Bills aim to make Super Bowl. Here's your guide to the AFC championship game

The way Brandon Beane saw it, his first-round pick was Stefon Diggs.

The Buffalo Bills' general manager could turn his 22nd overall selection in the 2020 NFL draft into a proven wide receiver with supernova potential. All he had to give up was fourth-, fifth- and sixth-round picks. He could add a bona fide No. 1 target to young quarterback Josh Allen’s arsenal, just as the third-year pro was expected to enter his prime. And the Minnesota Vikings would toss in a seventh-round pick to grease the skids.

“If you give up a low first-round pick to get arguably a candidate for Offensive Player of the Year and an All-Pro, that’s the right thing to do,” Hall of Fame former Bills General Manager Bill Polian said this week as the Bills prepared to play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the AFC championship game at Arrowhead Stadium. “I’ve said it again and again and again, Brandon is the Executive of the Year. Sean (McDermott) is the Coach of the Year, in my opinion. They did a phenomenal job.”

Beane was, in fact, named Executive of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America and The Sporting News on Thursday after building a roster that won a franchise-record 13 games and scored a franchise-record 501 points – the most in the conference – during the regular season on the way to winning the AFC East for the first time in 25 years. Allen set single-season franchise records in a host of categories, including most passing yards (4,544), passing touchdowns (37), total touchdowns (46), completion percentage (69.2) and quarterback rating (107.2). He was named to his first Pro Bowl. Diggs led the NFL with 127 catches and 1,535 receiving yards. He scored a team-high eight touchdowns and was named a first-team All-Pro.

The trade, for Buffalo, couldn’t have worked out much better. But while Beane’s decision to acquire Diggs has proved a master stroke, it was also part of a larger portrait and in step with the GM’s broader philosophy to surround Allen with established veteran wide receivers. The acquisitions, though, also were a bit of a departure for Beane, who has been steadfast about building through the draft, as evident throughout the roster. 

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“Not only do we have Stef, we’ve got John Brown and Cole Beasley and a couple of other guys that are just athletic freaks and can do different things that not many people can in this league,” Allen said. “I trust our guys to go out there and do their job and they’ve constantly been performing. And the thing is, if you take a safety and double Stef and you’re leaving another guy one-on-one or leaving the other side of the field pretty empty, it helps when you’ve got a bunch of guys that can go out there and make plays consistently.”

Adding Diggs to the mix with Brown and Beasley, who signed with the Bills as free agents in 2019, created perhaps the most fearsome trio of receivers in the NFL.

Rookie fourth-round pick Gabriel Davis, afforded more playing time than anticipated with Brown missing half the season with injuries, has flourished.

And as a group, they reveal that when it came to building a wide receiving corps, Beane favored demonstrated ability and consistency at the NFL level, rather than using high draft picks on talented rookies and banking on potential.

“That’s one of the worst things you can do to a young quarterback,” Rich Gannon, the former Oakland Raiders quarterback and 2002 NFL MVP, said about saddling a signal caller with inexperienced and inconsistent receivers. “He’s trying to figure out the speed of the game. He’s trying to figure out coverages and concepts and protections and the last thing he needs to worry about is whether the guy’s going to get the 12 yards instead of running the out cut at 10 or nine.

“The last thing he needs to worry about is whether the guy versus press man is going to make the adjustment in the route at the line of scrimmage and run the fade as opposed to the hook route. Those are things that can really get you in trouble.”

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Countless interceptions, Gannon explained, are not the result of a poor throw, but poor communication between a quarterback and receiver who aren’t on the same page and lack proper anticipation.

Beane said as much back in April, only weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic and facing an uncertain offseason, explaining his rationale for leveraging four draft picks to acquire Diggs.

“It’s just a more proven thing right now," Beane said. "I know this guy knows ball, will be able to understand the verbiage once he learns our system quicker than (a draft pick). A lot of the stuff in college is all signaled in. A lot of these guys aren’t in huddles. So, the biggest transition for these receivers, beyond the routes, the physical stuff, is just hearing these long play calls in the huddle and processing it in their head, from as little as, 'Do I go left? Do I go right? Am I on the ball? Am I off the ball? Now I’ve got to start reading what coverage they’re in to know what route I’ve got to do, whether I’ve got to convert.’

"All those things, the mental part is so hard. And that’s why I think so many receivers, we talk about it all the time, probably one of the higher bust rates across the league. I think it’s more mental than physical.”

'Great pro scouting'

Thirteen receivers were selected in the first or second round of the 2020 NFL draft.

Justin Jefferson, drafted by the Vikings with the 22nd pick acquired from the Bills and the fifth receiver taken overall, was outstanding. He led NFL rookies with 88 catches and his 1,400 yards were fourth in the league. His seven touchdowns ranked second among newcomers.

Dallas' CeeDee Lamb, the 17th overall pick, ranked second among rookies with 74 catches and 935 yards.

Pittsburgh's Chase Claypool, the 49th overall pick in the second round, led all rookies with nine TD catches.

“But none of them were ready to duplicate what Stefon Diggs did for the Buffalo Bills,” said Hall of Fame wide receiver James Lofton, the sixth overall pick in 1978, “and so if you wanted that immediate impact, you went out on a limb and you acquire veterans.”

Diggs, Brown and Beasley each possess a wealth of highly-valued physical attributes, including speed, strength and agility, as well as intangibles such as soft hands and an advanced understanding of situational football.

Among the most important? Their route running is impeccable.

“Great pro scouting on their part,” Polian said about the Bills. “That’s how you build championship teams, is using draft choices on premier players like they did on Josh and (Ed) Oliver and others. But you build your championship depth through pro scouting. That’s what they’ve done. They’ve done it exactly the right way and the results show.”

Gannon offered a brief assessment of Buffalo’s top three wide receivers.

“They’re all different,” Gannon said.

Stefon Diggs

6 foot, 191 pounds

2020 season: Diggs, 27, led the league and set career highs with 127 catches and 1,535 yards, led the team with eight touchdowns and was named first-team All-Pro. He has a league-leading 14 catches for 234 yards and two touchdowns this postseason.

Signed: Five-year, $72 million deal in 2018. Under contract through 2023.

Gannon: “You look at the skillset and the attributes that he brings, the ability to create separation, the straight-line speed, the route-running ability, the hands, the playmaking ability, the yards after catch, his ability to win at the line of scrimmage. He’s got the entire package. His ability to go up and high point the ball. His ability to toe tap the boundary in the back of the end zone. He’s got great body control. That’s really where you start, with a guy like that. Just one of the elite receivers in the league today.”

Cole Beasley

5-8, 174 pounds

2020 season: Beasley, 31, set career highs with 82 catches and 967 receiving yards in 15 games this season. He also caught four touchdowns. He was named second-team All-Pro.

Signed: Four-year, $29 million deal in 2019. He is under contract through 2022.

Gannon: “Cole Beasley, he’s the Bills’ version of what they’ve had in New England over the years, like Julian Edelman and Wes Welker and those guys. He’s a guy that understands how to play inside. He understands leverage. He understands the type of coverage, whether it’s man or zone, how to find the holes, how to get skinny. He’s got very good hands, good concentration. He’s tough as nails for a smaller guy, and you can tell the quarterback’s got a real comfort level with him on third-down situations and those type things.”

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John Brown

5-11, 178

2020 season: Brown, 30, was hampered by injuries throughout the regular season and finished with 33 catches, 458 yards and three touchdowns while starting eight of nine games. He returned for the regular season finale and entered the playoffs healthy.

Signed: Three-year, $27 million deal in 2019. He is under contract through 2021.

Gannon: “John Brown, when he’s healthy, he’s another guy that can take the top off the defense. He’s got rare and unusual straight-line speed (4.3-second 40 time at the 2014 Combine). He’s not a guy that’s going to be great necessarily working in the middle of the field because of his size. But he can run the deep routes, the post routes, the go routes, the deep corners, the angle outs, and that creates some concern from a defensive coordinator perspective, in terms of a double move, an explosive play, a quarterback that can chuck the ball 60 yards. It keeps you honest.”

'Best of both worlds'

Brown’s injury woes created opportunities for Davis, the rookie fourth-round pick, to earn significant playing time this season.

Davis (6-2, 216) caught 35 passes for 599 yards and seven touchdowns, second on the team. He started 11 of 16 games.

“So they’ve kind of got the best of both worlds right now” in terms of youth and experience, said former Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson, a seventh-round pick in 2008 who developed into a perennial 1,000-yard receiver.

Johnson said it took until his third year in the league before he truly felt comfortable on the field and performing near his peak ability. He had three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons with Buffalo from 2010-12.

Diggs, Brown and Beasley, like Johnson and likely Davis, were draft gems who needed time to develop.

Diggs was a fifth-round pick out of Maryland by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015. He first surpassed 100 catches and 1,000 yards in his fourth pro season.

Brown was a third-round pick out of Division II Pittsburg State by the Arizona Cardinals in 2014. He played for the Baltimore Ravens in 2018. When he signed with the Bills in 2019, they were his third team in as many years.

Beasley was undrafted out of SMU in 2012. He made the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie but didn’t become a regular starter until his first season with the Bills, his eighth in the NFL.

“The thing that makes them so effective is the off-the-field things that happened to them,” Johnson said. “And it’s the adversity that they’ve been through with the teams previous to joining the Buffalo Bills. That’s why they’re so good right now, because they understand what they’ve been through and they know what they have now. That’s what makes them so dynamic.”

The Bills had been unable to draft and develop productive wide receivers for years before the “McBeane” regime. And those selections who went on to find success did so with other teams.

Robert Woods, a second-round pick by Doug Whaley in 2013, didn’t produce his first 1,000-yard season until his sixth year in the league, his second with the Los Angeles Rams.

Marquise Goodwin, a third-round pick that same year, had more catches in his first season with the San Francisco 49ers than he did in four years in Buffalo combined.

Sammy Watkins, selected fourth overall in the first round in 2014, has been sidetracked by injuries throughout his career and is with his third franchise, along for the ride with the Chiefs, though he did have 1,047 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in his second year with the Bills. 

Watkins is fifth on the Chiefs in catches (37), receiving yards (421) and touchdown receptions (2) this season.

“I’m sure there are always exceptions to the rule,” Gannon said, “but you look at the guy in New England. How often does he use a first-round pick on a receiver?”

Bill Belichick has drafted one receiver in the first round in his two decades with the Patriots, selecting N'Keal Harry out of Arizona State with the 32nd overall pick in 2019. Harry has 45 catches for 414 yards and four touchdowns over two seasons.

The Patriots' previous first-round wide receiver was Terry Glenn, the seventh overall pick in 1996. He made the Pro Bowl once and played for three franchises over 12 seasons.

“You need the hands and the speed and the strength to be able to separate,” Gannon said, “but you can really teach a guy at that level to become a better route-runner. You can teach a guy to really work on creating separation, using his hands at the line of scrimmage. Coaching can make a world of difference at that position. I’d prefer that route as opposed to trying to spend first-round picks on these receivers and then they don’t work out.”

Beane has not drafted a receiver in the first three rounds in his tenure with the Bills.

McDermott selected Zay Jones out of East Carolina with the 37th overall pick in the second round in 2017, two weeks before Beane was hired.

Jones, who had seven receiving touchdowns in his second season with the Bills, managed 14 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown this season with the Raiders.

“Buffalo has approached it correctly,” Lofton said, “because you never know what you’re going to get exactly in the draft with rookie receivers and how they’re going to respond. Are you going to have a rookie receiver who comes in and he gets a hamstring pull in training camp and then pulls his hamstring again in the third week of the season just because he’s not used to the pace of play and the pace of practice at the NFL level?”

The approach is far from foolproof.

Beane struck out on the first veteran wide receiver he brought into the fold.

Kelvin Benjamin, acquired in a trade with the Panthers in October 2017, was purged from the roster before the end of Allen’s rookie season in 2018.

The Bills' top four wide receivers by production that year – Jones (56 catches, 652 yards), undrafted rookie Robert Foster (27, 541), Benjamin (23, 354) and Isaiah McKenzie (18, 179), a fifth-round pick claimed off waivers from the Denver Broncos – combined for 124 catches and 1,726 receiving yards.

That’s three fewer catches and 187 more receiving yards than Diggs had this season.

McKenzie remains one of the few offensive holdovers from that team. He set career highs with 30 catches, 282 receiving yards and five touchdown catches this season.

“For Josh Allen coming out of Wyoming, I don’t think anybody’s really talking about the guys he had to throw to there. But he made them better,” Lofton said. “And if you look at Cole Beasley and John Brown, he’s made them better. You look at what Stefon Diggs did when he was at Minnesota, he had some pretty good years, but he’s played better with Josh Allen than he ever had with anyone else before.

“So in a way you can say Josh Allen has been the straw that stirs the drink for the Buffalo Bills.”

