Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs limit mistakes as offense purrs

LAS VEGAS -- To Patrick Mahomes, the important offensive number for the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday's game wasn't necessarily their point total of 31, which matched their second highest output of the season.

Mahomes was more happy about the numbers zero (as in Chiefs turnovers) and one (as in their dropped passes). The Chiefs have failed most of the year to match their offensive might from previous seasons, but Mahomes said he had the sense all along that if the Chiefs cleaned up their game as they did on Sunday, good things would automatically follow.

"We've shown that we can move the ball, but [turnovers] and drops and me not getting to the right guy at the right time [have limited the Chiefs offensively],'' Mahomes said after a 31-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders moved his team to 8-3.

"Little things like that, they've kind of stalled some of our drives. We kind of got back to the fundamentals this week and we kept pressing and pushing. We obviously took a step in the positive direction now. Let's just continue to do that throughout the rest of the season.''

Mahomes won his 15th career game after the Chiefs have trailed by 10 or more points. His winning percentage of 58 in such games is the best in NFL history.

But the Chiefs hadn't won after a double-digit deficit this season. They've tended to lose after falling behind by any significant margin, so the Chiefs seemed to already be in trouble when they went down 14-0 early in the second quarter.

That was before Mahomes led the Chiefs on a 71-yard touchdown drive that may have been one of their most important of the season. The Chiefs up until that point had run seven plays and gained 13 yards.

"It was big for us to get that first touchdown drive and it kind of got the momentum back in our favor,'' Mahomes said. "We needed to get that drive, especially after having seven plays in the first quarter.''

The Chiefs went on to score touchdowns on three of the next four possessions to take control of the game. Two of those touchdowns came in the second half, the Chiefs' first points of any kind in the final two quarters in their last four games.

Rookie Rashee Rice had eight catches for 107 yards. He is the first Chiefs wide receiver to go over 100 yards in a regular season game since Week 7 of last year. That streak of 20 games was the longest active one in the NFL.

Rice's biggest play was a 39-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter that helped break open what at the time was a close game. Rice made the reception at the 35 and the rest of the play was him running after the catch and breaking an attempted tackle near the end zone.

It was the breakthrough game the Chiefs had been waiting for from any of their wide receivers, and it came from the second-round draft pick.

"I think we've only scratched the surface, honestly,'' Mahomes said of Rice. "I think you see us hitting him kind of around the line of scrimmage, [but] I think he can do some of the vertical threat stuff and he has speed and he has bursts.

"He has a chance to be a great receiver in this league and we're going to continue to push him to be that receiver every single week.''

HC Sean McDermott on Bills' overtime loss to Eagles: 'We didn't do enough'

 

HC Sean McDermott on Bills' overtime loss to Eagles: 'We didn't do enough'

Sean McDermott's club came up short once again, falling, 37-34, to the Philadelphia Eagles in overtime Sunday to drop to 6-6 heading into the bye week. The Buffalo Bills built multiple 10-point leads, including holding a double-digit advantage entering the fourth quarter, but couldn't hold off Jalen Hurts and the Eagles from flying in for the dramatic win.

"We didn't make enough [plays]. We didn't do enough or make enough plays and do enough on the coaching end," McDermott said via the team transcript. "At the end of the day, there is a tough group of guys in that locker room. A tough group of coaches. We are a good football team and just came out on the short end here. There are no moral victories. Each and every one of us has to look at ourselves. Like I told you, that starts with me. That is what you do. That is what the best do and I know our football team is a darn good football team."

Josh Allen played a sensational game, generating 339 passing yards on 29-of-51 throwing with two touchdowns, an interception, and led the club with 81 rushing yards and two ground scores. A fourth-quarter interception aided the collapse, but Allen responded to that mistake, leading a scoring drive capped by a ridiculous TD pass to Stefon Diggs to give the Bills a late lead.

McDermott's defense couldn't hold the advantage in regulation or overtime after the Bills kicked a field goal to open the extra frame.

"His level of play has risen over the last two weeks," McDermott said of Allen. "That is really the biggest thing. When your quarterback is playing well, you have a chance. The inconsistency leading up to the last three weeks were one of the reasons why I made the decision that I did to move forward here. The last two weeks, Josh Allen's level of play has been good enough for us to win."

Allen is the first QB to have 375-plus total yards and four-plus total TDs in an OT defeat since he did so himself in the 2021 Divisional Round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Bills fell to 2-6 in one-score games in 2023. Buffalo owns a +101 point differential but sits at 6-6 through 12 games, an inexplicable combination.

"Like you just said, we could have nine, 10 wins right now, but that's in fantasy land, and in real life, we understand what our record is," safety Micah Hyde said. "It's the NFL, man, been doing it for a long time, and it's tough."

McDermott is feeling the heat in Western New York. The offensive coordinator change helped the offense get back on track, but Sunday, the same issues that plagued Buffalo reared their heads. If not for Allen's heroics, the Bills wouldn't have even gotten to overtime. The decision not to give Allen a chance to make a play with 20 seconds left in regulation -- electing to kneel despite owning a timeout -- remains a head-scratching move a day later. Tight losses have defined McDermott's tenure. As a head coach, he fell to 1-6 in overtime games, including the playoffs, tied with Dom Capers for the worst record by a head coach in NFL history with a minimum of seven overtime games coached, per ESPN. The loss pushed Buffalo to the No. 10 seed in the AFC, needing a late-season surge to avoid missing the playoffs. "We understand that this football team is, we definitely have a lot of upside," Hyde said. "It's crazy ... with our record being 6-6, but I could just say the close games that we've lost, and the games that we have lost have been by a few points. So, we just got to continue to find a way in those situational moments to find a way to get a takeaway or if the offense gets the ball, get a touchdown."