A Few Thoughts about the Chiefs Game - Community Edition

[BearNorth]

35 minutes ago, 3rdand12 said:

Two of the best bringing their A games.

 

Certainly Josh brought his A game.  Mahomes had a rough day and this probably wasn't one of his best efforts.  

[ganesh]

12 hours ago, Pete said:

Every time an opposing kicker need to make a kick under pressure- they make it.  It don’t matter if it’s 50+ yards and raining hard- they hit it.  Now Prater misses it 

He almost made it.  Also he was on the injury report with a Groin injury.  That might have affected his angle of kicking. 

6 hours ago, Ralonzo said:

Ok. But the eye-test matched the stat-test which says the Bills were easily the better team, but neither lined up with the scoreboard which said the Bills were only just the better team (1-score game). My perception is that for once it wasn't the refs throwing the lifeline to the Chiefs to keep them in it (well, a little bit early) as much as the Bills game management, which is on the head coach. On the whole most of the infamous defensive timeouts worked out, but I simply LOATHE giving an opponent's offense time to settle themselves and come up with their best play - and when it's the Chiefs it's egregious. Time pressure leads to poorer decisions, and Reid doesn't need any unnecessary advantages.

On the other hand,  if we didn't take those timeouts, those would have been easy completions due to the mismatch.  For example, the timeout at the 1 yard line was done because the Chiefs OL had the big bodies and our DL had lighter guys...the Chiefs would have walked in. 

[Ralonzo]

37 minutes ago, ganesh said:

On the other hand,  if we didn't take those timeouts, those would have been easy completions due to the mismatch.  For example, the timeout at the 1 yard line was done because the Chiefs OL had the big bodies and our DL had lighter guys...the Chiefs would have walked in. 

 

Right, I was saying that most of the defensive timeouts, the ones in the first half, worked out because the Bills were all fubar trying to line up. That's a different thing than the 4th-and-17 which was the more "classic" McD defensive TO variety where he wanted to see the formation and then adjust the defense, which mostly just lets the offense get on their best play and on the same page and it's usually not the thing they were gonna run the first time, so it gives a bigger advantage to the offense than the defense. As it was a late timeout we saw enough of the original 4th down play in motion to show enough that it would have been a dead desperation heave.

[Freddie's Dead]

1A and 8 - It was Hancock that batted down the Hail Mary at the end, but don't let that slow your roll....  😁

[GunnerBill]

8 hours ago, GaryPinC said:

Prater was sitting at home because his ability to connect from 50-55 probably hovers around a coin flip at best.  But he's so experienced I believe the FO chose to give up some long distance range/reliability for being able to consistently make shorter and high pressure kicks.

 

He's 1/3 so far on kicks over 50.  I think the FO would be foolish to expect him to make those.  Maybe 5-8 years ago.

 

Then he can't be the kicker by the post season. Simple.

[Pete]

5 hours ago, ganesh said:

He almost made it.  Also he was on the injury report with a Groin injury.  That might have affected his angle of kicking. 

On the other hand,  if we didn't take those timeouts, those would have been easy completions due to the mismatch.  For example, the timeout at the 1 yard line was done because the Chiefs OL had the big bodies and our DL had lighter guys...the Chiefs would have walked in. 

Norwood almost made it.  Bills almost beat KC in 13 seconds game.  Almost means nothing in the NFL and Life

[1billsnut]

12 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

Can you name some?? 

I agree we dominated and should've won by 2 scores but coaching set us up for sucess

I guess rather than “coaching” I should have said game management. 

[GaryPinC]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Then he can't be the kicker by the post season. Simple.

Yeah, I would think that will be Bass. 

 

In all fairness, I wasn't very familiar with Prater's career so I did some research.   Held longest field goal 64 yards in 2013 until last week.  Best career FG % over 50 yards and most from that range in NFL history.   Most 50+ in a season (2023).  Meniscus tear cut short his season last year after 4 games but he had hit a 57 yarder.

 

So given all this, I was wrong and you are right, he should have hit the 52.  Had the leg for it.  OTOH to your other point, I don't think we are moving on from him anytime soon given his pedigree. 

 

Who knows, maybe his calf injury is having a small effect?  He certainly didn't miss the kick by much.

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, GaryPinC said:

Yeah, I would think that will be Bass. 

