The Chiefs Defense Made More Plays Than the Bills in Critical Moments

Many have claimed in the aftermath of another gut-wrenching season-ending loss for the Bills that the blame should fall on Josh Allen. It shouldn’t.

He delivered a very good performance, and the outcome would have been much different had the players around him risen to the occasion (Don’t worry, we’ll get to the play everyone is talking about later in this breakdown).

Instead, the outcome on this side of the ball was determined by the Chiefs defense making a few more key plays than the Bills did in critical moments.

The first big play came early in the game during the Bills’ opening drive. Buffalo covered 60 yards on 13 plays and ate up nearly 7 minutes. Then they faced a 3rd-and-8 from Kansas City’s 9-yard line.

I love the way the Chiefs played this. They matched up to Buffalo’s empty formation and tight splits to both sides with “Red-2,” which is what Tampa-2 becomes in the deep red zone.

The difference is that the corners open up with their backs to the sideline and drop to the end zone, ready to handle common red-zone routes like the fade or corner. The safeties play more flat-footed and don’t get much depth because they don’t have to worry about the deep ball. The middle linebacker opens to the passing strength and matches the inside vertical. It basically creates a 5-across look:

The Chiefs also rushed 3 and used the 4th defender as a spy on Allen:

The slot defenders hit and re-routed their receivers to throw off the timing of any route combinations and make life easier for the back end of the defense: