Bills end losing streak, spear Chiefs in Arrowhead
The Buffalo Bills finally plugged the holes on their sinking ship of a season and beat the Kansas City Chiefs in a tight game at Arrowhead stadium this past Sunday salvaging their playoff hopes.
Each offense started off just where they left off in recent weeks...Playing absolutely terribly. The teams exchanged three punts each on the first six drives averaging just 3.67 plays per drive.
Finally the Bills opened up the scoring when Tyrod Taylor used his legs to extend a play and found Zay Jones in the end zone on an 11 yard pass with a minute and a half left in the 1st quarter.
In the second quarter, Zay Jones would wow people again but this time with his ability to magically levitate himself after doing a half caterpillar to get up after an incomplete pass. That's magician type stuff. Watch your back David Blaine.
Steven Hauschka ended his 50 plus yard consecutive field goal streak when he missed a 52 yarder. Not long after he started a new streak booting a 56 yard attempt that he hit so well, it looked like it would have been good from 70 yards. Someone needs to give Hausch Money a "random" drug test.
The Chiefs offense was so bad they only converted one first down in the 1st half. It was the first enjoyable half of football I've watched the Bills play since the end of October. It felt fantastic to see a 13 to 3 Buffalo lead at halftime.
Halftime Stats: *started eating drinking hour before game so numbers slightly higher
5 Beers
19 Wings
1st solid half of Bills football in a while
1 shockingly rejuvenated defense.
Buffalo 13 - Kansas City 3
The Chiefs opened up the second half with a nine-play, 85-yard drive that ate up almost six minutes. The drive was topped off with a 19 yard touchdown pass to Albert Wilson to make the score 13 to 10 in favor of Buffalo.
The Bills responded to that score in true Bills fashion by notching another field goal. A touchdown would have made it a two score game and thus allowed me to relax a bit, but why would the football Gods allow me any peace of mind on a Sunday afternoon?
Already playing great, the Bills defense dug in even further. They held the Chiefs to drives of four plays twice and three plays once on the following possessions. On the next drive after that, Buffalo forced a turnover on downs at their own 46 yard line when the Chiefs failed to convert a 4th and 4.
The Bills play calling on the next drive was maddeningly conservative because the Bills love to torture me. They ran the ball three times for a one yard loss meaning the Chiefs would get one more chance to win the game with no timeouts starting from their own 14 yard line.
On the drive, Kansas City was helped out by a terrible penalty call on E.J. Gaines which moved the Chiefs 15 yards down the field. Gaines did absolutely nothing wrong on the play and barely touched the player. The referee who made the call should not only be banished from the NFL but also from society. A picture of the flag he threw should be displayed in the dictionary next to the term "traveshamockery".
The Bills were finally able to close out the game when Tre'Davious White came up huge with an interception. He returned the ball inside the Chiefs 10 yard line and Buffalo was able to run out the clock in victory formation. There is no chance White will let this go to his head...All he did after the game was ask Deion Sanders to give him a call and in the interview mentioned wanting to wear a gold jacket twice.
It was an ugly, grind-it-out game but the Bills got the job done on the road. Their defense looked completely different than the prior three weeks. The most telling stat of the day was that Buffalo's defense allowed just 2 of 13 third down conversation attempts by the Chiefs. With the victory, the Bills are still in the hunt. Sound familiar?
Final Stats:
9 Beers
23 Wings
1 proud ass Tre White jersey wearer (me)
1 big momentum swing in the season
Buffalo 16 - Kansas City 10