 

In all fairness, I wasn't very familiar with Prater's career so I did some research.   Held longest field goal 64 yards in 2013 until last week.  Best career FG % over 50 yards and most from that range in NFL history.   Most 50+ in a season (2023).  Meniscus tear cut short his season last year after 4 games but he had hit a 57 yarder.

 

So given all this, I was wrong and you are right, he should have hit the 52.  Had the leg for it.  OTOH to your other point, I don't think we are moving on from him anytime soon given his pedigree. 

 

Who knows, maybe his calf injury is having a small effect?  He certainly didn't miss the kick by much.

 

Yea it wasn't lack of leg that led him to miss. The ball moved right at the end that is about the connection not the leg strength. It didn't matter, and it was always likely that the Bills win anyway even if he missed, but in a playoff game if you have the chance to kill the Chiefs by making a 52 yarder your kicker simply has to make that in the NFL of 2025. 

[Sierra Foothills]

On 11/3/2025 at 5:54 AM, Augie said:

Yep, Chop Robinson got his weight ahead of himself and fell down near Dawkins. That is NOT a penalty on the Bills. If you call it a penalty, you should face scrutiny and be demoted to high school games if it continues. If you don’t SEE a penalty, you don’t throw a flag. 

 

Officials are graded for each game and the poorly graded ones are often terminated at. the end of the season so there is accountability.

 

On 11/3/2025 at 6:33 AM, Max Fischer said:

My hypothesis: Due to injuries, the Bills might have had many different combinations of players who have not worked together -- perhaps not even in practice.  One consequence of so many defensive injuries is communication and understanding their individual roles when different combinations are on the field.  This might not be the cause of the timeouts but it could have been a factor.

 

I've said all season that the defense would need time to gel and would eventually be fine.

 

Regarding the defensive time outs, McDermott has mentioned in the recent past that the home field crowd noise makes it difficult to get the defensive play calls communicated to everyone on the field and you saw that yesterday,

 

[Virgil]

1 hour ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Officials are graded for each game and the poorly graded ones are often terminated at. the end of the season so there is accountability.

 

 

Is that true?   I thought there were quite a few poorly graded refs that keep coming back, partially because they have a union. 

Edited yesterday at 04:27 PM by Virgil

[Dan]

On 11/2/2025 at 8:30 PM, Virgil said:

Barely won might be overdoing it.  And if Preter makes the FG, it’s a no doubter.  
 

But the fact that the Chiefs still had the opportunity to tie it was concerning

I would argue, that if the Bills were losing by 6pts or less… they would have done more to move the ball at the end of the game.  And at the very least, it would have been an easier FG attempt.  
 

Bills got the ball back with just over 4mins in the game, up by 7, and were clearly playing to run the clock down.  They converted 2 first downs with great play calls to get to the 2 min warning.  On the fringes of FG range, that's when the went into conservative mode with 3 dive plays to safely drain the clock.   If Prater makes the kick, none of this is discussed.  Similarly, I think if needed, the Bills could have gotten at least one more first down and iced the game.   McD chose the long FG, and it nearly cost them.   But, it was a good bet even if it made every one of us stop breathing for 22 game seconds.

[BearNorth]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

Is that true?   I thought there were quite a few poorly graded refs that keep coming back, partially because they have a union. 

There's also a bit of familial nepotism at work in the NFL officiating ranks. What are the odds of out of all the officials working NFL games that Hochuli's son [2024 rank 16th of 17 referees] would be promoted to referee soon after his father retired.

[Fleezoid]

I have a few thoughts, but one sticks out; if this exact game were played last year, the Bills would have been called for at least 2 roughing the passer penalties. Pleasantly surprised the refs kept the flags in their pants for the most part. No real issues with officiating in this one. 

[Sierra Foothills]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

Is that true?   I thought there were quite a few poorly graded refs that keep coming back, partially because they have a union. 

 

I can't vouch for the process but NFL officials are graded per game and per season.

 

I know that 3 officials were relegated back to NCAA football after the 2024 season.

 

[3rdand12]

22 hours ago, BearNorth said:

Certainly Josh brought his A game.  Mahomes had a rough day and this probably wasn't one of his best efforts.  

I am grateful for McD bringing his Defense to play  and giving Mahomes and Andy fits

[Mike in Horseheads]

[Buffalo716]

15 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

I could just tell by the signature of the top that's the Buffalo News caricature guy who has won some awards 

 

That's funny 

[stuvian]

Just watching the Herd where they discussed Clappys dime scheme and how it psyched out Mahomes and Reid