For week 14, the Kansas City Chiefs will host the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead Stadium. These two teams are coming in on very different roads for their playoff journey. The Cheifs currently sit atop the AFC West with a record of 8-4, tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the 3rd Seed. Meanwhile, the Bills find themselves in a battle for the AFC Wild Card, as they sit a game back of Clevland, Houston, and Indianapolis for one of the three spots. They also are tied for the 9th spot in the AFC with Denver and Cincinnati.
The Chiefs come into this game fresh off an unexpected loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, 27-19. Their offense once again failed to produce at critical moments, and as their struggles continued, they will need to lean on their defense to give them a fighting chance. Bills quarterback Josh Allen has averaged one interception per week to this point in the season, and the Chiefs will hope to keep that streak alive and capitalize off turnovers.
The Bills kept the game close against the Philidelphia Eagles last week, who needed overtime to emerge victorious, 37-34. Once again, Allen was their primary rusher, putting his body in harm’s way and remaining the focal point of their offense. They will need to trim their mistakes to have a good chance of winning this game.
The Chiefs may be without running back Isiah Pacheco, who shows up on their injury report at this point in the week. He has been dominant over recent weeks and his absence means they will need to rely on an air game that has been, to put it mildly, rocky.
There is no clear WR1 in the Chiefs locker room, and drops continue to plague the team at the worst times. It's easy to look back to Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s late drop just a couple of weeks ago as perhaps the pinnacle of these errors, but the Chiefs lead the NFL in dropped passes and it doesn't seem like it will get better anytime soon.
That shouldn't take anything away from Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who continues to show poise under pressure and an ability to deliver the ball deep. Mahomes and Allen have been two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL since coming into the league, both being touted as faces of a new generation of passers. Their rivalry is well-documented, and this will be the latest chapter.
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