In Week 6 of the 2022 NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs-Bills game saw the Chiefs lose their third consecutive 2022 game at home, this time to the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are a team they beat by the skin of their teeth in last year’s postseason and one they maybe could’ve won with a few extra helpers. It was a rather agonizing loss for a team that had a few opportunities to put the game away. Kansas City drops to 4-2 on the year but looks to hopefully rebound next week when they travel to the Bay Area for a tilt with the 49ers. But for now, let us focus on what happened at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Bills escaped with a 24-20 victory by a Josh Allen TD strike with just over a minute to go in regulation.
Kansas City’s Sloppy Secondary
The game ended after Mahomes threw his 2nd pick of the afternoon, but things had gotten pretty dire for the Chiefs long before that and Mahomes’ first INT. For starters, Kansas City’s secondary was shot- they didn’t have key players like Rashad Fenton and Trent McDuffie. Now, in my opinion, not having the former might have been a good idea because Fenton himself is such a penalty magnet some of the time, but I digress. And that might just be me being paranoid or picky. Two other players that did play for KC’s secondary that are usually stars but underperformed on Sunday though were ones the average Chiefs fan wouldn’t expect- both LJ Sneed and Justin Reed got some field action but in the end, were pretty worn out.
Kansas City Still Has Some Good D
Right now, Kansas City’s linebackers are the best unit on that side of the ball — and it’s not even close. Led by linebacker Nick Bolton, those positions are playing loose and easy, flying downhill to the ball and making plays. The only problem was that on this given Sunday, they didn’t do quite enough to earn Kansas City a dub, either a close one or one by a margin. Up to this point in the season, Bolton has done an exemplary job at getting the defense lined up in the correct position. He has also backed up his on-field leadership with stellar play. It can even be argued that right now he is the NFL’s best tackler, which is one big statement.
Another LB playmaker is backup Darius Harris, who’s been in suspended teammate Willie Gay’s spot for most of the year. Once Gay returns, he’ll likely get his spot back from Harris, but Harris will still be a solid part of KC’s d-line- he just won’t play as much, most likely.
Kansas City’s D Did Make Some Plays But Maybe Not When It Mattered
As the Chiefs’ DC, Steve Spagnuolo did a decent job with Kansas City’s defensive play patterns. This allowed the Chiefs to cushion the impact of Buffalo’s first few blows. Bills quarterback Josh Allen had a lot of completions in the first quarter, but the Chiefs still managed to keep Buffalo out of the end zone. Of course, that eventually came to an end, but that’s beside the point. To use this approach, Spagnuolo relied heavily on blitz packages to create pressure. In the second quarter, this worked remarkably well, as Allen looked completely out of whack with some of his receivers. Here’s the kicker, though- over-blitzing can often lead to big play being given up if pass rushers don’t reach the QB. If the QB has enough time to take a shot without too much pass rush just in general, he’ll use that time to the max. And that’s exactly what happened when Bills WR Gabe Davis hauled in an airstrike pass from Allen leaving Kansas City’s pass coverage absolutely torched.
What’s Next?
Kansas City heads to San Francisco for a late-afternoon tilt with the 49ers, as mentioned at the start. After that, it’s bye week time, and for a team like Kansas City, they’ll need all of it. They’re not doing too bad this year so far, but they’ll need some improvements for games later down the road. And if they want to make a big playoff run, some things will definitely need fixing up.