The Buffalo Bills defeated the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, winning 28-21 in their latest regular-season win over their perennial playoff tormentors. Buffalo improved to 5-1 against Kansas City in the regular season since
2020, but they remain 0-4 against those same Chiefs in the postseason during that same span.
For 60 minutes on Sunday, none of that mattered, as the Bills came up with one of their best performances of the 2025 season in a game that they had to have in order to keep pace with the rest of the AFC. With the New England Patriots sneaking out of their contest with the Atlanta Falcons earlier in the day, winning 24-23 to maintain their hold on first place in the AFC East, the Bills needed a win not only to keep just half a game back in the division, but to keep on the playoff board at the season’s midway point.
Buffalo looked good on both offense and defense, and our five players to watch all played a fairly large role in the game—with one exception. Here’s how those five players fared.
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QB Josh Allen
In terms of passer rating, this wasn’t even a top-10 performance for Allen, as his 123.2 quarterback rating was the 18th-highest total in his illustrious career. In terms of the way he controlled the game, though, I felt that this was one of Allen’s finest games as a profesisonal. He never tried to do too much, as he just put the ball exactly where it needed to be more often than not.
From the start of the game, Allen looked decisive, comfortable, accurate — all of those things that we knew he needed to be if the Bills were going to win on Sunday. Allen himself said in his postgame press conference that he was “slotted,” which is his term for being in a flow state. He knew that the ball was coming out well, and he trusted his mechanics more than he had in the four games prior.
Allen threw one touchdown pass, an opening-drive score to a wide-open Dalton Kincaid to open the scoring. He also scored twice on tush-push plays. However, it was his efficiency that was truly amazing, as he threw the same number of incomplete passes (three) as he had touchdowns on the day.
While the Bills utilized screens and quick throws early, he was able to hit some big plays downfield, as well. The aforementioned touchdown to Kincaid was one, and he hit his big tight end on two more deep throws, but he also hit Dawson Knox on a big shot off a play-action fake and split double-coverage downfield on a big pass to Elijah Moore.
Allen was 23-of-26 for 273 yards and that one touchdown pass, adding 19 rushing yards and two touchdowns on six carries. Kincaid finished his day as the first 100-yard receiver the Chiefs have allowed all season. It was a strong day for the Bills’ offense, and it was definitely a good one for their oft-maligned passing attack.
RB James Cook III
All this man does is put the Bills in position to win games. Cook was marvelous, displaying strength, speed, agility, vision, balance, and everything anyone could want out of a superstar running back. I even saw him throw a goood block in pass protection at least once in the game, something that has been lacking in his repertoire over the course of his career.
Cook played a career-high 50 snaps on offense, breaking his former career high of 49 snaps, which he set in Buffalo’s loss to the Patriots earlier this year. In fact, it’s the fourth time this year that Cook has played at least 43 snaps in a game. The Bills have been giving him more snaps, more plays, and more touches, as Cook also set a career high in this game in carries.
He rushed 27 times for 114 yards, and while he didn’t score a touchdown this week, he did catch a pass. Cook took his one target and gained a crucial first down, gaining 11 yards before sliding down in-bounds right before the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter. That gave Buffalo time to run clock before kicker Matt Prater attempted and doinked a 52-yard field goal that would have iced the game. If No. 4 continues to cook, then the Bills are going to be awfully hard to stop.
WR Keon Coleman
Well, not all of the projections can be winners. Coleman saw just two targets in this one, but he did catch both of them for a total of 17 yards.
The first grab came on a slant, which was a welcome sight, and it was actually the second slant Coleman had run where Allen had thrown it his way. The first try came on the game’s second play, and Coleman was manhandled by Jaylen Watson, who was flagged for pass interference when he broke up the pass. Coleman’s final target came late in the third corner, as Allen found Coleman by the sideline after looking for a deep shot. Coleman scurried out of bounds after an 11-yard gain that ultimately helped the Bills to secure their final touchdown of the night.
Coleman was once again very good in his role as a blocker, clearing space on the edge in the run game and even in the screen game. He can’t throw the ball to himself, so we can’t fault him for catching only two passes when he saw only two official targets. We’ll see if Coleman’s lack of usage was a function of the game or something the team looks to do more moving forward.
DE Michael Hoecht
This one is bittersweet, as the versatile pass rusher looked outstanding once again. In just his second game back from a six-game PED suspension, Hoecht looked every bit the part of a free-agent steal, sacking Patrick Mahomes and totaling two tackles while creating chaos up front.
However, early in the fourth quarter, Hoecht went down with a non-contact injury to his Achilles, and the Bills ruled him out almost immediately. While it wasn’t confirmed at the time, we were all thinking it was bad, and the Bills announced after the game that Hoecht tore his Achilles tendon and would miss the remainder of the season.
It’s an unfortunate twist for a player who was making a real impact with the team. Will the Bills trade for another defensive end, or will they just slot Javon Solomon into Hoecht’s role?
CB Maxwell Hairston
A week after making his professional debut, Hairston was tasked with guarding the man that the Bills essentially drafted him to stop, and he was very successful in doing it. Hairston played an even 50% of the snaps, splitting 60 defensive reps right down the middle with veteran Tre’Davious White.
Buffalo’s defense was noticeably better when Hairston was playing coverage opposite Christian Benford, and while White wasn’t an abomination, Hairston has just been that good in his two games. He made one huge play by intercepting a Mahomes heave late in the fourth quarter that gave the Bills the ball back with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
He didn’t register a tackle, but he did make a huge pick in the game. I wrote before this game that Hairston’s drafting may have signaled a sea change for Buffalo’s defense, and this was the kind of thing I meant when I wrote it.
Hairston, along with another young, hyper-athletic draft choice in Cole Bishop, who had four pass breakups and a team-high seven tackles in his best game of his career to date, gives the Bills an element that they just haven’t had in the secondary under head coach Sean McDermott.
Sea Change is more than just a great Beck album, and in this case, Hairston’s arrival and what it allows the team to do schematically could signal a new direction on defense that may ensure that the 2025 season isn’t a lost cause.
