The Bills’ postseason has again ended in a loss to the Chiefs, and it hasn’t been without a mixture of feelings about the game and the loss.
On the one hand, Buffalo showed signs of strong play at times, though on the other hand, messy play at others. The team stayed focused, however, and pressed on through the game to keep it competitive.
The Chiefs also performed competitively enough to go toe to toe with Buffalo, but their win was not without controversy.
Such as on a fourth-and-1 conversion rushing attempt by Bills QB Josh Allen via a quarterback sneak play from the Kansas City 41-yard line with 13:00 left in the fourth quarter and a 22-21 lead.
Line Judge Jeff Seeman and Down Judge Patrick Holt had different spots and lines of sight, the one with a better potential view of the ball (Seeman) indicated Allen got the first down, but he then deferred to the one who couldn’t have seen it and called it short (Holt).
The officiating crew’s review did not result in overturning the spot and Kansas City got the ball, scoring a few plays later.
However, replays clearly show that Buffalo not only got the first down but also that they did so on the previous play as well, a third-down pass completion to TE Dalton Kincaid.
“The look we had in the stadium … I thought he had it,” HC Sean McDermott said about the QB sneak. “Just short of the line was actually the first down, what it looked like to me when it was sitting next to me with the marker. Just inside that white stripe was the first down. It looked like he got to it. That’s all I can say.”
He also acknowledged how much that fourth-down stop matters in a game like that one.
“Yeah. Of course, it does. Darn right, it does,” he added. “That’s a possession. We’re up one point at the time. A chance to go up maybe multiple scores at that point. It’s a big call. It’s absolutely a big call.”
The miscalled first fourth down attempt that gave Kansas City the ball happened at an important time that would have kept Buffalo’s drive alive.
“It’s been our best play all year at one or inside of one yard (to go), we won some of those, but to your point, they were doing a good job,” McDermott added.
“I thought overall, maybe we could have disguised it. Maybe not. But at the end of the day, we have confidence in Josh and our offensive line to get those. Been getting them all year.”
Allen realized the importance of the points they could have added to the scoreboard to the game outcome as well.
“We’re constantly knocking at the door. And when you’re playing a team like the Chiefs, you can’t just knock. You’ve got to kick the door down,” he said to the media.
The Bills’ second turnover on downs happened with under 2 minutes remaining in the game, with a chance to tie or take the lead in a three-point game Allen amazingly made a pass in the face of blitzing defenders to the hands of Kincaid who didn’t haul it in.
The Bills didn’t get the ball back again.
The first fourth-down turnover in possession led to a Chiefs touchdown while the second one allowed them to run out the clock and win the game.
The game brought under the microscope the need for better regulation of officiating and heightened importance for the NFL to adapt better and modern technology to improve on imperfect processes such as spotting the ball in a scrum.
The league currently uses chips embedded in the balls to measure some information but not to spot location, despite the tech being readily available.
Kansas City has shown a past ability to rise to a level of play that has garnered descriptions from such as “greatness” and “Mahomes Magic,” when describing its quarterback.
However, in the past couple of seasons, imbalanced miscalls from referees in critical situations has undermined and discredited their legacy while driving some NFL fans away.
In the AFC Championship game alone there was a handful of such instances that directly impacted the outcome.
One was a pass from Mahomes into a coverage battle among two rookies, Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy and Bills corner Cole Bishop, who went up and made a play on the ball. Bishop almost wrestled the ball away, but regardless, neither had control and it touched the ground as the two came down.
The play was reviewed and ruled a completed catch, the Chiefs scored a touchdown on their next possession to take a 29-22 lead.
On a Chiefs possession, they were not flagged for a delay of game when running out the clock one second before a 2-minute warning.
Another no-flag came when non-factor Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce taunted Bills safety Damar Hamlin after a Mahomes TD run.
Another when he flopped after turning around to find a much larger Bills defensive tackle, Jordan Phillips defending his teammate (Phillips was instead flagged for unnecessary roughness for a helmet butt to Kelce.)
There was also a Chiefs punt return with multiple uncalled holds on Kansas City, and a Mahomes play where a nearby Chiefs lineman held a Bills defender by the neck and facemask right in front of an official.
Still, Allen has his focus on the prize the morning after the game.
“We’re going to continue to turn every stone over…to try to bring a Lombardi back here to Western New York.”
