Buffalo '24, and more cold reality for the Bills
A missed field goal, along with other foibles, boosts Kansas City over Buffalo in the AFC Divisional Playoff.
This was not the ghost of Scott Norwood past. Tyler Bass’ 44-yard field goal try did drift wide right, to be sure, the way Norwood’s did in the Super Bowl 33 years ago. But it wasn’t the final play of this Divisional Playoff against Kansas City. On Sunday, Buffalo had 1:43 left and two time outs, and could have forced a punt with a couple of tackles. Instead, the Chiefs got a first down on two runs by Isaiah Pacheco, and then knelt to win, 27-24.
While on a knee, the Chiefs could have offered fervent thanks. They snapped the ball only 48 times, to Buffalo’s 77, and they converted only one third down. They were on offense for only 22:57. They had a chance for a 10-point lead, but Mecole Hardman fumbled through the Buffalo end zone, for a touchback. They never sacked Josh Allen and were stampeded for a season-high 182 rush yards.
Instead they found their way to their sixth consecutive AFC Championship Game. The fact that Patrick Mahomes never had played a pre-Super Bowl playoff game in another team’s lair became cruelly irrelevant, because teams like the Chiefs enjoy breaking into houses. But then Buffalo had lost this game at home to Cincinnati last year, with the Bengals running unimpeded in the snow. In the end, Allen sat numbly as he was asked why this happened, as if Bass’ wayward kick wasn’t the proximate cause. “Losing sucks,” he said, speaking for his city.
The Bills won the AFL championship in 1965, beating San Diego 23-0 in Balboa Stadium. They have not won a championship since. Norwood’s miss against the Giants was the first of four consecutive futile Super Bowls, as a previously unstoppable offense was gummed up by defensive coordinator Bill Belichick.
In 1998 the movie “Buffalo ‘66” came out, in which Anjelica Huston plays a demented Bills fan who watches replay after replay of that Super Bowl. Each time she gets her hopes up; each time Norwood misses, and she goes into tantrum mode. Vincent Gallo, who directed and wrote the film, plays her ex-con son, who sees a chance to endear himself to Mom by killing the kicker, named Scott Wood.
There’s no reason for the ‘66 part, since that AFC title game was played in late December of ‘65, but the movie is approximately as irresistible as watching the kick. Presumably there is no neophyte filmmaker out there who wants to use Tyler Bass in a sequel.
But Buffalo’s obsession with the Bills has only accelerated, especially since Allen arrived to play quarterback in a more muscular way than anyone ever has. Allen’s Bills have won at least 10 games in each of the past five years but have reached only one AFC title game, much less a Super Bowl. That dream died in Kansas City, too, but nothing, not even the Norwood game, was as haunting as the Divisional game two years ago, when Allen’s touchdown pass to Gabriel Davis put Buffalo up by three with :13 left in KC. Mahomes then completed two passes and Harrison Butker kicked the tying field goal, and Travis Kelce caught Mahomes’ game-winner in overtime, with Allen marooned on the sideline. The Chiefs won, 42-36, and while the announcers said Buffalo’s time would come as long as Allen remained indestructible, the Angelicas in the white-frame neighborhoods of Buffalo just shook their heads.
Nor is Western New York ready for the we-had-a-great-season speech. The Bills began by giving up a game-losing punt return to the Jets. On Nov. 26 they were 6-6, having lost gallantly in overtime at Philadelphia. But the Bills got hot and wrested the AFC East away from Miami, on the road in Week 17. And, finally, they didn’t have to go to Kansas City.
How did they snatch familiarity from probability this time? Well, the Chiefs struck for touchdowns on three consecutive possessions. Marquez Valdes-Scantling wasn’t dropping passes the way he did in the late-season home loss to Buffalo. Mahomes had his best passer rating of the season, and his penalty-plagued offensive line kept the Bills at safe distance. And even though the Chiefs’ brilliant defense was in reverse most of the night, it did not allow Buffalo a single play of 20 yards or more.
Buffalo folks are disinterested in excuses. But injuries are real. They cause the most havoc when they (A) happen at a premium position like quarterback, receiver or edge rusher or (B) happen to multiple players at the same position. The Bills’ credible linebackers were hors de combat on Sunday, and it’s hard to measure the absence of Matt Milano, who broke his leg and suffered a torn ACL in Week 5.
But at some point you make plays or you don’t. The Bills dropped passes, including a bomb to Stefon Diggs on the final drive, they missed tackles and, yeah, they botched a kick, just when they couldn’t afford to. Muscle memory took over on both sidelines. Buffalo still has its competitive “window,” but it’s not fair to ask Allen to keep propping it open. Sometimes it’s better to close it for the winter, and turn off the film.