The wide receivers Beane acquired for his quarterback offer an elite blend of ingredients.

A week after the Buffalo Bills lost to the Houston Texans in the first round of the 2019 NFL playoffs, Josh Allen returned home to Northern California and went golfing with three buddies, Greg Panelli, Dominic DeFrancesco and Nolan Sorensen.

Once the foursome finished their round at Dragonfly Golf Club in Madera, Calif., they went to lunch at the PressBox Sports Grill in northeast Fresno, where they walked into the restaurant in the third quarter of Houston’s second-round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

“I won’t be over this until we start playing again,” Allen told reporters in Buffalo a week earlier, the morning after the Bills blew a 16-point second-half lead and were ousted from the postseason 22-19 in overtime. His anguish was still raw.

But now, a year later, Allen is an NFL MVP candidate and the Bills are preparing to face the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs in the AFC championship game Sunday in Kansas City.

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And his friends from back home, who have known Allen since high school or earlier, spoke to The Buffalo News to recount one of the most unusual meals they’ve ever shared:

Panelli: “Josh came back and obviously wanted to get out and clear his head a little bit and then we went to go grab some lunch, and right when we walked in, it was just Chiefs fans everywhere. I remember walking in and just looking over at him watching the game and I could just tell, and he said a couple of times, ‘Man, we should be here. We should be here. We should be here.’ ”

DeFrancesco: “Just knowing how competitive he was growing up, it was really tough sitting there. We were trying to have a good time and watch the game and Josh is just kind of beside himself, because he just knows he shouldn’t be with us watching the game. He should be playing in it.”

Sorensen: “People didn’t even really recognize him at the time. It’s just like a lowkey pub. We had Buffalo wings and had a beer and watched the football game after a round of golf.”

Panelli: “I remember the waitress looked at his ID and she said, ‘Wait a second.’ And she looked up at him and then looked back down, and she’s like, ‘This is – you’re the Josh Allen?’ And he’s like, ‘Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ And that’s how Josh is. He’ll (mess) around all the time. Always having fun.”

DeFrancesco: “Golfing, we’re not trying to talk about (the Bills) too much. We were trying to unwind, have a good time on the course.”

Sorensen: “It’s fun going out there. It’s a public course, and we don’t really know anyone there. We just go out and have a good time. And it’s a longer course, too. Josh can hit the ball about a mile, especially if he plays his little ‘butter cut,’ as we like to call it, and so he just rears back and lets it fly. Some call it a slice. Some call it a butter cut. Pick your poison.”

Panelli: “I definitely won that day. This was the first time (we played last year), so of course his rebuttal was, ‘Well you had the chance to play. I’ve been playing football.’ ”

DeFrancesco: “But sitting there at the PressBox and just looking at Josh – never once did he chime in on the game or a play or anything – he just kind of sat there and watched and didn’t really say much.”

Panelli: “I could just tell in his face, I wouldn’t say he was aggravated, but it was getting to him a little bit. He knew they were just a few plays away from playing another week, from playing against the Chiefs.”

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Sorensen: “It really wasn’t that weird until they started showing highlights of him playing. And then I’m looking at him and looking at his highlights on TV and then we’re all kind of laughing, joking.”

Panelli: “I think, determination wise, that unsettling feeling of knowing that we were in there watching in a town in the Central Valley that he’s familiar with, and people are starting to get familiar with him and who he is, that was kind of a reminder about where he’s at and where he’s come from, but also where he’s heading."

DeFrancesco: “I think the loss to Houston fueled him a ton. And not just the loss. The loss sucks, but the doubt that came with it. ‘Is Josh the guy for Buffalo?’ I think getting (quarterback Jake) Fromm in the next draft class kind of ignited that fire under him again and he acted like, ‘I’m going to come out this season and show you guys that I am the quarterback for this franchise.’ ”

Panelli: “I almost saw like something clicked and he realized, ‘What are some of the things we could have done different?’ And those things were replaying in his head. He mentioned a few plays that could have gone differently, that would have changed the outcome of the game.”

DeFrancesco: “Everything that came after that loss and what people were saying really fueled the fire to establish himself as the franchise quarterback in Buffalo. We all know that’s where we’d prefer Josh to be. We love when he’s down playing golf with us, hanging out, but we’d much rather have him go all the way to the Super Bowl.”

Sorensen: “I hope he gets to play in the Super Bowl against (Tom) Brady. That was his guy growing up. I went to the (Bills’ regular season) game a couple of years ago when they were playing the Patriots and Josh was hurt that game. He’s always been a big Brady fan, so I know he wants to play Brady in the Super Bowl.”

Panelli: “Cornhole, golf, football, video games, constantly talking (junk). That’s what gets him to tick, is being competitive and knowing he belongs on that stage, too. And going into this year, he finally realized, ‘This is where I belong. I can settle in.’ And now we’re watching him heading to the AFC championship game.”

DeFrancesco: “It’s due. He’s due for all this. Everyone knows when you talk about Josh, he took the JUCO route, he had one DI offer at Wyoming. He’s been putting in this work for a long time.”

Panelli: “Later, at the end of the game, we’re leaving. And I get up and turn around because we’re facing the TV and our backs are to the rest of the restaurant, and there’s about 15 people lined up at the bar and everybody’s looking at us as we’re walking out of there.”

Sorensen: “And then Josh said something like, ‘I don’t think I’ll be playing golf with you boys this time next year. I think I’ll be playing football still.’ And we’re all kind of laughing and joking like, ‘Oh, sure. We’ll see about that. We’ll be right here waiting for you.’ ”

Welcome to the AFC Championship Game edition of the Bills Mailbag, easily the most jam-packed of the season. Let's get right to it ...

Scott Chomistek asks: What is the most important matchup that the Bills need to win to win the game?

Jay: The defense has got to get off the field on third down. In Week 6, the Chiefs converted 9 of 14 third downs. That allowed them to dominate time of possession, 37:45 to 22:15. The Bills’ defense is going to have to give the offense more chances than that. The best way to have more success on third down is to, obviously, limit the gains on first and second down.

TheRealNova asks: Does Josh Allen go for 400 yards and four touchdowns? How many interceptions does Tre’Davious White have? This will be a coming-out party for Brian Daboll. Since he didn’t get a head-coaching gig, he’s going all-in on this one, not holding anything back for King Josh ... thoughts?

Joey asks: I believe Josh Allen is about to have his best game of the year in the biggest moment. Thoughts?

bk asks: Do you get the feeling that the Bills are going to let Josh Allen play like he has all year or are we going to play "not to lose" like we did in the first game? I say let him go and see what happens. We have the offense to compete.

Jay: I'm on record as picking the Bills. I don't know if Allen goes for 400 yards and four touchdowns, but I agree with bk that the Bills have the offense to hang with Kansas City. We have seen Daboll have a trick or two up his sleeve before, so that's a possibility, as well. The Bills will need Allen and the offense to get back to their high-scoring ways of the regular season after a down week against Baltimore in the divisional round. The Chiefs' defense is not on the same level as the Ravens, though, so that should be possible.

Rick McGuire asks: Think there's any chance of Brandon Beane signing running back Mark Ingram, who was recently released by Baltimore and just cleared waivers? Even at 31 years old, he could be a great Zack Moss replacement for these final two (yes, two) games. Think maybe?

Jay: There is definitely a chance Beane has repeatedly said the process of trying to improve the roster never stops. Especially now with an expanded practice squad, the Bills could absolutely take a look at Ingram if they consider him to be an upgrade over someone currently on the roster. If there is indeed another game after this week, it’s not a bad idea.

John Jarzynski asks: Bills have a great red zone offense. Chiefs have a great red zone defense. Who wins that battle?

Jay: I think you may be looking at the wrong stat, John. The Chiefs actually rank dead last in red-zone defense, allowing touchdowns 76.6% of the time. That’s a clear advantage for the Bills entering the game.

Trevor Cohn asks: Do you think the Bills will record their first safety of the season against the Chiefs?

Jay: Are you looking to place a prop bet, Trevor? This is an oddly specific question. I’ll go with, no, that doesn’t happen this week.

Alex Swann asks: I'm looking at a rainy forecast for Sunday. How does that impact Josh Allen's game and the game overall?

Jay: As long as it's not a monsoon, I'd say it will be a minimal impact. The wind is usually a bigger factor for the passing game, and it's forecasted to be light. Neither offense should be too worried about the weather.

Max asks: Any changes in the starting running backs?

Jay: No. Devin Singletary is going to be the guy for the Bills.

Internet Guy asks: How are the Bills going to cover Travis Kelce?

Jay: Great question. If you’ve got any ideas, hit up Leslie Frazier. Here’s what the Bills’ defensive coordinator said earlier this week: “He's arguably the best tight end in our game and he can do so many things so well, and they move him around so much, they put him at the No. 1 position, they put him at 2, they put him at 3 sometimes. He's in the backfield. I mean, he just creates a lot of problems for your defense.”

The Bills will have Matt Milano back for this game, which should be a big boost for the defense after he missed the Week 6 meeting. Completely shutting out Kelce probably isn’t going to happen, but the Bills have to hope Milano’s presence means the Chiefs’ star doesn’t wreck the game for Buffalo’s defense.

Jack Lewis asks: I really believe that the only way we’re going to beat this team is to get all the receivers involved. It can’t just be Stefon Diggs. Which of the other receivers have the best chance of having a big day?

Jay: The two obvious choices are John Brown and Cole Beasley. If I was choosing between those two, I’d say Brown. Beasley has been dealing with a knee injury and has the slightly tougher matchup than Brown. Across the board, the Bills have to like how their receivers match up with Kansas City’s secondary, though, so it could be any of them who turns in a big day.

Michael asks: Why do people overall keep heavily doubting the Bills? Is it still our past or they just really don’t think we can keep it up?

Jay: This is simply not true. The Bills were favored last week against Baltimore. Every local prediction I saw had them winning the game. This myth about them being “doubted” gets perpetuated by the team’s social media account and the players themselves finding the few national predictions that went against them and highlighting them after the fact. “Nobody believed in us” is the oldest motivational tool in the book … even if it’s not true. Plenty of people have believed in this team all along. That’s just not as much fun. As for being underdogs against Kansas City, well, that’s fair. The Chiefs are the defending champions, they’re at home as the No. 1 seed and they have the best player in football. They also beat the Bills on the road this season. Why wouldn’t they be favored?

JD asks: All the talk this week is about Patrick Mahomes, but what are the odds of either Vernon Butler or Gabriel Davis playing? DNPs aren’t looking good!

Thomas Larsen asks: Let's say Gabe Davis cannot go Sunday -- do you bring in a tall guy, Duke Williams, or a speed guy, Kenny Stills?

Stephen asks: Thoughts on Gabriel Davis and Cole Beasley injuries … so they call someone up, and who would you think? Even though Mahomes is lethal vs. the blitz, do you think Bills test him with that right foot injury? It may burn us, but also may be worth it.

Jay: The Bills got some good news on the injury report Friday when both Davis and Butler were able to practice on a limited basis. They’re officially listed as questionable, but with it being the AFC Championship Game, you have to think they’d give it a go. If Davis can’t play, I’d lean toward Williams being active, since Stills is a bit more of a vertical threat, and Brown can fill that role for the offense.

As for Mahomes’ injury …

Sam Ruggiero asks: Concussion aside, do you think Patrick Mahomes’ toe injury will cause our defense to blitz more? Are we then making it easier for Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill to have a huge game instead of their running back to flourish like the first game this season?

Luke asks: Do you think Mahomes will have any issues with what appears to be turf toe?

Keith Pascucci asks: I believe the Bills have to pressure Patrick Mahomes from all angles. If that toe is bad, he will be in for a long night.

Jay: I absolutely think Mahomes’ toe injury will have an impact on this game. The NFL’s Next Gen Stats had a great chart this week that showed where every quarterback playing this week released every pass from this season. Mahomes’ release points were all over the field, far more than even Allen. The Kansas City quarterback uses his mobility to keep plays alive, always keeping his eyes down the field looking for the big play. If he’s not able to move quite as well because of his toe injury, that’s a big deal. As for blitzing, the Bills did almost none of it in the first meeting. Mahomes typically destroys the blitz, so I wouldn’t expect the Bills to drastically change their approach. I do think Frazier will have some designed blitzes because he’s not likely to just repeat the Week 6 game plan, but if the game starts and it’s clear Mahomes isn’t moving as well as he usually does, that could mean Frazier adjusts his approach to be more aggressive.

Grateful Dad asks: How important will the Bills’ running game be?

Jack Keough asks: Not that we run the ball all that much, but is there a chance Antonio Williams could play? (I really miss Zack Moss. Good runner, good pass catcher, decent blocker).

