be celebrating a huge win on the Chiefs’ turf. Instead, they remain the little brother to the Chiefs all because the offensive line couldn’t do their job.