Football fans waited for the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills to reignite their rivalry all weekend long. The game did not dissapoint but the result was the same as previous playoff battles: Patrick Mahomes beat Josh allen.
The Chiefs held on to get a 27-24 win after Bills kicker Tyler Bass kicked a game-tying, 44-yard field goal wide right.
KICK IS NO GOOD.
— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2024
📺: #KCvsBUF on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FR6a2VkD33 pic.twitter.com/MbKo21IDlg
Mahomes’ reaction to the missed FG.
— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2024
📺: #KCvsBUF on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FR6a2VkD33 pic.twitter.com/cSHPVCPaYT
The Bills provided a handful of head scratching plays, including a fake punt attempt to Damar Hamlin in their own territory and Allen missing a wide open Stefon Diggs on their final drive.
“We were within a whisker of tying that game and maybe even taking the lead there against the defending world champs,” McDermott said via Jori Epstein of Yahoo! Sports. “So again, we just didn’t do enough — starting with me — to win this game.”
The game would end with Mahomes in victory formation and sending Bills Mafia home in tears. Mahomes and the Chiefs are going to their sixth straight AFC Title game in a row.
Mahomes and Kelce teamed for two touchdowns, tying Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski for the most by any quarterbacka dn reciever duo in history.
WHO ELSE BUT KELCE 🏹 pic.twitter.com/3EHjdGt6ys
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 22, 2024
“Patrick and Kelce, with the record that they broke there with Gronk and Tom. I mean, that was a great job there,” head coach Andy Reid said.
Mahomes threw for 215 yards, two touchdowns, and a 131.6 passer rating on 17-of-23 passing, proving a raucous Buffalo crowd could not phrase him.
“We did hear it all week about playing a road game, and we’re here to prove a point and show that we can play anywhere,” Mahomes said.
"We can play anywhere." pic.twitter.com/XuRKUO6xdK
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 22, 2024
“I love being at Arrowhead,” Mahomes said. “I love being at Arrowhead and playing in front of that crowd. But when you’re on the road, it’s you versus them. It’s you versus everybody in the stadium, and you have to come together as a team and let guys do that. You saw that in the game today.”
That “you versus everybody” will continue as the Baltimore Ravens are waiting to welcome Mahomes to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, where the presumed league MVP Lamar Jackson will be waiting.
In their matchup against the Houston Texans, the Ravens were poured by Jackson, who delivered a four touchdown performance, rushing for two and throwing for another two. Jackson finished with 16 completions on 22 attempts for 152 yards and two more touchdowns.
The Ravens blew out the Texans 34-10.
The AFC Title game between the two superpowers will be on Sunday at 2:30 EST on CBS.
CHIEFS. RAVENS.
— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2024
THE AFC CHAMPIONSHIP IS SET. #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/PbB61NIbmw