Jay: According to Football Outsiders, the Bills ran on just 30% of their plays in the first half of games this season, which was the third-lowest rate in the league (excluding quarterback scrambles). In six games against defenses in the bottom 10 of the league, though, the Bills ran 38% of the time. Kansas City is in the bottom 10 against the run … but the Bills did not run the ball well against them in the first meeting, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. I would not count on running the ball being a huge part of the offense this time around. As for Williams, he was promoted to the active roster last week, but was not active for the game. Given that the running game could use any kind of a spark, it’s certainly within reason that he could dress for the game.

Caleb asks: Trent Murphy had a solid game vs. Baltimore. Do you see him being active over A.J. Epenesa or Darryl Johnson Jr., if he’s healthy?

Jay: Tough one. It’s definitely possible if the Bills feel like Murphy can help with the run defense. Remember, he also did not play in the Week 6 loss to the Chiefs. I don’t see him playing over Epenesa. So the question then comes down to Johnson’s contributions on special teams versus what Murphy brings as a run defender. If it were my decision, I’d play Murphy, but my thinking is the coaching staff will disagree with me and go with the lineup they used over most of the second half of the season.

Ed Helinski asks: In your estimation, what’s going to be the most favorable offensive matchup for the Bills against Kansas City?

Jay: Stefon Diggs against whomever lines up across from him. Diggs was held to just 46 yards in the first meeting between the two teams, his second-lowest single-game total of the regular season, but he’s been on an absolute tear since then. Diggs has had 92 yards or more in six of his last seven games – and the only one in there that he didn’t, he had 76 yards in the first half against Miami in Week 17 before sitting out the rest of the game. There is nobody on the Chiefs’ defense that can check Diggs one on one.

Jeffrey Miller asks: What hours do sportswriters keep? Especially with the late games. What are your deadlines? I know there isn’t enough time to get everything in for the print edition, but what about the online edition? And I gather you start writing articles before the game is over. And I see Vic seems to stay home. On a typical weeknight, do you punch out at 5:00 and go home and teach Elliott about the finer points of life, like sports, and pamper my favorite Ch. 2 news anchor, or does work follow you home?

Jay: During football season, my typical days off with a Sunday game are Tuesday and Friday. Games days are pretty long – I get to the stadium by 10 a.m. for a 1 p.m. kickoff and write until about 9 p.m. We have a couple different deadlines, and depending on the situation, they can be flexible. For example, with a late game last week against Baltimore, our stories for the print edition needed to be filed by 12:30 a.m. Usually, it’s earlier than that, but with a big game, we got some extra time. Updates to the online edition can be made at any time. Vic has worked from home this season due to reduced capacity in the press box because of Covid-19 protocols. Hopefully by September, things are back to normal in that regard. The job definitely does not have “9 to 5” hours. We don’t punch in and punch out, but it’s understood that when news breaks, we’ll be there to report on it. Working from home is common, but especially this year it has become the norm.

butch asks: I’m sure the Mafia wants to know what time we can expect the plane to land back in Buffalo? I assume it will be very late, especially with a win. Postgame ceremony, locker room party, etc. would delay it.

Jay: Indeed, it will be very late … but that’s not going to matter, will it? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around just how many people are going to be there if the Bills clinch a spot in the Super Bowl. I would guess it would land about 2 a.m., but that’s a rough estimate. A request to those who do attend: Wear a mask, and clean up after yourself. Those who have left behind the absolute mess at the airport and at the Transit Drive-In should be ashamed of themselves. It’s a bad look for all who are involved.

Luigi Mike Speranza asks: A lot of controversy about the garbage Bills fans leave after games and events like the recent local drive-in viewing of the playoff game. You've traveled throughout the NFL nation for years. Are we in fact more guilty than the other NFL fans? Truth now Jay!

Jay: Not more guilty – every NFL parking lot looks like a tornado blew through after a game -- but for all the good Bills Mafia does, it doesn’t seem like too much to ask to clean up after themselves.

Louis Stromberg asks: The Bills are back in the ‘ship! In honor of such a glorious occasion, please rank the following ships: Battleship (the game), car dealerships, Starship Troopers, Rodrigo Blankenship, scholarships. Go Bills!

Jay: 5. Car dealerships. I just want to know the price, man. No more games. 4. Starship Troopers. Not a big science fiction guy. 3. Rodrigo Blankenship. I’m a sucker for any “walk-on earns a scholarship” story. Plus, he rocks those glasses. 2. Battleship. Definitely the game, definitely not the movie. 1. Scholarships. How young is too young to get a golf scholarship? Asking for my son. Enjoy the game, Bills fans!

When the Bills run: Here’s the bad news: Buffalo’s 32 rushing yards last week against Baltimore is the fourth fewest ever in a playoff win. Now, here’s the good news: Every team that has won a playoff game with less than 40 yards rushing (New England in 2014 and 2015 and the St. Louis Rams twice in 1999) won the Super Bowl that year. Running the ball was an afterthought against the Ravens. The first designed rush wasn’t called until there was just over 3 minutes left in the second quarter. The Chiefs gave up eight runs of 20-plus yards during the regular season, which was tied for eighth fewest in the NFL. Kansas City, though, ranked 31st in run defense efficiency, according to Football Outsiders (for comparison, Baltimore last week was 12th and Indianapolis was No. 9), so the Bills may have an easier time running than they have in their first two postseason games. EDGE: Chiefs.

When the Bills throw: Quarterback Josh Allen struggled in Week 6 against the Chiefs, throwing for just 122 yards on an average of 4.5 yards per attempt, both easily season lows. He struggled with his accuracy, with just 34.8% of his throws being deemed to be on target, according to analytics website Pro Football Focus, the only game in which Allen was less than 50% this season. Allen was dealing with a shoulder injury in that game, but Kansas City pressure was the bigger problem. According to Pro Football Focus, Allen was pressured on 17 of his 31 drop backs. On those 17 plays, he completed just 4 of 13 passes for 44 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Alex Okafor (six pressures) led Kansas City’s pass rush, while Chris Jones (five pressures) and Frank Clark (five pressures) also were tough to deal with. The Chiefs also did a good job against Stefon Diggs in the first meeting, holding him to 46 yards, which was his second-lowest total in a game this season. Bills slot receiver Cole Beasley, who was shut out last week against the Ravens, faces another tough matchup against Kansas City’s L’Jarius Sneed. EDGE: Bills.

When the Chiefs run: Rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire gave the Bills all they could handle in Week 6, rushing for 161 yards on 26 carries and converting 11 first downs, which were tied for the most by any running back in a single game during the regular season. Edwards-Helaire also forced seven missed tackles. The Bills’ game plan that day was to force the Chiefs to run the ball. Buffalo used six or fewer defenders in the box on 64% of its defensive snaps, according to PFF. Kansas City took what the Bills gave them, rushing for a whopping 245 yards. The Chiefs ran the ball on 58% of their plays on first or second down, their highest rate of the season, according to PFF. The Bills’ run defense, however, is coming off a strong game plan against Baltimore. Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips was benched for that Week 6 game, but has played better as of late. Edwards-Helaire, meanwhile, missed last week’s game with an ankle injury, so he may not be 100%. EDGE: Even.

When the Chiefs throw: We’re going to operate on the belief that Patrick Mahomes will play for Kansas City. In Week 6, he was limited to 225 passing yards, which was his second-lowest total of the season. Mahomes, though, completed 21 passes and had a pair of touchdowns to tight end Travis Kelce, compiling a 128.4 passer rating, so it’s not as if the Bills shut him down. Bills linebacker Matt Milano missed the game, so his return should help in dealing with Kelce, who led the NFL with 67 catches of 10-plus yards in the regular season. The Bills did a solid job against Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill in the first meeting, holding him to three catches for 20 yards. Hill, though, is always one play away from breaking something big. He had 17 touchdowns this season and caught 13 passes that traveled at least 20 yards in the air, which was third most in the NFL. EDGE: Chiefs.

Special teams: Both kickers are coming off tough weeks. Bills rookie Tyler Bass missed a pair of field goals in windy conditions against Baltimore, while Kansas City’s Harrison Butker missed an extra point and a 33-yard field goal against the Browns. The Bills have a decided edge in the return game. Kansas City ranks in the bottom 10 in covering both kickoffs and punts, according to Football Outsiders, while the Bills are a top-five team in each category thanks largely to return man Andre Roberts. Bills punter Corey Bojorquez also had a better season than his counterpart with the Chiefs, rookie Tommy Townsend. EDGE: Bills.

Coaching: History does not favor the Bills in this matchup. According to research from the Elias Sports Bureau, teams that beat an opponent in the regular season and then hosted that team in a conference championship later in the same season are 35-16 since the 1970 merger and 7-2 over the past 10 seasons. That will be the challenge for Bills coach Sean McDermott and his staff to overcome. The Bills’ only loss since that Week 6 game came on the "Hail Murray" against Arizona. Kansas City’s only loss since Week 5 came in a meaningless Week 17 game in which it rested several starters. The Chiefs, though, have not won a game by more than six points since they blew out the Jets, 35-9, on Nov. 1. It’s been 16 years since a team repeated as the Super Bowl champions. It’s not easy to do. EDGE: Chiefs.

Prediction: Bills 30, Chiefs 24

The game of musical chairs for the Buffalo Bills up front has stopped.

After starting the season using seven different combinations on the offensive line in 13 games, the final one stuck. Left tackle Dion Dawkins, left guard Ike Boettger, center Mitch Morse, right guard Jon Feliciano and right tackle Daryl Williams have been in the lineup since a Week 13 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, finally providing the type of continuity every team desires for its offensive line.

“We have some consistency,” offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. “We have confidence in all the guys. They all are going to have to play one way or the other, but when you have those five guys playing game in and game out, I’m sure their communication and the little things – sometimes you don’t have to say anything and you kind of know when you’re playing next to each other for a while. It’s been good to have that consistency for us.”

The Bills’ constant shuffling up front early in the season traced to one part injury, one part ineffectiveness. A torn pectoral muscle suffered during training camp meant guard Jon Feliciano started the season on injured reserve. Feliciano started all 16 games last season at right guard and figured to slot into that role again. In his place, the Bills moved second-year player Cody Ford from right tackle to right guard and placed free-agent addition Daryl Williams at right tackle.

The left side of the line and the center position were the same at the start of the regular season as they were last year, with Dawkins at left tackle, Quinton Spain at left guard and Morse at center. The first big change to that lineup came in Week 3, when Spain was benched for performance and replaced by Ford, who shifted to the left side, opening a spot for veteran Brian Winters to step in as the starter at right guard.

One-on-One Coverage: Andre Reed says Bills ‘taking a lot out of the book of our teams’

“They need these unsung heroes that take turns to make plays. That's what we had,” Reed said. “That's what that team was about.”

That combination lasted four games, but a knee injury suffered by Ford in Week 6 against Kansas City kept him out the following week, with Ike Boettger replacing him at left guard for a Week 7 win over the Jets. Feliciano replaced Boettger a week later against the Patriots in his first start of the season.

“Speaking for myself, personally, missing the first seven games, getting limited reps in practice before I did come back, I don’t think I’ve played great football this year,” Feliciano said. “I think I’m trending the right way. The offseason being cut down and not being able to get all the reps I would have got, I think I’m just now turning the corner and the line is turning the corner. I think we’re very confident right now. We’ve just got to keep doing the little things in practice and make sure we keep up how we’ve been playing.”

Morse suffered a concussion against the Patriots, which meant the fifth combination of the season came the following week against Seattle, with Feliciano at center and Ford back at left guard. Quarterback Josh Allen was sacked seven times in that game, though, so it was apparent that combination No. 6 would soon be coming. Further complicating matters was another knee injury suffered by Ford, this one knocking him out for the season.

Although Morse was cleared to play in Week 10, the Bills benched him, sticking with Feliciano at center and using Boettger at left guard and Winters at right guard. After the bye week, Morse returned to center, with Feliciano manning left guard and Winters at right guard.

“I think continuity is one of the biggest things as an offensive line,” Morse said. “It also can be extremely rare, just with the NFL being an injury-prone league. I think there is definitely something to having the same guys out there and understanding communication, but it's also having professionals who are ready to jump in at any moment and understand the game plan. I don't think I've been around a group of guys who are just so ready to do that. We have some extremely talented veterans who have played a lot of games who are ready to jump in there.”

Inside the Bills: How 2017 win in Kansas City set the franchise on the right path

It was Week 12 of the 2017 season, and the Bills went into Arrowhead Stadium desperately needing a win. The 16-10 victory changed the direction of the franchise. 

According to analytics website Pro Football Focus, the Bills’ best two pass-blocking games came against the Patriots in Week 16 and against the Colts in the wild-card round. The current starting group recorded three of the five best run-blocking performances, as measured by PFF, against the Broncos, Steelers and Patriots from Weeks 14-16.

“We were very fortunate to bring a lot of the offensive line back (from last season),” Morse said. “I can't imagine what it would have been like if it was the year before when we had so many new faces. Kudos to this organization for putting us in positions, even virtually, to get to know each other, get to know the game plan, and then we knew all of this was on us once we were all together to make up for lost time. It's very cool we were able to do that and hopefully that can carry forward.”

