SaulGoodman

I don’t think anybody created an acct just to come here and gloat. I know I’m not here for that. But I do chime in when there’s an inaccurate narrative. It’s no different than Bills fans getting triggered by every little thing that the media allegedly says or doesn’t say about Allen.

900 threads about KC but it’s KC fans that have an inferiority complex? You can say plenty of things about Chiefs fans but I don’t think that’s one of them.

I think it’s bizarre that it was overwhelming too.

I don’t think very many people consider Jackson a better QB than Allen. Some just believe he had a better regular season. Primarily because Allen had a lot more interceptions and double the INT rate.

This is the kind of bogus narrative I’m talking about. There weren’t any spectacular catches by KC receivers in that game. People’s expectations for MVS were so low that just seeing him catch passes that hit him in the hands seemed spectacular. But the reality is his hands aren’t that bad. People fixate on a few costly plays. Watson dropped an early pass that would have resulted in a first down. Rice had one of his least productive games in months. Hardman had the goal line fumble and another that was recovered. Mistakes were still made and nothing out of the ordinary happened. The difference was that Toney and Moore weren’t activated. By far the best catch in that game was Shakir’s in the end zone.

I’d argue that the only thing Allen can do that Mahomes can’t is run over someone. I’d also argue that Mahomes is capable of things that Allen isn’t, particularly from the mental aspect of the game. Which is huge, even though most focus on physical attributes. Regardless, this isn’t the way to evaluate a player. Mike Vick could do things that no other QB could do. Does that make him better than Allen and Brady? Of course not, because he was too flawed in other areas. A lot of QBs can pull off great plays at times. What separates the best is the ability to consistently make great plays, and at the biggest moments. Allen and Mahomes both make plenty of great plays, but the main thing that separates them is that Mahomes has a much lower rate of INTs and fumbles throughout his career. You can dismiss this, but it’s a major factor that Bills fans always ignore. Mahomes is like a Favre who makes fewer mistakes than Brady. What? You think most consider Manning better than Brady? Maybe early in their careers. No one claims that now.

Don’t you think it’s a little disingenuous to compare stats from a 10 game sample to 6 games? None of these stats had any bearing on the MVP votes anyway.

A mediocre kicker missing a 44-yard under major pressure isn’t a mistake. He was 2/5 in the playoffs. And you’re preaching to the choir about drops. If KC’s receivers hadn’t led the league in drops by a mile, that game wouldn’t have been played in Buffalo.

As a KC fan, I have to say you know your stuff! Hard to disagree with anything you’re saying.

I definitely haven’t said that Mahomes hasn’t had any advantages. He had a lot of offensive talent around him in his first few seasons, his defense was very good this year, and his coach is great with quarterbacks. But a lot of these narratives are bogus. You can’t say that the Buffalo staff could never scheme someone open when the very play we’re talking about was taken from the Bills. And you can’t say that Allen’s been at a disadvantage in terms of offensive talent the last few years.

Making excuses for what? I’m the only one on this board not making excuses. I doubt the Chiefs would miss the playoffs in any division. It’s not like the Bills face murderers row in the East. KC went 2-0 vs their toughest competition this year. Bills fans definitely thought KC’s receivers were weak a few weeks ago. There was zero respect for them before the game in Buffalo. What made you develop respect for them since? 30-50 yards per game and catching a majority of passes that hit them in the hands for once?

That's Mahomes' only INT in his last 7 playoff games.

Obviously he wouldn't have 3 SBs this soon if he had landed with a terrible organization, but no QB in history would. A run like this requires several things to be in place. That said, the narrative that Mahomes has had everything a QB could ask for is way off. Bad WR play this year, weak WRs last year, weak running game most years, worst run blocking in the league for a few years, bad tackle play at times, defenses that ranged from bad to average-ish until this year. And when he had a truly loaded offense in his first season, he had arguably the worst defense in the league. To this day, I don't think there's been a truly balanced KC roster. They finally put together a really good defense, and then the offense takes a big step back. I don't think it's going to get any easier for opponents the next few years, because I think Veach is going to aggressively look to bolster the offensive talent this offseason, and there will be some solid receivers available.

People who want to discredit Mahomes have adopted the narrative that Reid’s an unrivaled football savant who creates an unfair advantage over every other coach. It’s silly. This is a great example. One of his “genius” plays that everyone prattles on about was actually stolen from the “unimaginative” Bills staff. Sure, he’s a good coach and a good offensive mind. But nothing that he does is beyond the capability or grasp of other good offensive minds. Not to mention, Nagy (and Bienemy before) calls a lot of the plays. Reid is far from without faults. Before Mahomes, he was much maligned for his clock management failures and situational awareness, choking leads, getting too conservative, neglecting the run game, etc. People tear McD apart for his handling of the 13 seconds game, but Reid’a had many such instances. I find myself criticizing KC’s play calling and conservative approach a lot. I also notice a lot of other teams doing things that I wish KC would do. There are plenty of good play callers and solid offensive minds out there, including the Bills staff.

