Do Bills have blueprint to beat Chiefs? Best of NFL week nine

Sunday of week nine had just about everything, and with so much to get through it has been tough to pick out the big talking points.

Obviously, we have to look at how the Bills beat the Chiefs for the fifth consecutive time in the regular season, but did their performance suggest they can finally beat them in the play-offs?

After largely being overlooked it is time to study the Seattle Seahawks, especially their surgical quarterback, while there is only one option for our game of the week when there is an 89-point thriller going down in Cincinnati.

The Patrick Mahomes v Josh Allen head-to-head now stands at 5-5, but the Kansas City star has won all four play-off meetings and has three Super Bowl rings.

So make no mistake, this version of the Bills has been built to beat the Chiefs and they produced an almost flawless display.

Buffalo dominated both lines of scrimmage and the time of possession, holding the ball for almost 10 minutes more than the Chiefs. The best way to beat Mahomes of course is to keep him off the field.

When he was on it, the Bills defence both swarmed him and covered his receivers – resulting in being hit a career-high 15 times and recording a career-low 44.1% completion.

Mahomes had never completed less than 50% of his passes in his nine-year career.

Those two ‘tush push’ touchdowns were a big difference, as the Chiefs largely stopped them in last season’s AFC Championship but could not on Sunday – while Mahomes ran three plays from the Bills’ one-yard line and failed to find the endzone.

Buffalo also cracked the Chiefs defence with Dalton Kincaid having the first 100-yard receiving game against them in 12 matches.

And with 114 yards James Cook was the first 100-yard rusher the Chiefs had allowed since Lamar Jackson on the opening day of the 2024 season – and first running back since Zamir White on 25 December 2023.

“Sam’s execution right now – he’s just ridiculous,” said Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald after another dazzling Sam Darnold display.

Yes, Josh Allen, Jackson and Mahomes have all shown glimpses, but the ‘other guys’ of the quarterback fraternity are showing up this season.

Second-year triggermen Drake Maye and Bo Nix are both 7-2 after leading the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos to wins on Sunday, while in Los Angeles Matthew Stafford is lighting it up for the Rams and Justin Herbert likewise for the Chargers.

But it was Darnold’s time to shine in Washington on Sunday with a surgical first half in which he completed all 16 passes and threw four touchdowns as the Seahawks dismantled the Commanders.

ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating (QBR) system is an in-depth metric that takes into account opposing defensive strength and game state as well as yardage and scoring stats – and is a 0-100 system where 75 and above is regarded as excellent.

Darnold’s 97.8 mark on Sunday was the best of his career and his third over 97 this season – Jackson is the only other player to get over that mark so far.

In short, the 2018 third overall draft pick has been excellent this season, proving that his renaissance in Minnesota last year was no one-hit wonder.

Seattle are 6-2 but locked in a titanic NFC West struggle with the Rams and San Francisco 49ers also having six wins, but their impressive away form of 4-0 this season and 11-1 since the start of 2024 means they will not fear hitting the road in the play-offs.

Plus, general manager John Schneider has said “we’re in and we’ll see what’s shaking out there” regards the upcoming trade deadline, so obviously feel they are in the ‘Super Bowl window’ now with Darnold at the helm.

It started with a Bengals touchdown from the opening kick-off and ended with a Bears touchdown 17 seconds from the end – with everything in between being pure drama.

More than 1,000 yards of offence, 89 points and 11 touchdowns – four of them inside the final five minutes of a breathless 47-42 victory for Chicago in a stunned Cincinnati.

From Caleb Williams catching a touchdown pass to 40-year-old Joe Flacco having a career-best 470 yards and leading a 14-point comeback inside the final two minutes, this game had it all.

Yet the drama was still not over, as after getting the ball back with 54 seconds left, Williams hit rookie tight end Colston Loveland to gallop away for a 58-yard winning score.

“It’s like taking years off my life,” said Bears safety Kevin Byard. “It’s super special. This is the greatest game, greatest sport in the world – just the emotions up and down.”

Tom Dempsey – who was born without any toes on his kicking foot – held a field goal record of 63 yards that stood for 43 years before Matt Prater finally broke it in 2013.

But kicks are getting longer – in the past 14 months Prater’s 64-yard mark has been equalled or bettered four times, the latest being the ironically named Cam Little’s huge 68-yard effort on Sunday.

That beat Justin Tucker’s previous best by two yards, and cleared the crossbar with some room to spare as well.

There has now been seven 60-plus yard field goals already this season, with five being the previous best in a campaign, so three points are seemingly available from anywhere these days.

The Indianapolis Colts proved how crucial turnovers are in the NFL, with six of them in one game stifling the league’s top offence in the defeat by the Steelers. Was it just a blip for Daniel Jones, who committed five of them, or a worrying sign of things to come?

Christian McCaffrey is on his way to legend status with another huge 173-yard outing for the 49ers, in his 16th game with a rushing and receiving touchdown – putting him above the great Marshall Faulk for the most in the NFL.

There could be big trouble for the Washington Commanders who lost second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels to what is believed to be a dislocated left elbow.

In leading the Vikings to beat the Lions, JJ McCarthy became the first player ever to have two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in two of his first three career games.