The benefit of starting the same five doesn’t always show up in the box score, although Allen having been sacked just 10 times in the nine games since playing the Seahawks is a measurable sign of progress. Rather, it’s the unspoken, can’t-be-coached moments that become second nature.

“So much of it is, you see things and react. You don't always have time to make calls,” said former Bengals offensive line coach Paul Alexander, a Rochester native who grew up a Bills fan. “You have line calls that happen, but then you have line adjustments that just happen on the move because the defense moves at the last second. Until you've really taken thousands of (snaps together), you never really, truly get on the same page. That's the best way to go, when you can get guys together and they can see the same things through the same set of eyes, and anticipate what each other are going to do without the verbal call.”

That’s exactly what has started to happen, according to Feliciano.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes says he's cleared protocol, will play Sunday

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes told reporters after Friday's practice that he is out of the concussion protocol and is cleared to play in Sunday's AFC championship game against the Bills. 

“You can’t really see it, but different guys do things differently. Even if it’s the smallest thing, like where his hand is or on the first kick slide, where his step is,” he said. “Just having the same five dudes. I’ve been working with Daryl since the bye week. It makes everything easier because I know where Daryl’s going to be, I know where his hand placement is going to be. I know non-verbal communication that we do just makes everything easier when we can just have five guys and build some continuity.”

Of course, it takes good health to be able to roll with the same five. After a tough start in that regard, the Bills have enjoyed that recently.

“Guys have done a great job of taking care of their bodies on and off the football field,” Dawkins said. “Every individual player has their own process and their routine, so guys are doing a great job of mastering their routine and because (of it), it has given us the confidence level with our communication that we know what we're going to get and what we know we're not going to get.

“Specifically, with Ike, I know exactly what he's going to say before he says it. If he doesn't say it, then I know that's not what we're doing. It just helps that we're all on the same page and we know exactly what we're going to get from one another. That's the luxury of having everyone healthy at this time, is that we're not overly confident, but overly confident in what we're going to get when that play clock starts.”

The Bills will need that Sunday in the AFC championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Chris Jones and Frank Clark are two of the better players in the league at their respective positions – Jones at defensive tackle and Clark at edge rusher.

“When you trust a guy next to you, you can really just relax and understand that you're on the same page and the communication is going to be there in tough moments,” Morse said. “It'll be a great challenge this week. Especially with them having, I think, 15,000 or so fans, the place is still going to be rocking loud. I think the best teams have trust in each other and even when things aren't going very well, have each other's back. I think that's also part of trust, is trusting that guys aren't going to jump on you for making a mistake. Because of that, the biggest thing is you don't want to let your teammates down. I think for me that's the biggest driving factor.”

The Buffalo Bills were in a bad way when they made their last trip to Kansas City.

It was Week 12 of the 2017 season, and the Bills went into Arrowhead Stadium desperately needing a win. Under first-year head coach Sean McDermott, the wheels had fallen off the previous three weeks. After a 5-2 start, the Bills dropped to .500 with a disastrous three-game losing streak – each defeat worse than the next.

The downturn started with a 34-21 loss on "Thursday Night Football," then continued with an embarrassing, 47-10 drubbing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints – a game in which the Bills’ defense allowed a mind-numbing 298 rushing yards.

Things would only get more unpleasant from there, though, the following week. Seeking a spark, McDermott made a decision that would quickly become one of the more infamous in franchise history. He benched starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor for rookie fifth-round draft pick Nathan Peterman. What followed was one of the more unbelievable two quarters of Bills football ever played. Peterman was intercepted five times in the first half of a 54-24 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers – becoming a national punchline in the process.

At that point, the Bills’ season was on the edge of imploding like so many others had before. 

“I was just thinking about that the other day – about that game in ’17 – losing three games in a row and it seemed like it was 60-0 in each of those games,” said safety Micah Hyde, who is one of just eight players remaining from that team. Going into that Kansas City game, “We were getting whooped, but the guys in that locker room continued to fight. The message that week was ‘try to find a way to get a win.’ We did.

"There was no negativity in that locker room or anything like that. We just felt like we had to go get a win. And looking back, I think that was the game that changed our season.”

More than that, the 16-10 victory changed the direction of the franchise. Had the Bills lost to the Chiefs and every result that came after it stayed the same, the team would have missed the playoffs for an 18th consecutive season, extending the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports.

It's easy to forget now, as the team prepares for its first AFC championship game since 1994, just how toxic things were before McDermott and Co. arrived. The team's head coach had to do more than just win over the locker room – he had to convince an unfailingly loyal fan base that he was the right guy for the job. That's obvious now – with a win Sunday securing a trip to the Super Bowl and a long-awaited opportunity to put the ghost of championship failures behind the franchise once and for all – but it was not clear midway through his first season as coach, and the decision to start Peterman only emboldened the doubters. 

Acknowledging his error, McDermott reinserted Taylor at quarterback. While that decision might have been made easier given the historic nature of Peterman’s meltdown, not every coach would have owned up the mistake the way McDermott did to his locker room.

“For us, what we learned the most is our head coach is human. When it's all said and done, he doesn't mind owning up a fault or a mistake and saying, 'That was on me, guys. Let's focus of the next one and let's move forward,' ” defensive end Jerry Hughes said. “For us as a team, and us as men, you respect that. You respect when somebody can say, 'Hey, that's my bad. That's my fault.' ... I think that's all we could do. We buried that game. That Chargers game was something that nobody wanted to think about after that long, five-hour flight back home.

“It was just, how can we move past this? The best way we could do it was to go out there and get a win and get that nasty taste out of our mouth. So when coach puts it like that, it gets everybody riled up. We were ready to go back out there and prove that wasn't us, we're not that team.”

For a long time, though, the Bills were that team. One loss would bleed into another. Those “same old Bills” feelings came roaring back. For the first time, McDermott faced real adversity.

“Throughout that three-game losing streak, I’m sure nobody was feeling good, but he had to be the one to bring everybody together and keep guys together to go into Kansas City to win that game,” safety Jordan Poyer said.

That’s exactly what happened. The Bills escaped Arrowhead Stadium with a win that day, holding the Chiefs to 55 yards rushing, and their season was back on track. The Bills would go on to win four of their final six games and snap the franchise’s 17-year playoff drought – the first major accomplishment under McDermott.

There have been other mileposts along the way – Hyde pointed to the win over Miami in the 2018 regular season finale, when rookie quarterback Josh Allen diced up the Dolphins with five total touchdowns – and the playoff loss to Houston after the 2019 regular season as being turning-point moments.

With the Bills heading back to Kansas City, however, that 2017 victory has been on the minds of those who were a part of it.

“I thought about that (Monday) morning when I woke up, when I was thinking about the fact that we were going to Kansas City,” defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. “The last time we were there and the significance of that game. With respect to Sean, I always felt like he was handling the situation extremely well. Those were some tough losses in that three-week span, and just keeping that team together and just pointing out where we were and what the end goal was – fortunate for us the guys that were on the team at that time, the leaders we had, Eric Wood, Lorenzo (Alexander), Kyle (Williams) – the different guys were carrying Sean’s message back to the locker room. He was steady.”

The Bills jumped out to a 13-3 lead at halftime, but had to hold on in the fourth quarter. The victory wasn’t sealed until rookie cornerback Tre’Davious White intercepted Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith with 1:25 remaining.

“It goes back to what we've been building here from the jump,” White said. “Going through the growing pains of that pretty much molded us into where we are now. That was the building block to changing over and transforming this thing – going through times like that in the first year. I feel like as the years went on, you know, we continued to go through things, but that's what it's all about in building a championship program. You've got to go through times like that to get to where we're at now.”

Interestingly enough, it will be the guy on the other sideline Sunday who helped McDermott and Frazier learn that. Both worked for Chiefs coach Andy Reid in Philadelphia.

“One of the things that we remember most, and he and I talked about this, is how well Andy handled losses,” Frazier said. “I think that’s helped Sean here in Buffalo because we’ve had some tough losses along the way. But you have to be able to flush those and get ready for the next game in our league. Andy was the best at modeling that.”

One particular loss stuck with Frazier. In the 2002 season opener against the Tennessee Titans, the Eagles blew a 24-10 halftime lead, losing 27-24. Frazier expected to report to work the next day and catch an earful from Reid.

Instead, Reid’s message was simple: Let’s move on.

“We ended up winning the division that year and playing in the NFC championship game,” Frazier said. “We all learned a lot about dealing with adversity from Andy. Sean has done a terrific job of doing that in Buffalo.”

Even this season, the Bills have faced some of that. A two-game losing streak in October brought the team back to earth after a 4-0 start, but a grind-it-out win over the Jets in Week 7 and a victory over the Patriots in Week 8 got things on track. The Bills then suffered their toughest loss of the season against Arizona in Week 10 on Kyler Murray’s Hail Mary pass to DeAndre Hopkins. They haven’t lost since.

Having done it before, McDermott knew how to handle a painful defeat.

“He's all about the process and getting better each and every day and focusing on the things you can get better at,” Hyde said. “Back then in 2017, that was a whole different deal. You had to filter in and out the guys that were going to be here and it was a hard situation that he was in at the beginning.

“Luckily, we did go to the playoffs, but Sean he's grown since being here. Now, he trusts – not that he didn't in ’17 – but I think even more he trusts his players a lot more now, especially the veteran guys that are going to take care of the locker room and handle that stuff, make sure everyone's mind is right going into a football game.”

The only players left from that 2017 team that broke the drought are White, Hyde, Poyer, Hughes, safety Dean Marlowe, long snapper Reid Ferguson, linebacker Matt Milano and left tackle Dion Dawkins. Each is here for a reason.

“Ultimately, if there's a message that needs to be said, he kind of lets the leaders of the team, the older guys, handle it. If he has to step in, he will. Over the last four years, I think that's something that I've seen with my own eyes. The process and how he is today.”

That process took a big step forward on the Arrowhead turf. It can do so again Sunday.

The memories came rushing back to Carlton Bailey.

As he watched Taron Johnson streak 101 yards down the field Saturday for the Buffalo Bills against the Baltimore Ravens – a play that made it feel like time was standing still – Bailey flashed back to Jan. 12, 1992.

On that day, in the same stadium and in the same end zone, the former Bills’ linebacker returned an interception for a touchdown – just as Johnson would do 29 years and four days later.

In each case, it was clear from the moment the points went on the board that what had just happened would immediately go down as one of the best plays in franchise history. Bailey’s 11-yard interception of Broncos Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway in the third quarter was returned for the Bills’ only touchdown in what would go on to be a 10-7 victory, securing the team’s second consecutive AFC championship and a trip to Super Bowl XXVI.

Johnson, meanwhile, has put the Bills on the doorstep of returning. His touchdown against the Ravens, also in the third quarter, provided some much-needed breathing room in a 17-3 victory that secured a trip to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Just having a chance to watch them brings back all the excitement in the world for me,” Bailey told The Buffalo News during a phone conversation Tuesday. “I’m so happy the Bills are actually back. I called my mom and said, ‘They only had 6,700 people there, and after the game the Ravens were saying they could barely hear the snap count.' The fans are unbelievable.”

Bailey was watching Saturday’s game from his home outside Charlotte, which is where he’s resided since his playing days ended with the Panthers after the 1997 season. A ninth-round draft pick of the Bills in 1988, he played five years in Buffalo, followed by two seasons with the New York Giants and three more with Carolina before retiring. As a 10-year veteran, Bailey watches games with a different perspective than that of the average fan.

“His play was phenomenal,” he said of Johnson’s interception. “Obviously, they game-planned against that play. He did a really good job. He dropped to his zone. He read the quarterback, followed the quarterback's eyes, and the quarterback threw to a spot.

“I read it all the way, watching him and where the quarterback threw it at. I'm jumping up and down. Defensive back, major wheels as far as his speed. ... All of that was just tremendous. … Obviously, he has a whole lot more athletic ability than me, to take it 101 yards. I thought maybe he was going to take a knee, but he did a better job – he just went ahead and took it to the house, and that's what you’re supposed to do.”

That’s what Bailey did, too. The Bills and Broncos were scoreless that day – which was not expected with Elway and fellow Hall of Famer Jim Kelly as the other starting quarterback – when Bailey made the biggest play of his career.

Facing second-and-10 from his own 18-yard line, Elway attempted to throw a middle screen to running back Steve Sewell. It’s a play that had burned the Bills earlier in the game, only this time, nose tackle Jeff Wright sniffed it out. Instead of rushing Elway, Wright stayed back and got his hand in the passing lane. The ball pingponged around until Bailey was able to snatch it out of the air. He shook off Elway’s tackle attempt and rumbled into the end zone for the game’s first points.

