The Buffalo Bills won in convincing fashion in Week 5. Their performance should have the Chiefs a bit worried heading into Week 6 and beyond.
The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs are barreling toward an incredible Week 6 clash. Both teams are stacked on both sides of the ball, each landing among the top five teams in scoring differential this season so far. If the Chiefs secure a victory on Monday night, both teams will enter the game with only one loss on the season, but of course, only one can exit that way.
While the Chiefs have every reason to be confident that they’re one of the best teams in the AFC and the entire NFL, the Bills showed on Sunday that Kansas City ought to have some healthy fear going into Week 6. Buffalo slaughtered the Pittsburgh Steelers, not allowing anything more than a field goal. Buffalo won 38-3. Josh Allen had four passing touchdowns and James Cook tacked on a rushing TD.
To make matters worse for the Chiefs, they’ll enter Sunday on a short week since their Week 5 matchup is on Monday Night against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Kansas City has appeared vulnerable at times this season. Taking a loss to the Colts was embarrassing, and it was the run game that looked broken that day. The Chiefs amassed just 58 rushing yards, 26 of them coming from their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. Clyde Edwards-Helaire, in particular, had seven carries and failed to get even one yard.
Bills run defense should be noted by Chiefs heading into Week 6
The Bills blockade against the Steelers’ run game looked eerily similar to how the Chiefs looked against the Colts earlier this season. Pittsburgh put up 54 rushing yards on 17 carries in Week 5 in Highmark Stadium.
The Colts allow 3.4 yards per carry, the Bills just 3.5. That’s third- and fourth-best in the NFL, respectively. Of course, we have to nod to the No. 2 team on the list: The Chiefs who come in at a stingy 3.3 yards per carry. There’s a downside to that, though in that the Chiefs allow the second-highest completion percentage in the league (a stat that may be somewhat misleading since they don’t allow many yards per reception).
Allen doesn’t need much space to convert on his throws, and the Bills favor the pass much more under new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey (they dropped run percentage by 5 percent compared to last year so far). They have a team rushing percentage that’s seventh-lowest in the league.
Kansas City did bounce back after their loss to the Colts with a win and over 180 rushing yards in Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the Bucs’ rushing defense doesn’t have quite the same attitude of that of the Colts or Bills, allowing a middle-of-the-road 4.4 yards per carry in 2022 so far.
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CEH, in particular, bounced back with 92 rushing yards, and rookie Isaiah Pacheco eclipsed his Week 1 total of 62 yards by a yard. Keep in mind, Week 1 was a blowout win for KC. So perhaps things have improved in the run game for the Chiefs.
Buffalo has most of the pieces needed to take Kansas City down. They boast a fortified defense and a talented, X-Factor quarterback that can dynamically influence the way almost as incredibly as Mahomes can.
These shootouts are what we live for as NFL fans. Neither team should be sleeping heading into an ever-important Week 6 matchup, but the Chiefs should take note of what the Bills did this Sunday and recognize that their opponent is not to be scoffed at.
