Happy Victory Monday! The Buffalo Bills improved to 6-2 on the season after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 28-21 on Sunday afternoon at Highmark Stadium. This marks Buffalo’s fifth straight regular-season
win over Kansas City. The Bills suddenly find themselves 2.5 games ahead of the Chiefs in the AFC playoff seeding race, although their Week 5 loss to the New England Patriots will make things both difficult and interesting as the back half of the season progresses.
What has become a weekly occurrence at this point is quarterback Josh Allen breaking more records, and he broke multiple in Week 9. Allen completed a franchise record 88.5% of his passes, while quarterPatrick Mahomes completed just 44.1% of his passes, the lowest mark of his nine-year career. JA17 also found the endzone twice with his legs, the first of which put him above Cam Newton for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in NFL history.
Buffalo’s Week 9 injury report was lengthy, and it entered Sunday’s matchup down multiple starters. Nickel cornerback Taron Johnson, wideout Joshua Palmer, defensive tackle DaQuan Jones, and linebacker Shaq Thompson were all ruled out ahead of the matchup, with defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis and cornerback Dane Jackson called up from the practice squad.
Here was the full Week 9 inactive list: Buffalo Bills Week Nine inactives vs. the Kansas City Chiefs
Bills Week 9 offensive snap counts (66 snaps)
D.Dawkins T 66 100%
D.Edwards G 66 100%
O.Torrence G 66 100%
C.McGovern G 66 100%
J.Allen QB 66 100%
S.Brown T 66 100%
J.Cook RB 50 76%
K.Coleman WR 45 68%
K.Shakir WR 40 61%
D.Knox TE 32 48%
T.Shavers WR 31 47%
J.Hawes TE 31 47%
C.Samuel WR 27 41%
D.Kincaid TE 23 35%
R.Gilliam FB 17 26%
E.Moore WR 17 26%
Ty.Johnson RB 13 20%
R.Davis RB 3 5%
A.Anderson T 1 2%
Allen (100%) finished the game with 292 total yards, three total touchdowns, and just three incompletions. It was easily his best game of the season, and hopefully it carries over into the rest of the regular season and the postseason. The offensive line both played every single snap and played well, limiting the Chiefs’ pass rush to six quarterback hits and three sacks. Honestly, Allen’s pocket awareness has seemingly dropped off a cliff this season, and he tries to do too much sometimes, which has resulted in more sacks.
Tight end Dalton Kincaid (35%) was Allen’s preferred target, despite logging just 23 snaps, eight fewer than Jackson Hawes (47%) and nine fewer than Dawson Knox (48%). He hauled in all six of his targets for 101 yards and an opening-drive touchdown. Kincaid has gone over 100 receiving yards in two of his last three games and seems to be Buffalo’s only consistent downfield threat. Only one other Bills’ pass catcher garnered more than three targets, and it was unsurprisingly wideout Khalil Shakir (61%), who finished with seven receptions for 43 yards. Still, the passing game was both productive and explosive, with Knox, Hawes, and wideout Elijah Moore each cashing in on chunk plays. Keon Coleman (68%) hauled in both of his targets for 17 yards and drew a pass interference flag on the second play of the game. Is it a player issue or a scheming issue? Either way, it’s very concerning.
Even running back James Cook (76%) caught his first reception since Week 4, a simple 11-yard reception on third down on Buffalo’s final drive. Cook continued to show the league why he wanted to get paid, totaling a career-high 27 carries for 114 yards. Cook also set a career-high in snaps (50), and has totaled 20+ carries in three games this season, something he did just three times across his first three seasons in the NFL! Has Jimbo Cook officially arrived? Ty Johnson (20%) found the endzone for the first time this season, marking Buffalo’s 14th rushing touchdown through the first eight games of the season, good for the second-most in franchise history. Shoutout to fullback Reggie Gilliam (26%), who continues to pick up massive blocks that have sprung Cook free for big chunk plays on the ground.
Bills Week 9 defensive snap counts (60 snaps)
C.Benford CB 60 100%
C.Bishop S 60 100%
C.Lewis DB 60 100%
T.Bernard LB 59 98%
G.Rousseau DE 47 78%
J.Bosa DE 44 73%
J.Poyer S 34 57%
M.Milano LB 33 55%
M.Hairston CB 30 50%
T.White CB 30 50%
J.Hancock DB 26 43%
J.Ingram CB 26 43%
D.Walker DT 25 42%
M.Hoecht DE 24 40%
A.Epenesa DE 23 38%
L.Ogunjobi DT 22 37%
J.Phillips DT 21 35%
P.Mathis DT 14 23%
D.Williams LB 13 22%
J.Solomon DE 9 15%
Despite entering the game with multiple starters out, the defense stepped up against Mahomes and company. It’s always a good sign when the defense forces a three-and-out on the first defensive possession of the game, and that was just the beginning. There were obvious faults, such as allowing the Chiefs’ offense to convert a 4th and 17 in the fourth quarter, which allowed them to pull within one score, but not as many as there usually are when the Bills face the Chiefs.