The Bills would add a field goal from Scott Norwood in the fourth quarter, then hold off a comeback attempt by the Broncos.

“When people come back and say, ‘Hey what about that AFC Championship Game? Every year when I tell the story, it's like 'Oh yeah, I had a 25-yard interception run,' ” Bailey joked.

A bit of embellishment is understandable. Here’s one detail of the play that few know, though. Bailey wasn’t even supposed to be in that position.

Defensive coordinator Walt Corey gave his two inside linebackers, Bailey and Shane Conlan, the flexibility to determine who would run a delayed blitz. It was Conlan’s turn, but at the last second, plans changed.

“When we broke the huddle, I said, ‘Shane, you're up.’ He said, 'I got it.' He was struggling a little bit with a banged-up knee or something like that, and at the last second the ball was snapped, he said, ‘You take it, I'm out,’ ” Bailey said. “What was special about it is that it really wasn't even my blitz. I was just truly blessed to be in the right place at the right time. ... Jeff Wright was the one who put the time in, read the play and deflected it. I just happened to be the one that ran the blitz and was able to take it in.”

Johnson likewise credited his coaches for having him in the right position against the Ravens. The Bills were in Cover 2, and Johnson’s responsibility was the seam.

“They always tell us look at the vision of the quarterback,” he said after the game. “He’s going to take you to where the ball is, especially in zone. That’s something we practice every day.”

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who to that point had never thrown an interception in the red zone in his NFL career, looked for tight end Mark Andrews – but never saw Johnson.

“All I did was cheat and he didn’t see me,” Johnson said. “He threw the ball and I took it and made a play.”

The Bills made a projection when they drafted Johnson in the fourth round out of Weber State in 2018. He had mostly played outside cornerback during his college career, but the Bills planned to move him into the slot.

“I remember watching him in the all-star games when he was coming out of college and just seeing how competitive he was in the one-on-one drills maybe at the Senior Bowl. He was just competing on every single snap like it was a game situation,” defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. “We're always looking for that competitive guy to help us in the secondary for sure, but competitive guys that fit our DNA. And so that kind of struck me. And then when we had a chance to talk with him and visit with him, you can see that eagerness, that passion that he has for the game and that desire to be the best.

“We had to go through in our minds of how he would look in that (slot) role and what it would be like. … Sometimes that slot corner, he's got a lot of space to corner, so the transition from a corner, where you have a sideline to work with, in the slot is not as easy of a transition as some would think. So we were doing our projections and talking through things and the more we all watched tape, the more we felt like he would be a good fit. When he arrived, to see how competitive he was in person, once we started coaching him, you know, you just knew he had the instincts and the wherewithal to continue to improve.”

Johnson’s transition to the NFL game mirrors Bailey’s in some ways. The Bills used the 235th overall pick in the ninth round of the 1988 draft on Bailey, who had played exclusively on the defensive line at college for North Carolina.

The Bills, though, projected him as an inside linebacker.

“They were the team that took me in the draft, never having played linebacker ever in my life,” Bailey said. “So I always cheer for my Bills. I learned what it meant to be a professional playing there.”

Bailey had plenty of great teammates to learn from. Fellow linebacker Darryl Talley took him under his wing. Cornelius Bennett and Bruce Smith were helpful, too, even if Smith made Bailey pay for his meals and haircuts.

“Here's a guy that's making, they wasn't making the money like they're making now, but he was probably making over $1 million. I'm a rookie and I'm doing it every week,” Bailey said with a laugh, “but then on Tuesday, he requires me to come in and watch film with him. It was a give, but at the same time, you also get in return. I always find that if you are around people that have been successful and you sort of mimic them, learn from them, learn what it means to be a pro and learn what it means to play a long time in the league, those are the things that really matter.”

Bailey also formed a close relationship with former Bills assistant coach Chuck Lester. After the season, Bailey would return home to Baltimore for a couple of weeks, but then come back to Buffalo.

“It was Chuck Lester who actually spent the time to help break down film and teach me the understanding of how to play linebacker,” Bailey said. “I used to break bread with Chuck Lester and his family, eat at his house, every week for four years. Once a week, especially during the season.”

Bailey played 70 games with the Bills over five years, making 32 starts. He joined the Giants for the 1993 season, where his new head coach was Dan Reeves, who had been the Broncos’ coach for that AFC Championship Game.

“Before my third year there, he cut me,” Bailey said, “so you think that play had anything to do with it?”

That ended up being a blessing in disguise for Bailey, though, as he joined former Bills General Manager Bill Polian and several former Buffalo teammates with the expansion Carolina Panthers.

After three years there, Bailey retired. He’s done some public speaking and real-estate investment in the years that followed, but considers himself to be fully retired now at the age of 56.

The physical toll of a 10-year NFL career has been steep. Bailey has had both of his knees replaced and says he deals with “severe, severe headaches at times.”

“I’m trying to get over some of these bumps and bruises,” he said. “Nobody ever really talks about the other side of football. The front side of football, the game is great, having a chance to be a part of something that's extremely special as far as the shield, being in the NFL and those dreams coming true, but your body gets banged up.

“Everything comes with a cost. I was willing to pay the price. I try to do the things I need to do now to keep my body in shape, keep my body active, continue to work out. I'm truly thankful to God. Faith is one of the major things that's always been a part of my life. I have no regrets. For those of us who played a long time, and a decade is a long time, when I look back on my career, there's not many things I would say that I would do different.”

Plenty have wondered where Johnson’s interception ranks on the franchise’s list of best-ever plays. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle sportswriter Sal Maiorana, who has covered the team for more than three decades and written several books on the franchise’s history, published a list of the six best postseason plays in team history Tuesday.

Included on it were Mike Stratton’s “tackle heard ’round the world,” from the 1964 AFL Championship Game, Butch Byrd’s 74-yard punt return for a touchdown in the 1965 AFL Championship Game, Bill Simpson’s game-saving interception in a 1981 AFC wild-card game, Talley’s pick-six in the 1990 AFC Championship Game, Nate Odomes’ interception in overtime of the Greatest Comeback game – and, of course, the interceptions by Bailey and Johnson.

Pressed on which one of those last two was better, Bailey had to go with his own.

“I would probably say mine was a little bit better, because it was in the championship game. I just want the Bills to be able to win this week to get back to that Super Bowl,” he said. “No matter what, I’m always going to be a part of that special history, and for that I’m thankful.”

Kyle Brandt isn’t just on board the Buffalo Bills’ hype train – he might be conducting it.

One of the hosts of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football,” the 41-year-old Brandt has been a regular guest the past two seasons on “One Bills Live” the daily radio show produced by the team that airs on WGR 550 and is simulcast on MSG.

“These last two years have been some of the best years since I was, I think, in eighth grade,” Brandt said Sunday in a phone conversation with The Buffalo News, “so I've come to associate good times for the Bills with my relationship with them.”

In the spring, Brandt saw big things coming for the team this season. He predicted a 12-4 finish in the regular season, which was viewed as overly optimistic when compared to the predictions by most outside experts.

“Two things funny about that: One, I took a lot of hell for it, just because a 12-win team is really difficult to get and nobody believed me,” Brandt said. “Two, now that they finished the regular season, I took a lot of hell for it from Bills fans because I actually insulted them saying they would go 12-4, because they were really 13-3. After all that, it was like, ‘What do you mean 12-4? That's ridiculous,’ but not for the reason everybody thought in the preseason. I think being on that hype wagon before the season started really buys you a lot of credibility.”

We have some unfinished business to take care of. 👊 #BillsMafia @KyleBrandt | @Surface pic.twitter.com/O0x9K5i73z

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 16, 2021

It’s also why the Bills came to Brandt before Saturday’s divisional-round playoff game against the Ravens with a request. The team wanted him to film a hype video that would come out the night before the game.

Brandt couldn’t say yes fast enough.

“Steve (Tasker) did that incredible video a few weeks back about, ‘it might be chilly in Buffalo,’ and we talked about that a lot on the air, how good I thought it was, and how fired up it got me,” he said. “I was floored, flattered, really, really, really thrilled to be asked that, because who am I, Bruce Smith? The first thing I say in the video pretty much is I'm not even from Buffalo.”

Brandt, actually, isn’t even sure he’s ever been here. A former executive producer of the nationally syndicated Jim Rome radio show, Brandt said he may have one time made a brief station visit to Buffalo, but he wasn’t sure. The Bills, though, have connected with him.

That was apparent in his 2-minute, 40-second video that is nearing a million views on Twitter. Brandt’s video had both current and former players fired up. Wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie tweeted that it gave him chills, while former running back Fred Jackson said he was ready to lace his cleats up again.

One of the closing lines – “Mafia, Mount Up!” – drew huge cheers when it was played on the scoreboard inside Bills Stadium on Saturday night.

Perhaps most impressive: Brandt wrote the script himself.

“I was not given a script by the Buffalo Bills to read into the camera and I sit there and do one take and then I walk off and leave,” he said. They came to me and said, ‘Would you like to do this and I said sure, I got it.’ I know exactly what I want to say and I know exactly how I want to phrase it. Every word of that, I wrote. I'm proud of that, because it is authentic.

“If the Chiefs came to me or if the Bucs came to me, or even the Packers, I wouldn't be able to do it, because I don't feel that way about those teams. They're great teams and I really like them and I think that they can all win the Super Bowl, but I couldn't stand there authentically and deliver a monologue about them. I don't feel that way about them. But Buffalo, it taps into something. It means something different.”

It begs the question: How did someone who grew up outside Chicago get to this point? Brandt has had a fascinating life and career. He graduated from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill., in 1997 as the school’s all-time leading rusher. From there, he went to Princeton, where he was a three-year starter at running back.

After college, Brandt became interested in entertainment. He was a cast member on MTV’s pioneering reality series, "The Real World: Chicago,” and later starred on the NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives.” He worked on Rome’s radio show from 2009 to 2016 before accepting his current position at NFL Network.

“I think the easiest answer is I find this 2020 Bills team to be extremely likeable,” Brandt said when asked where his Bills fandom comes from. “How do you not like them? In an age where everybody judges everything and every team has this one player who is unlikeable or is overexposed or ubiquitous or obnoxious, but if you look at this Bills team, you're like, ‘Man, they're cool.’

“It's this all-business, no-nonsense head coach who has total credibility in his career and has worked to get where he is. It's this unbelievably cool, talented quarterback who has enough moxie without being looked at as arrogant and then you've got all these great role players and personalities like Tre White and Stefon Diggs. I don't know. I just look across the board. I'm like, these are cool guys. I like these guys. I can't point to a lot of teams in the 32 where I'm like, ‘Man, across the board, I think they're cool, likeable and fun.’ That's really rare.”

Brandt is not a “fan” in the traditional sense. He admits if the Bills lose, he’s not going to report to work the next day disappointed or frustrated, because the winning team will have players to support. He recalled being attached to the Eagles during their recent Super Bowl run.

“That said, I don't just celebrate the winner every time, because that's boring, too,” he said.

The Bills’ playoff history, their small market size and their passionate fan base have all connected with Brandt, too.

“As much as you want to say this is a new generation, this has nothing to do with those teams of the ’90s – and it doesn't for the team this year – but it does for the fan base,” he said. “Everybody remembers where they were in life when the Bills made it to four straight Super Bowls. I remember the comeback against the Oilers. I remember Scott Norwood vividly. And I don't mean I remember it happening, I mean I remember what couch I was sitting on when it happened. So that's not something that leaves you. That has nothing to do with Stefon Diggs or Josh Allen or Tre White. Nothing. Zero. But for you, me, everybody else, to see the closure on that, to see them get back there, I think that would be pretty special.”

After Brandt’s video posted, a local brewery – Resurgence Brewing Co. – tweeted to Brandt that he won’t pay for a beer in the taproom when he does make a visit.

Brandt sounds ready to make that happen.

“I’d love to sit around and do all that Buffalo stuff I referred to (in his video),” he said. “If I'm not sitting in some sort of a restaurant eating wings, listening to Goo Goo Dolls while ‘Bruce Almighty’ is playing somewhere in the restaurant, I'm going to be disappointed. I want the full Buffalo experience.”

If that includes a Super Bowl championship, all the better.

If there was any lingering doubt about the Buffalo Bills’ decision to pass on drafting Patrick Mahomes in 2017, it should be long gone by now.

The Bills have an excellent quarterback of their own in Josh Allen.

No, he doesn’t have a Super Bowl ring or an MVP award. For now, those comparative edges go to Mahomes. Mahomes also won their first and only head-to-head matchup when his Kansas City Chiefs beat the Bills in October.

However, none of that changes the larger picture of how well the Bills addressed finding a franchise QB after opting out of the chance to land Mahomes.

Without question, they nailed it. Allen’s performance should eliminate any regret.

