11/2/25 GAMEDAY Bills vs Chiefs 4:30pm Post Game Thread

[Lionel Hutz]

I don't know if this has been discussed, but do you think the Chiefs would have gone for 2 if they scored at the end of the game?

[Stretch]

3 minutes ago, Lionel Hutz said:

I don't know if this has been discussed, but do you think the Chiefs would have gone for 2 if they scored at the end of the game?

As a Bills fan I know I would have wanted them to kick the XP.  I have a feeling Reid would have chickened out and kicked it, but KC should go for 2 on that scenario.

[Low Positive]

13 minutes ago, BananaB said:

Pretty sure he was trailing Rice by about 5 yards on the 4th and 17

He was, but it was more Bernard who screwed that up. He chose to double Kelce running down the seam instead of picking up Rice. That whole play was kind of a cluster though. 

 

[Dan]

A few thoughts about the game.  Its been suggested that the bills were sleepwalking through several games this year.  Well yesterday we saw playoff football.   There were several plays that I think they’ve been saving. For example, the third down pass to Cook. That play was absolute money and perfect.  I’ve been hoping, just wishing they would do something like that but they’ve saved it and perhaps wisely so.  With any luck, we don’t see that play again until the AFC championship game.
 

There are other instances,  like the heavy use of play action passes.  All in all it was a brilliant game plan to beat KC.  
 

The fourth and 17 was absolutely horrible!  But I kind of get it both are probably never thought he’d have that clean of a chance to hit Mahomes.  And Bernard just blew it.  But overall, there’s zero you can complain about on the defense.  My only worry is going forward.  Out two best defenders in the middle of the line are gone for the season.  It’s gonna take a lot to overcome that.  But that’s for another week.  
 

Finally,  I suspected this before, and I’ll say it again, I think the crowd noise hurts the defense, perhaps more than it hurts the opposing team’s offense.  The defense is relying on rookies to do a lot of communication and they seem to be out of sync.  There were a number of players that were just running around, trying to get in position.   I think that’s why we saw so many defensive timeouts.  And I don’t disagree with it.   I would never even suggest that the fans be quiet on defense.  But the coaching staff and the players absolutely need to come up with some sort of signals or plan similar to how offenses do it.  Bill’s mafia is not gonna be quiet on third down!
 

It’s a good week!   Go Bills!

[Warriorspikes51]

Shoutout to Deone Walker for a HUGE stop of Hunt at the 1 right before the half 

 

The rookie is solid 

[No_Matter_What]

Didn't have to read through, so not sure if this was discussed, but I do remember somebody mentioned it even in GDT.

 

I am watching all-22 and on that 4&2 Kincaid was wide open for 1st down. I don't get why he wasn't 1st read for Josh.

 

We still should've just rush Cook instead but the play was there.

[CircleTheWagons99]

21 hours ago, Buffalo03 said:

Can we stop with the "who have we beaten" nonsense now?

But that was just the "vanilla" playbook by the Cheifs, according to their fans.....

[Pete]

Unsung play of the game- Cyborg carrying Josh into the end zone after Josh was initially stopped.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Maybe it was me, but I didn’t notice a lot of our defensive players in this game— like Milano, Bernard, Tre, or Poyer. Don’t recall any of them making really any plays of consequence— which feels weird in a game where the D came to play.

[stevewin]

Excellent insight in what the Bills were doing on defense by Joe B in the Athletic  (also explains why Ingram was on the field so much which I was very curious about)

 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6772662/2025/11/03/josh-allen-bills-defense-observations/

 

Quote

Now to their plan. Understanding all that context from both the Bills and Chiefs’ perspectives, McDermott and Babich helped unseat the Chiefs by employing the most aggressive substitution strategy they’ve used to date. They took their own tendencies and flipped them on their head. So far in 2025, the Bills have been a team that matched their defensive personnel to what the offense trotted onto the field. If the opposition went heavy, the Bills would use base defense with three linebackers; if the opposition went light with three or more receivers, the Bills would be in nickel with five defensive backs. But on Sunday, the Bills turned back the clock to the days when passing offense reigned supreme, put themselves in nickel with Cam Lewis, and never came out of it.

 

But that’s not all they did. The Bills were doing wholesale substitutions, initially in obvious passing situations on third down. Jordan Poyer started the drive at safety, only for rookie Jordan Hancock to sub in the game. Matt Milano, who was at outside linebacker to begin drives, exited the game for the Bills to bring on a sixth defensive back, and on Sunday, that was Ja’Marcus Ingram. In fact, knowing they had their issues at defensive tackle, the Bills became emboldened to use them less and less throughout the contest. All four of the Bills’ defensive tackles ended the game with under 50 percent of the snaps. Rookie Deone Walker was the only one of the group to crack 40 percent. On third down with longer distances, the Bills substituted defensive end Michael Hoecht in for one of the defensive tackles. And on several occasions, they would bring in linebacker Dorian Williams in for the other defensive tackle.

 

It was like a shift change in hockey every time the Bills saw a passing situation, at times substituting four players in at once, and it became even more commonplace as the game continued. Following the Chiefs’ first touchdown drive in the first half, the Bills almost uniformly made an in-game switch. Almost every time the Bills won on first down and held the Chiefs to three or fewer yards, they brought in that wholesale change on second down, thinking the Chiefs would just try to pass their way out of the situation.

 

Effectively, the Bills were daring the Chiefs to run the ball all game long, and outside of a handful of plus-five carries from Kareem Hunt, the Chiefs never made the Bills pay for it. The results speak for themselves. Throughout the game, the Bills used that multi-player substitution 27 times. Of those 27 times, 15 of the plays went for zero or fewer yards. With less open space due to all the defenders dropping into coverage, it forced Mahomes to hang on to the ball longer. During the week, the Bills worked on drills at practice, preparing them for the second play with Mahomes, and when they saw Mahomes start to freelance outside of the pocket, they found a man in coverage and tried to stick to them like glue. That allowed the plus matchup the Bills’ defensive ends had against the Chiefs’ offensive tackles to take hold. Then, with a coordinated rush to take away most of the Mahomes scramble opportunities up the middle, Mahomes was pressured on 52.6 percent of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats, and he completed only 3-of-16 for 61 yards and an interception under pressure.

 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

2 hours ago, CircleTheWagons99 said:

But that was just the "vanilla" playbook by the Cheifs, according to their fans.....

This argument still fills me with rage haha. This year they absolutely needed a win to keep pace with Denver/lac, last year a win would’ve likely resulted in an undefeated regular season, the year before that the chiefs had a real chance to prevent the bills from making the playoffs.
 

all three of those were massive games that they were 100% trying to win 

[Einstein]