The secondary has been a huge weakness for the Bills’ defense until veteran Jordan Poyer (57%) came back into the picture. I’m semi-joking, but Poyer’s presence has allowed the rest of the secondary to play freer, particularly Cole Bishop (100%), who was quite literally all over the field on Sunday. Bishop led the team in tackles (7), while picking up a tackle for a loss and a whopping four pass deflections. Many seemed to place the majority of the blame on Bishop for the early-season struggles in the secondary, but perhaps it was Taylor Rapp and his wild playstyle that were holding the team back.
Rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston (50%) is still ramping up his workload and has been splitting defensive series with Tre’Davious White (50%). Hairston showed us all the exact reason why the Bills drafted him: SPEED. In previous seasons, Buffalo was almost never able to match top-end speed, but Hairston possesses that and showed it while covering Xavier Worthy. The rookie even picked off Mahomes in the fourth quarter on a deep ball to Worthy. It is also promising to see rookie defensive back Jordan Hancock (43%) receive some increased run the past two games, too, as he has impressive versatility and potential to be a starter one day.
The primary weakness of the defense is the linebacker room. Both Terrel Bernard (98%) and Matt Milano (55%) simply look a step or two slow. Bernard, particularly, looks as if he is still playing injured because he is either completely out of position or over-pursuing a ball carrier. Dorian Williams (22%) saw limited snaps, mostly due to the Bills’ prioritization of having as many defenders in coverage as possible.
The defensive line had itself a day, totaling a whopping 15 quarterback hits, five tackles for a loss, and three sacks. Mahomes was pressured on 52.6% of his dropbacks, completing just 3-of-16 passes for 61 yards and an interception. Edge rusher Joey Bosa (73%) was responsible for five of those quarterback hits and one of those sacks, and he even applied the pressure on Mahomes’ fourth-quarter interception. Greg Rousseau (78%) recorded his highest snap count percentage of the season and finished with four quarterback hits and a half-sack. AJ Epenesa (38%) also continues to flash in a somewhat limited role, totaling two quarterback hits and delivering perhaps one of the hardest hits that Mahomes has ever received in his career. His role will likely increase, however, with the news of edge rusher Michael Hoecht (40%) tearing his Achilles. I’d also like to see some more of Javon Solomon (15%), who filled in for Hoecht toward the end of the game. It’s still a huge blow as Hoecht already totaled two sacks and seemed to unlock the next level of the Bills’ defensive line.
Bills Week 9 special teams snap counts (24 snaps)
R.Gilliam FB 21 88%
J.Andreessen LB 19 79%
S.Franklin DB 19 79%
D.Williams LB 16 67%
J.Solomon DE 16 67%
T.Shavers WR 14 58%
D.Jackson CB 13 54%
J.Hancock DB 13 54%
R.Davis RB 11 46%
M.Hoecht DE 10 42%
M.Prater K 10 42%
A.Epenesa DE 9 38%
A.Anderson T 8 33%
D.Walker DT 8 33%
M.Wishnowsky P 8 33%
R.Ferguson LS 8 33%
D.Dawkins T 5 21%
D.Edwards G 5 21%
O.Torrence G 5 21%
S.Van Pran-Granger C/G 5 21%
R.Van Demark T 5 21%
J.Ingram CB 5 21%
J.Hawes TE 5 21%
C.Samuel WR 5 21%
C.Benford CB 3 12%
C.Bishop S 3 12%
C.Lewis DB 3 12%
T.Bernard LB 3 12%
G.Rousseau DE 3 12%
Ty.Johnson RB 3 12%
K.Shakir WR 3 12%
Kicker Matt Prater (42%) doinked a 52-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds remaining, and I’ll admit that all of the 13-second flashbacks came rushing back, especially after seeing how well Mahomes carved up the defense on the two-minute drill before the end of the first half. Punter Mitch Wishnowsky (33%) has seemingly looked better each week, with two of his punts landing inside the 20.
One note is that return specialist Brandon Codrington was a healthy scratch yet again, and his spot on this team seems limited at this point, especially if Buffalo ends up making a trade or two this week.