Admittedly, the answer wasn’t clear in 2018, when the Bills made Allen the seventh overall pick of the draft and he experienced rookie growing pains as Mahomes put together his MVP season. It wasn’t much clearer in 2019, when the Bills mainly rode a strong defense to a wild-card playoff spot and Mahomes took the Chiefs all the way to a Super Bowl victory.

It became crystal clear this season, when Allen shattered single-season passing records and led one of the most dynamic aerial attacks in the NFL … when the Bills finished with a 13-3 record and won the AFC East for the first time in 25 years … when the Bills reached the postseason for the third time since ’17 and won a divisional-round game for the first time since 1993.

Their 2020 stats are comparable and put both in the conversation for league MVP, along with Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers. Allen completed 69.2% of his passes for 4,544 yards and 37 touchdowns, with 10 interceptions. Mahomes completed 66.3% of his passes for 4,740 yards and 38 touchdowns, with six interceptions.

On Sunday, the Bills will be making their sixth appearance in the AFC championship game. A win against the Chiefs will put them in Super Bowl LV.

With Mahomes in concussion protocol after taking a hit to the head in Kansas City’s divisional-round game against Cleveland last Sunday, his status for the conference title game is uncertain.

But signs point to him playing, which sets up another encounter that raises the “what if?” once again.

What if the Bills used the 10th choice of the 2017 draft on Mahomes rather than trading it to the Chiefs, who selected him in that slot? Until this season, the deal might not have been as fully embraced as it should be today.

In return for the 10th pick, the Bills received Kansas City’s 27th selection, which the Bills used for cornerback Tre’Davious White. White has gone on to become of the NFL’s best at his position, but even he has acknowledged that covering receivers doesn’t allow him to carry the same value that Mahomes or Allen or other elite throwers have with their respective clubs.

“No matter how good I perform, no matter what accolades I get, I feel like, to the football world, I’ll never be more important than a franchise quarterback because that's the face of your franchise,” White told The Buffalo News in 2018. “You can't compare that and I know that. But the only thing I can do is be the best version of myself and try to be the best player that I can be for this organization and whatever happens, happens.”

Beyond what the quarterbacks and White have done, this is what else has happened from the trade that was made at the behest of McDermott less than two weeks before Brandon Beane replaced Doug Whaley as general manager:

• The 2017 third-round pick the Bills received, after other deals, became left tackle Dion Dawkins. He is a solid starter, consistently providing the protection necessary for Allen to thrive.

• The 2018 first-rounder the Bills landed became linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. He has steadily grown into a Pro Bowler and defensive leader.

“They got a good player in Patrick and I think we made out as well with Josh and Tremaine and Tre’Davious, however you kind of shape that with the picks that became picks,” coach Sean McDermott said. “I think both teams fared awfully well.”

No argument there.

It’s also fair to point out the Chiefs had the luxury of allowing Mahomes to sit and marinate as a rookie while veteran Alex Smith started. Allen, whose coaching wasn’t all that sophisticated at Firebaugh (Calif.) High School or in junior college or at the University of Wyoming, took his rookie lumps while getting on-the-job training in Brian Daboll’s offense.

This season, Allen caught up. He has far more knowledge of the Bills’ offense, which Daboll has expanded accordingly, and has a much better grasp of how opposing defenses plot to stop him and his surrounding cast.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 230-pound Mahomes has become the master of look-away throws and other improvisational plays that his exceptional quickness and athleticism allow him to make. Allen, who is every bit as dangerous as a runner despite being 6 feet, 5 inches and 237 pounds, has shown a knack for similar innovation on the fly.

At the core, they’re highly effective pocket passers who make the most out of highly talented pass-catchers. Allen has more depth with Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, John Brown and Gabe Davis. But Mahomes has Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, former Bill Sammy Watkins and Mecole Hardman.

When plays don’t go as designed, Allen and Mahomes are more than capable of going off script with positive results. It’s a quality shared by the NFL’s best quarterbacks.

Allen and Mahomes are, unquestionably, two of the best.

“Some of these plays break down from time to time, even though we draw them up for that not to happen,” McDermott said. “Being able to extend a play or play off-schedule or make loose plays, I know that’s been labeled to Josh and Patrick as well, so I think that’s a good asset to have.”

Even after turning down the chance to draft the quarterback they’ll likely face Sunday, the Bills should feel every bit as good about the one they chose a year later.

When Andre Reed watches the Buffalo Bills, he can’t help but flash back to their incredible, high-flying, offense-driven ride of the 1990s.

When he sees Josh Allen, he thinks of his quarterback, Jim Kelly. When he sees Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, John Brown and Gabe Davis, he thinks of that great receiving corps that he led.

Just as today, opponents struggled with the often-impossible task of trying to cover Reed, Don Beebe and James Lofton, along with Thurman Thomas out of the backfield.

“It takes you back in a lot of ways, because they're scoring a lot of points,” Reed told The Buffalo News by phone. “They are taking a lot out of the book of our teams, and I'm sure Sean McDermott has referenced us many times during the season and the last four years he's been there. They've got a quarterback that, from one year to the next, has just made a complete turnaround. And they've got the weapons. I just think they’ve got everybody that that front office wanted to get.

“You can get all the pieces you want, but if they don't work in the system, it really doesn't matter.”

In the run to four consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s, the Bills’ system was the K-Gun, no-huddle attack designed by the late Ted Marchibroda. It had all the right components, beginning with Kelly calling plays at the line of scrimmage and the offense moving at a breakneck pace.

On the way to a 13-3 regular season and winning their first two playoff games to advance to the sixth AFC Championship Game in franchise history, the Bills are utilizing a multiple scheme employed by Brian Daboll. It allows Allen, with his powerful throwing arm and off-the-charts athletic ability, to work the width and depth of the field to the fullest. As with the ’90s Bills, defenses are consistently pushed beyond their coverage limits.

“I think that Brian Daboll has been kind of the ringleader,” Reed said. “I can't say it's all Sean McDermott, even though he's the head coach. He brings a certain mentality to that football team, but Brian Daboll is kind of like the shoe on the other foot for him. And then Leslie Frazier, too. They have coaches that believe in their players and their system is (tailored) to those players.

“They're not the greatest defense in the league, but the Bills are pretty opportunistic and last week was an indication of that, with a kid named Taron Johnson (breaking the game open with a 101-yard interception return for a touchdown). They showed videos of him at the combine and he looks like he can't catch a cold anywhere, and he makes the biggest play for the Bills in the last 20 years.

“Those are the kind of guys they need to step up in games like they played last week and against the Colts. They need these unsung heroes that take turns to make plays. That's what we had. We needed the Kenny Davises and the Marlo Perrys and the David Whites and the Carlton Baileys. Those are the guys that need to step up and they did. That's what that team was about.”

In the latest edition of One-on-One Coverage, The Buffalo News spoke with Reed about what he thinks of the Bills’ offense, reflections on how it compares with the one during his playing days, his assessments of the receivers and Allen, and what he thinks the current team needs to do to be at its best for Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Buffalo News: What do you see when you look at the Bills' passing game, where it seems someone is always open?

Andre Reed: You're not going to cover a Stefon Diggs one-on-one all the time when you have Cole Beasley there and you have John Brown on the other side. It's just not going to happen, and vice-versa. You're not going to cover John Brown and you're not going to cover Cole Beasley when you've got Stefon Diggs over there. But those guys have to be good at what they do, as far as knowing where they are, their route-running, knowing where Josh is going to throw the ball.

Just like me, Jim, Thurman, Beebe and James Lofton. Jim could throw it 60, 40, 50 times a game, but where do we need to be to give him the 25 completions, to give him the 30 completions? We have to be in the right place. And I think, with that offense, that's what Josh believes about those guys, that they're going to be in the right places. And those guys believe that Josh is going to put it there. That's why they were a top-five offense and they broke records. Defenses didn't just let them throw the ball around. They broke records because of what they were doing and the guys that were doing it, so kudos to them.

BN: What was it like to be a part of the no-huddle offense?

AR: The no-huddle offense really was a very, very vanilla kind of offense. It wasn't West Coast style. It wasn't the run-and-shoot. The no-huddle was its own entity. It was, "Here's the guys, this is what we do, we don't do anything special, but can you stop it? We're not extraordinary. We just do extraordinary things in basic situations." Teams use no-huddle all the time, but teams don't use that as their base like we did. We ran teams into the ground with that.

BN: Did you feel, as a group, your passing game was unstoppable?

AR: Very much. Going out there and being productive, anybody can do that, but going out there and feeling that nobody can stop you is a different feeling. I think every time we stepped on a field, we knew people couldn't stop us as long as we were doing what we were supposed to be doing. The sign of a great offense is, it doesn't matter what you put out there – down, distance, whatever it is – we're going to be productive, because we always have something for what you're going to give us. If you want to double-team me, you'd better watch Beebe, you'd better watch Lofton, you'd better watch Thurman coming out of the backfield. After a while, teams caught up with us. But at the time, the offense was such an innovative thing, but it was, to me, more vanilla.

BN: What did you like best about your role in the no-huddle offense?

AR: I just liked that, regardless of where I lined up, not only was I going to get, most of the time, the best corner but, to a certain point, I dictated what the secondary was going to do. Wherever I was, on one side or the other or going in motion, they not only had to account for me, but their defensive backfield and the way they played changed (based on) wherever I was.

A lot of times I was in the slot, a lot of times I was tighter; I could be less than five yards closer to the tackle. And what I was going to do, to a certain point, dictated what was going to happen. The defense had to honor that. And with Thurman coming out the backfield, whatever side he was on, that dictated what the linebackers were going to do.

You could guard, to a certain point, Beebe and James because (defenses) used the sideline as an extra man. But with me being in the middle, I had more room and I could disrupt a little bit more. Depending on where I was on the hash, they had to make a lot of different calls.

BN: What's your analysis of Stefon Diggs?

AR: Is he the best route-runner in the league? Probably not. Can he run as fast as Tyreek Hill? No. But I think he's a combination of both of those. He's very, very subtle. I think he has the top-five best hands in the league. He catches a lot of 50-50 balls. And he just is very savvy within five yards of a route.

BN: Cole Beasley.

AR: He's a bug, man. Within five yards, can't nobody cover that dude. He's like a Wes Welker. That guy was unbelievable within five yards. When's the last time you saw Cole Beasley actually run past somebody? That's not what he does. He's from one to eight yards, and he's going to screw you into the ground. He's great at that. (Opponents) take their chances and put the nickel corner on him and, most of the time, he roasts the guy.

BN: John Brown.

AR: He's the guy running down the field on a fly most of the time, and Diggs is more of an intermediate route-runner, 10 to 15 yards or 10 to 20 yards, and then Beasley's underneath them. So, they've got every level covered, something like with me, Beebe and Lofton. Even though Beebe and Lofton ran the deep patterns, they came across the middle 20 yards deep, too. I did that, but I was mostly in that eight-to-15-yard range. If they didn't make the tackle, it was over.

BN: How impressive has Gabe Davis been as a rookie?

AR: Very impressive. Not only does he have the size, he's going to get better at running routes. He really surprised me with where he is with his awareness of where he was on the field, especially two weeks ago against the Colts. He's got great awareness on the sideline. He made two good catches, but his feet made them great catches, toe-tapping on the sideline. I think he's going to be a good player and he is right now. He's going to be very important on Sunday, for sure.

BN: What are impressions of Josh Allen?

AR: You know, a quarterback makes mistakes. We all make mistakes, especially at that position. It can diminish your confidence. And I think the first two years Josh was in the league, you could tell that if he made a mistake, to a certain point, that really, really hurt him and it showed the next time he was out there. This year, you didn't see that at all. If he did make a mistake, he was a totally different quarterback than he was the previous two years.

How did that happen? I think, well, he's been accountable to himself, number one. Number two, the guys he has around him hold him accountable. And it isn't like guys didn't hold him accountable before, but I think the people around him have given him that confidence that he didn't have the previous two years. He didn't have that confidence. You could see it in him – the way he played, the way he carried himself.

They gave him the keys two years ago, but he didn't even put the keys in the car two years ago. He had the keys, but he didn't start it up. This year, he started it up and actually drove it. As a quarterback in this league, you've got to be doing something by that third or fourth year. You've got to be moving forward, not backwards. And he's taken that step forward. Is he going to be perfect? No. Obviously, he's not going to be perfect, but one thing he'll be able to build on this year is that he was able to step up when they needed him, and he's done that all year. And I'm looking forward to seeing it on Sunday.

BN: As someone who played in five AFC championship games, and were part of four victories in a row, you understand what it takes to succeed in this game. What's your advice to the current team?

AR: I just believe that Sean McDermott has been preparing for this all year. Marv Levy used to say, "One more river to cross," or, "One more bridge to cross." And this is what you put number one. Now, Sean has to tell the team, "This is what you play for. You're here for a reason. This is why you play the game. It's up to you to take this game the way you've taken the game before and the game before that and the whole season. You're prepared for this. And you don't want to go out there and not feel that you haven't prepared for this because you never know if you're going to be back here again."