Do you expect a GM to be perfect? Even the best are going to have some underwhelming picks. Wouldn’t call Hardman a bust though. And Toney’s got a lot of talent. He’s just an injury-plagued headcase. They took a flyer on him, and I wouldn’t say it was a terrible decision, because he had a record-setting punt return in the SB last year and basically contributed 14 pts in a close win. Veach does deserve criticism for picking Moore over Pickens. That one’s hard to defend.

Allen has played against the weaker defense every year until this one.

I’d say Allen has two advantages over Mahomes. He’s bigger, and therefore will occasionally run somebody over, and he has a slightly stronger arm. But I think Mahomes checks more boxes, especially mentally.

Mahomes has had the most successful start to a career of any QB in history, both in terms of wins and stats. With a ton of highlights and iconic moments along the way. I'm not sure why Bills fans feel slighted when the media praises him. Imagine if everything were reversed, and Mahomes had Allen's skillset and accomplishments and vice versa. Do you think there's a Bills fan in the world who would concede that Mahomes were as good or better? And yet, plenty of pundits HAVE compared Allen favorably to Mahomes. An ESPN graphic gave the Bills the edge at QB before the last matchup. And it's not the first time I've seen that. I'd say that's plenty of respect. I see talking heads slobbering over Allen virtually every time he's mentioned. IMO, Allen and Mahomes are in a league of their own. I don't think any other QB is all that close. But I do think Mahomes has a little separation at the top. When one QB has 3 SBs, 3 SB MVPs and two league MVPs, while the other has none of those, there would have to be an obvious gap in ability and stats to rank him higher. I think the biggest thing that's separated the two so far is Mahomes' ability to avoid mistakes. Allen has a much higher INT% and far more fumbles.

No one ever mentions how bad KC's defense was in the 13 seconds game. That game is probably a comfortable win for KC if DBs didn't literally fall down multiple times, leaving Bills receivers wiiiiide open at the worst possible moments. Mahomes was absolutely let down by his supporting cast in that game (also two rare missed kicks by Butker). And the Bills have had the better offensive supporting cast the last two years.

Basically every pundit said the Chiefs looked like the better team in that game. The only thing that kept it a one-score game was Hardman's goal line fumble.

Based on...?

Just like it didn’t seem to matter that Mahomes was playing behind a third string turnstile OL in Tampa, or that his receivers dropped numerous TD passes. The narrative was that Mahomes can’t beat Brady in the playoffs. But this is very different from that situation. Analysts said that Bucs team had the advantage at all but a handful of starting positions. KC didn’t have that advantage vs the Bills. All year long the narrative was about how poor their offensive personnel was. Meanwhile, everyone in the media was saying that the Bills were just flat better than KC. You really don’t think the Bills’ offense has more talent right now? They have a better, more consistent running game. Better receiving corps even without Davis (I get that Diggs’ numbers weren’t amazing down the stretch, but I don’t think it’s because he suddenly lost the ability). And don’t forget that everyone was saying that losing Davis was addition by subtraction. Your fans think he’s garbage (I don’t—I think he’d have been the best receiver on KC’s roster until Rice emerged late in the year). Plus, Kelce is slowing down and the tackles are mediocre.

Yes, supporting cast matters. But it’s debatable that KC’s had the better supporting cast, especially the last two years. People pick and choose whatever fits the argument. First it was that he had Tyreek Hill. When he was traded, the narrative shifted to it’s unfair that he has an all world TE. Now that Kelce is aging, and the WRs and tackles are weak, the narrative shifts to he has a better defense. Let’s not forget that the Bills were favored in that game. Allen was at home and had more offensive talent around him. Not sure I’d say he had the harder task. Mahomes had to play a near-perfect game to win. Also, there seems to be a lot of revisionism regarding Buffalo’s talent. Leading up to the divisional round, almost every Bills fan was predicting a win and a run to the SB. Only after the game did I see the claim that they lacked the talent to do it.

Like I said, I don’t think it’s rational to expect a defense to shut down a team that’s 15-3 in the playoffs and has been a scoring machine every year before this. You’re going to have to outscore them. I’ve often heard it said that Allen couldn’t have done more in the divisional game in 2021. Well, they punted on half their possessions, so clearly the offense could have done more. And it’s never mentioned that Mahomes was facing the #1 rated D while Allen was facing a mediocre one. Or that several of the big plays occurred because receivers were running wide open due to broken coverage and DBs falling down.

I’ve seen a lot of complaining on here about Allen’s supporting cast. Yet you think he’d kill it with worse tackles, much weaker receivers and a weaker running game?