Bills, Josh Allen uncover formula for beating Chiefs in playoffs

The signature play in the Bills’ signature 30-21 win over Kansas City on Sunday was Josh Allen’s 26-yard touchdown run. Facing a fourth-and-2 and protecting a 23-21 lead with 2:27 left, Sean McDermott refused to kick a field goal and give Patrick Mahomes the ball. Instead, he gave it to Allen.

Allen pump-faked a screen to his left, then broke four tackles and won a violent goal-line collision in what Jim Nantz called “the play of the year in the NFL.” But it was more than a highlight. Allen signed his name on the formula for overcoming the Chiefs in the playoffs.

“And that formula to me is, how many times can you let your quarterback, Josh Allen, carry the ball?” said former Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth on FS1’s Breakfast Ball Monday morning.  

Schlereth pointed out that since 2020, including the postseason, Allen is 12-2 when scoring a rushing touchdown and carrying the ball at least 10 times. Schlereth said when the Bills cook that recipe, half of those carries will likely be scrambles but the designed runs can be deadly.

“I think down in the red zone, it becomes imperative that you use your quarterback,” Schlereth added. “He’s 6-foot-4, he’s unbelievably athletic, he’s 250 pounds, use him down there. You’re not going to do it all the time against the teams you don’t need to do it with.”

They needed to do it against the Chiefs. On three of the Bills’ four touchdown drives, Allen’s legs moved the chains. He finished as Buffalo’s leading rusher, with 55 yards and 12 carries, en route to his 72^nd career regular-season win. That’s tied with Joe Flacco (72) for the third-most ever by a starting quarterback in his first seven NFL seasons. Only Russell Wilson (75) and Mahomes (74) had more over their first seven years.

But those are regular-season games, with plenty more to come in this rivalry. The Bills (9-2) care most about postseason wins, something they haven’t been able to do against Mahomes and the Chiefs. Allen is 4-1 against Mahomes in the regular season, including four straight victories. But he’s 0-3 in the playoffs.

For at least one day in November, however, the NFL finally saw a team execute in critical moments against Kansas City (9-1) and Steve Spagnuolo’s Fort Knox defense. James Cook ran for two touchdowns and Allen got fantastic effort from his receivers, including Amari Cooper’s 30-yard one-handed grab that set up Cook’s first touchdown. Allen also kept the ball out of Mahomes’ hands with a 12-play field-goal drive at the end of the first half.

Suddenly, the Bills are just a half-game behind Kansas City in the race for homefield advantage in the AFC playoffs. That’s a pretty good way to spend a bye week. And suddenly, the Chiefs’ schedule looks a little more daunting after their Week 12 trip to Carolina (3-7) and a Black Friday tilt against the Raiders (2-8). Regardless of how the chicken wings fall on the bar floor, expect these teams to meet again in January, and expect the winner to go to the Super Bowl. After all, history has a tendency to repeat itself.

For more information on the Bills and Chiefs, visit the Buffalo and Kansas City team pages at ProFootballPost.com.