Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs facing ‘different’ Josh Allen but know how to survive, says Phoebe Schecter | NFL News

Patrick Mahomes vs Josh Allen. The Kansas City Chiefs vs the Buffalo Bills. Another playoff humdinger. Another Super Bowl appearance on the line. The latest instalment of the NFL’s best current-era rivalry. 

We have been here before. We are here once more. And we will be here again in the future, no doubt.

For the fourth time Mahomes and Allen will meet in the postseason, where the Chiefs quarterback owns a 3-0 record over his fiercest rival. Allen, meanwhile, is 4-1 against Mahomes in the regular season, knowing all too well how little that means at this time of year.

Buffalo were dumped out by Kansas City in a 27-24 defeat in the Divisional Round last year, and had been 13 seconds away from beating the Chiefs in their infamous 2021 Divisional Round matchup only for Mahomes to set up a game-tying field goal before Travis Kelce’s touchdown clinched it in overtime.

“It almost feels like ‘who cares who wins in the regular season?’, it’s what you do in the postseason,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Phoebe Schecter on the latest episode of Inside the Huddle.

“We’re yet to see the Bills overcome Chiefs mountain. “I’m concerned about this game for the Bills. This Chiefs are stronger than they have been all season long – Hollywood Brown is back, all these active receivers, Travis Kelce is having the best point of his year, he is a superstar in the postseason.

“It’s going to be a really tough challenge. This Chiefs team know how to survive.”

If Mahomes – despite coming off his least prolific campaign statistically – is still considered the NFL’s consensus No 1 quarterback amid his period of Super Bowl supremacy, then Allen has arguably cemented himself as his closest contender.

Allen’s 313.9 offensive yards per game are the most by a quarterback in NFL playoff history, followed by Mahomes with a second-highest average of 307.9 yards per game. The Bills man also tops any player with 262 offensive touchdowns since entering the league in 2018, three more than Mahomes’ 259 in that period since taking over as full-time Chiefs starter.

Both have meanwhile demonstrated a necessity to success down the stretch – clean football.

“Every team that won last week didn’t turn the football over,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Neil Reynolds. “Every team that lost out-gained the winning team.

“The Chiefs haven’t turned it over in eight games. Buffalo forced three turnovers, so that battle right there, it will come down to the magic as well from Mahomes, Kelce and Allen, but the fundamentals of looking after the football is a big part of this game.”

Allen displayed one of the most drastic cases of quarterback development in modern times between year one and year two with the Bills, ironing out debilitating accuracy issues to become one of the most destructive arms in the league under then-offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

He has since continued to evolve by eradicating cheap sacks and costly turnovers amid his pursuit of a long-awaited Super Bowl berth, learning the importance of fine margins the hard way against the Chiefs. Buffalo’s offense entered 2024 minus a marquee star like a Stefon Diggs on the outside, instead leaning on a shared workload and the brilliance of running back James Cook.

“That’s where the run game is so important in the postseason, they didn’t have this option before and it had to be Allen before making these monster plays,” said Schecter.

“It was a huge growth moment watching Allen on fourth-and-short against the Ravens where they don’t get it, there’s a moment of old Josh where he thinks about pitching it to James Cook and then retracts it, but in the past he would have tried those superhero plays.

“Now he doesn’t have to, he has that patience and development. It’s a very different Josh to who we have ever seen.”

Allen finished the regular season 307 of 483 passing for 3,731 for 28 touchdowns to six interceptions, while rushing for 531 yards and 12 scores as the first player in history with five straight 40-touchdown seasons. He was barely called into action through the air during the Divisional Round, though, as he threw for just 127 yards while rushing for two touchdowns in the 27-25 win over Baltimore, who turned the ball over three times.

Awaiting him is yet another meeting with Steve Spagnuolo, who has acquired the number of every quarterback in the NFL amid a team rebrand that has seen the Chiefs evolve from a high-octane offensive fireworks show into a hard-nosed, shape-shifting defensive conundrum.

“I think they will find different ways to create simulated pressure, try to get in his face, force him to hold the ball a little longer while collapsing the pocket,” said Schecter of the Chiefs defense.

“You don’t want to let him out the pocket, he’s been so clean in terms of not taking a sack but he’s not susceptible to it.

“There really is no true No 1 receiver, Shakir is probably the closest thing, but you have nine players with over 200 receiving yards, where it’s going to be a tricky one is the Chiefs defense is susceptible to tight ends playing well.”

The Chiefs won 11 games by one score this season on their way to clinching a 15-2 record and the No 1 seed despite rarely enjoying a period of dominance on offense. But nobody, at least since Mahomes arrived, has navigated playoff football better.

Sunday will mark their seventh consecutive AFC Championship Game.

“I’m going to say Kansas City continue the playoff misery,” said Reynolds.

“The aura part is massive to me, the Chiefs win a way, it’s why they’ve done what they’ve done year after year, Andy Reid will figure something out, Spags will figure something out.

“But I feared more for Buffalo against Baltimore last year from an Xs and Os perspective – I’m more worried about Derrick Henry than Kareem Hunt. I actually think tactically and player-wise Buffalo have a better shot – but it’s the Chiefs!”

Allen: Mahomes on of the greatest to do it

Allen got the better of Mahomes and the Chiefs in Week 11 of the campaign when he pulled on his superhero cape to score a game-winning 26-yard rushing touchdown on fourth down. For once, Andy Reid’s side could not conjure a response.

The Chiefs, however, remain THE bar to which the rest of the league aspires to reach as they chase down a historic third straight Super Bowl win. Allen knows better than anybody of the postseason monster standing in his way.

While less easy on the eye in comparison to the earlier years under Mahomes, they have become a winning machine.

“They control the ball extremely well,” said Allen. “They don’t make bad decisions. Obviously, Patrick is one of the greatest ever to play the game, and they’re one of the greatest teams ever to be assembled, going for a three-peat.

“And that’s what everybody wants to be in this league, is to have the sustained success that they’ve had. But again, they play great situational football.

“They understand when it’s time to go and when it’s time to kind of fend off someone. So, again, that’s that’s what we’re aiming to be.”

Mahomes: Chiefs need to be at best

Mahomes and Allen’s rivalry has drawn comparisons to that of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning as the NFL’s two leading quarterbacks battling for AFC sovereignty.

Kansas City just watched Buffalo foil likely-MVP Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the league’s leading offense in total yards, having finished as the second most prolific scoring offense in the NFL. One-score wins have been a theme to the Chiefs’ season, but they will know Sunday could beckon as a straight shootout.

“I think when you look at the great rivalries of the NFL, it comes with this,” said Mahomes. “It comes with playing each other every year in the regular season, it comes with playing in the playoffs.

“You have to combat, you have to look at your weaknesses and try to make those strengths and then your strengths, make them even better because you know that they’re going to go out there and try to take away those things.

“It’s a great football team, like I said, great players, well-coached, and we know it’s going to take our best in order to find a way to get a win.

“I’ve played against Josh (Allen) enough times to know that he’s going to come out there and play great football, especially in those big moments. For me, I have to play my best football whenever I get the opportunity to and try to put our team in the best position to succeed.”

Watch the Philadelphia Eagles against the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game live on Sky Sports NFL from 8pm Sunday, followed by the Chiefs against the Bills in the AFC Championship Game from 11.30pm