The Chiefs have constructed a dynasty by beating the Payments when it issues.
Josh Allen and Buffalo’s super-devoted fanbase will try to alter historical past on Sunday within the AFC Championship.
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Within the 2021 playoffs, Kansas Metropolis defeated the Payments with such depth that the NFL was ultimately pressured to alter its guidelines.
“When it is grim, be the grim reaper,” Kansas Metropolis head coach Andy Reid informed Mahomes, completely capturing an unbelievable back-and-forth ending that was debated for months and nonetheless impacts the NFL at this time.
Allen was statistically higher than Mahomes in that AFC Divisional Spherical playoff sport, topping the KC quarterback in touchdowns and passer ranking.
Buffalo additionally led 36-33 with 13 seconds left in regulation inside a chilly and shocked Arrowhead Stadium.
But in a chaotic collection of occasions that also defy perception, Mahomes and the Chiefs emerged with a 42-36 victory in additional time, due to a fortunate coin flip and Travis Kelce scoring the ultimate deciding factors.
“When you might have two groups going forwards and backwards, it stinks when you aren’t getting to see the opposite man go,” Mahomes stated.
“However all you are able to do is play the foundations the best way the foundations are defined, and that is what we did.”
The Payments and Chiefs mixed to attain 25 factors within the remaining 2 minutes of regulation, highlighted by Kansas Metropolis’s Harrison Butker drilling a 49-yard subject purpose as time expired.
Mahomes drove the Chiefs 75 yards in eight performs earlier than connecting with Kelce and ending the Payments’ season right away basic.
“We received super leaders on either side of the ball, whether or not it is offense, protection or particular groups,” stated Tyreek Hill, who caught 11 passes for 150 yards and a TD.
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“No person panicked. No person was like, ‘Oh, the sport is over, there’s 13 seconds left.’ We simply made performs.”
Two months after the Chiefs superior to the AFC Championship and the Payments had been pressured to abdomen a painfully merciless end, league homeowners accepted a rule change that assured every staff a possession throughout OT within the postseason.
“We considered it earlier than when it got here up when Kansas Metropolis misplaced to New England (within the 2018 AFC Championship),” Payments common supervisor Brandon Beane stated in March 2022.
“I used to be watching that sport going, man, you bought a younger Mahomes versus a veteran in (Tom) Brady and also you by no means received to see Mahomes get his likelihood. Brady simply took them proper down the sphere.”
Allen was good for the Payments within the Divisional Spherical defeat, finishing 27-of-37 passes for 329 yards, 4 touchdowns and a 136 ranking.
Performing like a contemporary franchise QB, Allen twice gave Buffalo a fourth-quarter lead and the Payments transformed a successful-two level conversion in the identical interval.
The one factor that Allen did not get proper was the coin toss, which favoured Mahomes and the Chiefs.
“It is simply robust, you realize? To be in that second once more,” Allen stated.
“It sucks the best way it occurred, you realize? We needed to win that sport. We had alternatives.
“Simply, yeah, taking all of it in, holding onto that feeling, and ensuring we do not really feel like this once more – back-to-back years in the identical spot. It is robust to absorb.”
Buffalo had misplaced within the AFC Championship the 12 months earlier than.
Within the 2021 AFC Divisional playoff thriller, Mahomes and Allen turned the primary QBs to throw for a minimum of 300 yards with three TDs and no interceptions, and have 50 dashing yards throughout the identical sport in NFL historical past.
The Payments had been 13 seconds away from ending the Chiefs’ season.
However Mahomes performed the Grim Reaper and saved Kansas Metropolis.
“These guys are damage, we’re dissatisfied. We’re all dissatisfied,” Buffalo coach Sean McDermott stated.
“We’re all sick to our abdomen. You progress on and also you attempt to get your self to study from it, nevertheless it stings. It stings. I am not going to sugarcoat it. It stings”
The Chiefs ultimately fell 27-24 to Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals within the 2021 AFC Championship.
However they’ve received back-to-back Tremendous Bowls since and are actually chasing extra historical past with a championship three-peat.
Beating the Payments in OT throughout the 2021 playoffs was one of the vital thrilling wins of Mahomes’ profession.
It took an unbelievable end — and a fortunate coin toss — for Reid’s staff to lastly put Allen and the Payments away.
“The fellows did not flinch,” Reid stated
“You discuss an epic sport, properly, that is the best way the gamers took it. They’d super respect for Buffalo they usually knew it was going to be a battle they usually stored going.”
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