Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs shakes hands with Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills … [+]
The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills have met five times since October of 2020, and the latest iteration was another epic contest.
Before the Bills ultimately bested the Chiefs 24-20 in the battle between the two AFC heavyweights, the game was tied after the first, second and third quarters.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid even noted how fast the action was — a description usually reserved for playoff games.
“It was a great battle. You love these games,” Reid said. “The guys are competitive. They know each other.”
Perhaps the most familiar players of the two rivals are the two quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.
Arguably the two best players in the game, they are also the two highest paid in terms of overall contract value and length. The 27-year-old Mahomes earns $450 over 10 years while the 26-year-old Allen earns $258 million over six years.
Just as the game was played evenly, so was the quarterback play. Going into halftime, both passers mirrored each other, completing 13-of-23 attempts with one touchdown.
Allen was sensational throughout, completing 27-of-40 passes for 329 yards and three touchdowns and also producing a highlight-reel, 16-yard-run, in which he hurdled safety Justin Reid.
“He’s a great quarterback,” Mahomes said. “Physically talented, he can throw, can run. He can really do it all.”
Mahomes also displayed the myriad skills of his game, although critics will understandably point out Mahomes’ game-sealing interception. He still threw for 338 yards and two touchdowns against a defense that entered the game ranked first in points allowed and second in yards.
He produced the usual Mahomes magic when he eluded defensive linemen Greg Rousseau and DaQuan Jones before throwing across his body for a 42-yard touchdown to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
What makes the Allen-Mahomes matchup (and thus the Chiefs-Bills rivalry) so compelling is that they have formed the kind of mutual respect Peyton Manning and Tom Brady used to have for each other when their teams battled for AFC supremacy.
In fact, Allen and Mahomes joined forces against Brady and Aaron Rodgers in The Match, a 12-hole, alternate shot match play competition. at the Wynn Golf Club in Paradise, Nev. during the summer.
Mahomes spoke glowingly of Allen during the week leading up to Sunday’s game.
“He’s a great dude,” Mahomes said. “Obviously, when we’re on the football field, we are competing against each other and we want to beat each other’s teams, but I have a ton of respect for him.”
This game may not have featured the theatrics of the last Mahomes-Allen on-field meeting. In that 2021 AFC Divisional Playoff Game, the teams combined for 31 points, 296 yards and 13 first downs. after the two-minute warning, but Sunday’s contest was a back-and-forth affair.
And with 1:04 left, Mahomes looked to have every chance for another epic comeback. Then after one incompletion, Mahomes tried a corner route to rookie Skky Moore.
But the Bills, who played shell coverage on the play, got pressure from edge rusher Von Miller, and then Matt Milano forced Mahomes to reset before Taron Johnson jumped the route for the key interception of Mahomes.
“He was trying to make something happen,” Andy Reid said. “Normally it does.”
Mahomes may get a chance for redemption. Just as the teams met in the playoffs last year, one could see two of the NFL’s best facing off in January of 2023.
“If we keep playing well and they play well,” Andy Reid said. “I’m sure (it could) come back around.”
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