That's a fact. You don't know if you're going to be back here again. You don't know what's going to happen from year to year. We can all speculate that, of course, the Bills have the in on the division now. They should win the division the next five years, 10 years. But will that happen? We don't know that.

It takes me back to our first AFC Championship Game (against the Los Angeles Raiders on Jan. 20, 1991). Not only was it phenomenal, but you look at what we did and how we came out, we totally annihilated the Raiders (51-3). They shouldn't have even stepped off the plane, really. I think after the first half, they should have gone into the tunnel and just kept going and gotten on a bus. Talking to Howie (Long) and Greg Townsend and some of those guys after the game, they were like, "Yo, man, I've got to get on the bus and get on out of here." They were ready to go. And I think, as a team, that's what we looked forward to all year, for that kind of feeling.

We have to level the playing field and put it into our advantage and not get jittery or get uptight or whatever. And that's a natural thing to do. You're going to be uptight. But after the first play, you're not uptight anymore anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Here are my five takes on the Buffalo Bills’ AFC championship game Sunday at 6:40 p.m. against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

1. Go ahead. Dare the Chiefs to run again.

Despite the Bills’ 26-17 loss when the teams met in October, the defensive strategy made perfect sense. The idea was to keep big plays in the passing game to a minimum. The Bills mostly succeeded at that.

Where they fell short was allowing the Chiefs to run 46 times for 245 yards, an average of 5.3 yards per carry, and a touchdown. Rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who is listed as questionable for Sunday with ankle and hip injuries, led the way with 161 yards on 26 attempts.

That figures to change this time because linebacker Matt Milano, who missed the previous game while injured, is back in the lineup. And he is a major difference-maker against the run.

Limiting Mahomes’ impact as a runner was also part of the Bills’ plan, and it, too, worked well as he finished with only 36 yards on 10 carries.

The Bills’ focus was not being burned deep, and for the most part, they weren’t.

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2. Josh Allen goes back to being Josh Allen.

He isn’t always going to throw for 300-plus yards and multiple touchdowns. It only seems that way.

Allen was solid in the Bills’ 17-3 divisional-round triumph against Baltimore last week, but far from spectacular. He threw for only 206 yards and a touchdown, but he avoided turnovers.

Efficiency will matter against the Chiefs, but production will matter more. As confident as the Bills might be in their defense’s ability to prevent Kansas City from piling up points, they must get stronger output from their offense than they had a week ago or in their regular-season game against the Chiefs.

Allen should find opportunities to connect with Stefon Diggs and John Brown for game-breaking plays, while keeping the chains moving with underneath throws to Cole Beasley. That is the essence of the Bills’ offense, and it has to resemble what it has been for most of this great run if the team is to fulfill its goal of reaching the Super Bowl for the fifth time.

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3. Make Patrick Mahomes as uncomfortable as possible.

He has been cleared to play after spending most of the week in concussion protocol from the head trauma he sustained in the Chiefs’ divisional-round win against Cleveland last week. But that raises obvious questions about how well he can hold up through Sunday’s game.

Though the Bills’ first concern with a mobile quarterback is containment and staying disciplined on the edges, look for them to mix in a good amount of aggressiveness with their pass rush in an effort to apply as many hits as possible on Mahomes.

Tight pass coverage can go a long way toward forcing the Chiefs’ quarterback to hold the ball longer than he would prefer and give pass-rushers a greater chance to get to him. As long as the Bills don’t allow themselves to be trampled on the ground by KC’s rushing attack, there is a good chance that Mahomes will need to throw more than the 26 passes he attempted the last time.

If that’s the case, the Bills are bound to have more hits and sacks.

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4. Figure out a way to keep Travis Kelce in check.

It isn’t easy. It might be downright impossible.

Kelce is arguably the best tight end in the league. He seems to always find ways to get open and make back-breaking plays, as he did with his two touchdown catches when the Chiefs beat the Bills in October.

The Bills have two of the NFL’s better safeties in Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, and they need to be exceptional in their coverage. The key to reducing Kelce’s impact is to try to bang him around as much as possible, without drawing penalties, and take away as much of the middle of the field as possible. Kelce can do damage with sideline catches, but it’s important for Buffalo’s secondary to use the edges of the field as extra defenders, so to speak.

5. Utilize the underdog status as motivation.

The Bills’ Super Bowl teams of the 1990s were famous for finding even the tiniest reasons to feel insulted and turning that into motivational fuel. Some of what they used bordered on the ridiculous, like being upset that opposing players arrived for a game in a limo rather than the team bus.

The current players simply need to watch and read about how national pundits are mainly saying they don’t stand a chance against the Chiefs.

Sean McDermott does a nice job of quietly building an us-against-the-world mentality, and there is little doubt he will employ it for this game.

...

Game details

TV: CBS. Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Tony Romo (analyst).

Radio: Bills Radio Network. Buffalo-WGR 550 AM; Toronto-Fan 590 AM; Rochester-WCMF 96.5 FM and WROC 950 AM; Syracuse-WTKW 99.5 FM and WTKV 105.5 FM. Announcers: John Murphy (play-by-play), Steve Tasker (analyst).

Series history: The Bills lead the series, 26-22-1 (including the postseason).

Bills injury report: Questionable: WR Gabe Davis (ankle), DT Vernon Butler (quad).

Chiefs injury report: Out: LB Willie Gay Jr. (ankle). Questionable: RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire (ankle/hip), RB Le’Veon Bell (knee), WR Sammy Watkins (calf), CB Bashaud Breeland (concussion/shoulder), CB Rashad Fenton (foot).

Point spread: The Bills are a 3-point underdog at vegasinsider.com.

Did you know: Josh Allen joined Mahomes (2019) and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger (2005) as the only three quarterbacks under the age of 25 with multiple victories and a 100-plus passer rating in a single postseason.

Next: With a win, the Bills will be playing in their fifth Super Bowl and seeking their first Lombardi Trophy.

Four matchups to watch when the Buffalo Bills visit the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday in the AFC championship game:

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Don't miss Vic Carucci's five takes on the Buffalo Bills’ AFC championship game Sunday at 6:40 p.m. against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

Bills red-zone D vs. Chiefs red-zone D. The presumption is that both teams are going to move the ball. Can either defense hold the opponent to a couple of field goals on scoring chances? That may be the difference. The Chiefs’ defense is 32nd in red-zone defense, allowing TDs at a 76.6% rate. Odd. One issue is the K.C. pass rush has not been consistent. It was good the first game vs. the Bills. But the Chiefs rank 20th in sacks, and they’re 18th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate. Kansas City may have to blitz to get enough heat on Josh Allen. Meanwhile, tight end Travis Kelce caught two red-zone TDs vs. the Bills. He’s a bad matchup no matter what the Bills do against him. However, the Chiefs also have had some head-scratching results in the red zone on offense. They’re 14th in red-zone TDs. But the last seven games, they’re 11 of 24 (45.8%). The Bills’ defense now is giving up TDs at 60%, 13th in the league. Better play by the Bills’ defensive tackles will be critical. Otherwise, the Chiefs will ram it down the Bills’ throat in the red zone.

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Tyreek Hill vs. Bills CBs. The Bills have not matched up Tre’Davious White on wideouts very much, and Andy Reid’s motion and formation variation make it tough for one corner to lock on Hill consistently, unless a team is playing man coverage across the board. That’s suicide vs. the Chiefs. Plus, Hill plays about 55% of his snaps from the slot. Hill ranked 10th in targets in the NFL this season, seventh in yards (1,276) and tied for second in TDs (15). In the first meeting, Hill got just three targets and two catches. Hill has 4.29-second speed in the 40. White runs 4.47. The Bills’ MO is to put a safety over the top of Hill all the time. The Chiefs run a lot of high-low concepts to one side of the field. They like to run their outside WRs on deep overs. One way to deal with that is play Cover 4 and let the safeties stop the crossers. The Bills likely will do some of that.

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Chris Jones vs. Bills guards. Jones has made the last two Pro Bowls and widely is viewed as one of the top five defensive tackles in the NFL. He has 16.5 sacks the past two seasons. He gave Bills guards Brian Winters and Cody Ford fits in the first meeting. He had five hurries and four run stuffs. Jon Feliciano and Ike Boettger are the Bills’ guards now, and Jones will line up over either of them. Jones has ridiculous arm length (34.5 inches) and huge hands (10 3/4 inches). Among his many moves are an initial bull rush and then pulling the guard forward by the jersey and making a swim move over him.

Said Feliciano: “He takes advantage of your bad technique. He’s really good at that. He has a good bull rush. He has a good knock your arm down. He’ll grab your elbow and use your own momentum to pull himself through. Run game, he’s stout.”

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Bills WRs vs. Chiefs DBs. The Chiefs caused the Bills some problems in the first meeting with press coverage, combined with the pass rush on Josh Allen, who was under pressure on 17 of 31 drop backs. The Bills need to get Cole Beasley more involved. He was shut down by the great Marlon Humphrey last week. The Chiefs have been getting good play from rookie slot corner L’Jarius Snead, who’s 6 feet with 4.37 speed. He didn’t play in the first meeting. On the outside, Bashaud Breeland plays on the right side, and Charvarious Ward plays on the left. The Bills must win on the outside vs. those two. Breeland is very good when he’s at his best, but he has some lapses. Diggs managed six catches for just 46 yards in the first game. If those numbers aren’t better, the Bills will lose. If Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is aggressive like last game, Josh Allen is going to have to make plays downfield outside of the pocket.

The range, ball skills and instincts of Tyrann Mathieu make the post-snap shifting of the Kansas City Chiefs defensive secondary tough on quarterbacks.

Mathieu, the Chiefs’ 28-year-old safety, has 10 interceptions and 21 passes defended over the past two seasons. That’s 31 balls he has had his hands on, second most among NFL safeties to Denver’s Justin Simmons. Mathieu has the most interceptions from the slot – 15 – of any player since entering the NFL in 2015, according to Pro Football Focus.

He’s the movable chess piece in the defensive backfield for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo that the Bills must worry about in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.

“He brings a lot of energy and juice to their team,” said Bills coach Sean McDermott. “He does a great job disguising, playing multiple positions. He seems extremely smart. He’s a big factor in Spags’ defense and probably one of the top players in the league.”

Every defense shifts coverage after the snap. The Bills’ safeties are great at disguising the back-end coverage until the last possible second.

Few defenses, however, have a playmaker like Mathieu, whose ball skills make him so dangerous from a “robber” position, cheating underneath to jump passes.

Mathieu this season has played 25% of his snaps as a deep safety, 32% of his snaps in the box supporting the run or in underneath coverage and 37% of his snaps against slot receivers, according to Pro Football Focus.

That’s rare versatility, and more slot receiver responsibility than many safeties are asked to do. The Bills’ Jordan Poyer is super versatile. He has played 47.5% of his snaps as a back safety, 32% in the box and 13% in the slot.

Among the Chiefs’ favored coverages are Cover 2 robber, with Mathieu the rover jumping seam balls, and 2-Man, with two deep and man coverage underneath.

Mathieu got an interception last week off Baker Mayfield from Cover 2 robber, when he switched his deep spot with Daniel Sorensen after the snap and broke underneath to jump a hook route pass that was late and over the middle. Or he’ll trade places with an outside corner.

On one key incompletion intended for Stefon Diggs in the first Bills game, Mathieu dropped from the slot in what looked like a single-high safety defense into the middle of a Cover 4. Allen threw into double coverage and missed a wide-open man in the flat.

Mathieu plays bigger than his 5-foot-9, 190-pound body, and he has 4.50 speed. He blitzed five times off the slot in Buffalo. He has blitzed 37 times. (By comparison, Poyer has blitzed 60.)

“I give him free rein because he feels the game,” Spagnuolo said before last year’s Super Bowl. “There are some things during the game where it’s like ‘What is he doing? Oh, great job.’ Because he’s not doing it exactly the way you drew it up, and yet he has a feel and a keen instinct. You’ve got to let these guys play. He is an instinctive player.”

It will take all of Allen’s experience and Brian Daboll’s tutoring for the Bills’ offense to roll on Sunday.

(Here's Mathieu blitzing Allen off the slot on a first-down play-action pass. Allen had no chance but to throw the ball away.)

Downfield throwing. Spagnuolo has blitzed right around the NFL average throughout his career. It depends on the matchup. The Chiefs heated up Allen in the first meeting. Kansas City blitzed on 15 of 31 drop backs, and Allen was just 7 of 14 for 62 yards, with one TD pass. It was Allen’s worst game of the year and his worst showing vs. the blitz of the year. The weather was a factor due to steady rain. Eight blitzes came on first down.

Spagnuolo, 61, has the best “skin on the wall” of any defensive coordinator in the NFL, given his New York Giants shut down the undefeated Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl. In Kansas City, he has an advantage in being “selectively aggressive.” Give up a deep ball? Fine. Our offense is scoring 30 today. Spagnuolo is willing to force QBs to make the lower-percentage throw down the field. Kansas City faced 85 passes that traveled 20-plus yards downfield, most in the league. Allen will get a few good deep chances. He probably needs to hit one.

The 30,000-foot view. Andy Reid will be a slam-dunk Hall-of-Famer. The trade up for Mahomes and the Super Bowl ring sealed it. He’s fifth in coaching wins (237). Plus, his coaching tree includes John Harbaugh, Sean McDermott, Ron Rivera, Doug Pederson, Leslie Frazier, Spagnuolo and Matt Nagy, among others. It’s far superior to the coaching tree of Bill Belichick. ... The Chiefs have a tight salary cap for 2021 but they don’t have many key free agents. Top Chiefs set to hit the market are receiver Sammy Watkins, guard Austin Reiter and cornerback Bashaud Breeland.

Let the QB cook. Both teams put the game in the hands of their QBs. On first down in the first three quarters, the Bills rank No. 1 in the NFL in passing percentage (63.9%), according to Sharp Football. The Chiefs are No. 2 (60.4%).

Of his fourth-and-1 pass call late against the Browns last week, Reid said: “I went to BYU. Every down’s a throwing down.”

Stats for the road. The Bills blitzed Mahomes on just two plays in the first meeting, according to News charts. One was a run play that went for a TD. It was the fewest 5-plus rushes in Leslie Frazier's tenure. ... Travis Kelce had eight catches for 109 yards vs. the Browns, his fourth 100-yard showing in 10 playoff games. He needs five catches, 107 yards and one TD to move into the No. 2 spot all time for tight ends in the playoffs in each category. Rob Gronkowski (82 for 1,177 and 12) is No. 1 in all three. ... Diggs bids to become just the third receiver to lead the league in receiving yards and reach the Super Bowl in the same season. The others to do it were Jerry Rice (1989, 1994) and Drew Pearson (1977). … The Chiefs ranked 22nd in kickoff return average allowed and 26th in average drive start for foes after kickoffs.

It will be another difficult, pick-your-poison proposition for the Buffalo Bills’ defense against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

The Bills will try to contain the fastest elite receiver in the NFL in Tyreek Hill and the best tight end in Travis Kelce.

Along the way, the goal is to not let all the other Chiefs’ weapons rack up easy yards.

“You look at trying to stop them and it’s kind of like, who are you going to stop?” said Bills safety Jordan Poyer. “You look at how they’re winning games, and they’re making big plays, explosive plays. We’ve got to find a way to limit their explosive plays. They’re going to make some plays. They’re in this spot for a reason.”

Limiting big plays has been the cornerstone the Bills’ defense under coach Sean McDermott and coordinator Leslie Frazier since the two arrived in Buffalo in 2017. The Bills allowed the sixth-fewest 20-plus pass plays this year.

Hill, who runs a 4.29-second 40-yard dash, has made 21 plays of 50 or more yards in the last five years, the most in the NFL. He ranked second in the NFL this year with 15 touchdown catches. His 1,276 receiving yards ranked fifth in the league, and his 20 receptions of 20-plus yards also ranked fifth.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 260-pound Kelce had 105 catches for 1,416 yards, an NFL single-season record for a tight end. He had 11 TDs, and he tied for first in the league with 23 catches of 20-plus yards.

“It’s not just 87,” Poyer said, referring to Kelce, “and it’s not just Hill, either. ... They’ve got other guys on that side of the football who can make a lot of plays. No. 17 can take the top off. He’s getting the ball in his hands and making plays. Pat Mahomes gets outside of the pocket and makes plays. It’s going to be a happy medium trying to figure out ways and trying to figure out how they’re attacking us.”

No. 17 is backup receiver Mecole Hardman. He runs a 4.33 40-yard dash. No. 2 receiver Sammy Watkins runs 4.43 in the 40. The Bills have speed at wideout, too, but not as much. John Brown runs 4.34, and Stefon Diggs runs 4.46.

With Mahomes, the Super Bowl MVP at the helm, the Chiefs ranked No. 1 in the NFL in total yards and No. 1 in passing yards. They ranked No. 2 in in pass plays of 20-or-more yards with 69. (The Bills were fourth with 66.)

In the Chiefs’ 26-17 win at Buffalo in Week 6, the Bills held Kelce to five catches for 65 yards (with two touchdowns). They held Hill to three catches for 20 yards.

But Kansas City racked up 260 rushing yards. On 64% of the Chiefs’ snaps, the Bills had six or fewer defenders in the tackle-to-tackle box, according to Pro Football Focus.

“The first time we played them, we definitely wanted to limit the explosives, so we were playing two high safeties the whole game, inviting them to run the ball,” Poyer said. “I think we’ll be a little more aggressive. Be able to show up in the run game, but also get back in their deep passing game.”

Kelce beat two-high safety coverages in the red zone for his touchdowns in the first meeting. On the first, an 11-yarder, he was too tough for linebacker Tremaine Edmunds to handle in zone coverage over the middle. On the second, a 12-yarder, Mahomes’ throw to the back corner of the end zone was too quick and too precise for Poyer, the safety on that side of the field, to defend.

“He’s just a big body,” safety Micah Hyde said. “He’s been playing for a long time. He understands the game very well. He understands how to beat man to man, use his size and strength and leverage. If it’s zone, he’s able to find the holes. They run a lot of stuff scheme-wise for him, and he’s hard to get down. If you had to create a tight end on Madden, it’d be Travis Kelce. He’s a huge weapon for them.”

The Bills’ defense has allowed just 19.4 ppg over the past 12 games, since the Kansas City loss. Baltimore managed just three points on Saturday.

But as Hyde said, Saturday’s game plan vs. the Ravens will bear little resemblance to this week’s challenge.

“Playing Baltimore last week and then coming into the Chiefs is like total opposite ends of the spectrum,” Hyde said. “Obviously, they have a great quarterback. He can make any throw. Outside the pocket, he’s dangerous. He’s smart, he can do it all. It obviously starts with him. ... We gave up way too many yards in the run game. That’s something we’ve got to fix. But I think the good thing is we have played these guys once already. … So we have that game film on what we need to improve on and what we did poorly.”

The Buffalo Bills could have an advantage if they can get into the red zone in Sunday’s AFC championship game in Kansas City.

The Bills’ offense ranks 13th in red-zone efficiency, while the Chiefs’ defense ranks 32nd.

“We’re not as efficient in the red zone,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said a couple weeks ago. “That’s one place that we’ve talked about that we’d like to get better at.”

The Bills actually are better than their 13th ranking indicates. And the Chiefs’ defense arguably isn’t quite as awful as its ranking inside its own 20 indicates.

The Bills move the ball so well and so consistently that their 68 trips inside the 20 tied for the most in the league. They had the fourth most TDs inside the 20 (42) and the second most scores overall (59).

The Chiefs are allowing teams to score on 76.6% of trips inside the 20. Denver led the NFL at 47.5%. On the plus side, however, it’s not that easy to get into scoring territory vs. Kansas City. The Chiefs are tied for the sixth fewest trips by opponents into the red zone.

On their run to the Super Bowl last season, the Chiefs’ defense allowed just 11.6 ppg over the last six weeks and ranked ninth in red-zone defense. Not so this year.

The second half of the season, Kansas City allowed 31 points to both Carolina and Las Vegas, 27 to Miami and 29 to New Orleans. The Chiefs held Atlanta to 14 in Week 16 and the Browns to 17 in Sunday’s divisional playoff win.

“There’s an explosive play here, a red zone nonstop there and all of a sudden, they’ve got 29 points,” Spagnuolo said after a 32-29 win over the Saints. “So, if we could find consistency in our good play, I think our guys would all feel a lot better about it, and that’s what we’ll keep chasing.”

Kansas City’s defense has All-Pro players in defensive tackle Chris Jones and safety Tyrann Mathieu. Both were great in the Chiefs’ 26-17 win at Buffalo in Week 6.

But overall, the Chiefs haven’t dominated on defense. They’re 11th in points allowed, 21st in rush yards allowed and 14th in pass yards allowed. They’re 20th in sacks. Last year, they were 11th. In terms of pressure, they’re 18th in ESPN’s pass-rush win-rate metric.

The K.C. defense ranks 22nd according to Football Outsiders’ analytic – defense-adjusted value over average – which factors in the result of every play based on the league average, the game situation and the quality of the competition.

The bottom line is Kansas City has not played as well on defense as the two teams the Bills have beaten in the playoffs – the Colts and Ravens.

The biggest factor in the red-zone success of the Bills offense is quarterback Josh Allen.

He never has thrown an interception on 169 pass attempts in the red zone in his career. That’s the longest active streak in the NFL. He has 43 passing touchdowns and 24 rushing touchdowns in the red zone. The rushing TDs are the most by an NFL QB since 2018.

Good rushing makes everything easier for the offense in the red zone, where the space is tighter. Allen has eight of the Bills’ 16 rushing touchdowns.

“He’s a hard guy to tackle,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said earlier this season. “It’s just like tackling a running back.”

The Chiefs’ defense has allowed 22 passing touchdowns in the red zone and 29 passing TDs overall, which is 11th most in the league.

The Buffalo Bills need to improve their run defense and their overall execution the second time around when they travel to Kansas City for a rematch with the Chiefs in the AFC championship game Sunday.

The Bills allowed a season-high 245 rushing yards to the Chiefs in a 26-17 Monday night defeat at Bills Stadium on Oct. 19.

Buffalo’s secondary sat back in a protective shell and held Patrick Mahomes to just 225 passing yards, almost 100 under his season average. But by inviting the Chiefs to run, Kansas City held the ball for almost 38 minutes.

“We went into it saying 'OK, they’re not going to beat us over the top,' ” Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said Monday. “They were hitting so many explosives, and they’re still doing it to teams. We just weren’t going to give up the explosive passes. We said 'OK, we’re going to dare them to stay with the run game.' Lo and behold, they stayed with it and had a lot of success running the football.

“We learned a lot from that ballgame, hopefully some lessons that will help us going forward. We’ll have to find a balance and do a better job against the run than we did that first encounter.”

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The Bills’ defense is in better shape entering the rematch.

The Bills allowed 28 points per game over the first six weeks of the season. They have allowed 19.4 ppg over the past 12.

Linebacker Matt Milano was a key Bills player who sat out the first meeting due to injury, and his quickness against the speedy Chiefs offense was missed.

Cornerback Levi Wallace also missed the game, while defensive linemen Harrison Phillips and Trent Murphy were healthy scratches. Murphy could be a healthy scratch again if Darryl Johnson Jr. recovers from a knee injury that kept him out last week.

But Phillips has improved the second half of the season at defensive tackle and helped the run front. He has averaged 28 snaps a game the past five weeks after being benched for four games at midseason.

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The Bills are coming off two strong run-defense showings. They held Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor to 3.7 yards a carry in the wild-card victory. The Bills held Baltimore 112 yards under its rushing average for the previous six games in the divisional round.

The Bills crowded the line of scrimmage against the Colts and Ravens. That’s unlikely to happen in Kansas City.

The Bills will need defensive tackles Vernon Butler, Ed Oliver, Quinton Jefferson and Phillips to hold up better against double teams, something the group did poorly in the first meeting against the Chiefs.

A.J. Klein was subbing for Milano in the first meeting, but he was playing out of position and got better later in the season as he got more comfortable. Klein played only three snaps in the wild-card game against the Colts.

With the run game rolling, the Chiefs converted 64% of their third downs in the first meeting. The Bills ranked 30th in third-down defense after six weeks, allowing 53.5% conversions.

But Buffalo has allowed only 31.6% conversions on third down the past 12 games.

Meanwhile, the Bills will need a better showing from Josh Allen.

He had his worst game of the season against the Chiefs, completing just 51% percent of his passes for 122 yards, both season lows.

Three of the Bills’ seven full possessions were foiled by a combined four inaccurate passes to open receivers by Allen.

The Chiefs played a lot of dime defense vs. the Bills, using six defensive backs. The Bills couldn’t exploit it.

“We’re definitely a different team now than we were at that point in the season, definitely offensively," Bills receiver Cole Beasley said after Saturday's game. "We’ve grown so much since, but we obviously feel like we didn’t play our best ball then. We can’t do that this time around. We have to play our best ball against a team like that.”

The Bills’ backs averaged just 2.8 yards on 15 carries out of 11 personnel (one back, one tight end, three receivers) vs. the Chiefs. The offensive line did not get enough push.

The Bills started Cody Ford and Brian Winters at guard in the first meeting. Ford was injured late and lost for the season. Winters has been benched. Jon Feliciano and Ike Boettger now are starting at guard.

The Bills will have to do a better job against Chiefs Pro Bowl defensive tackle Chris Jones. He ate up Winters, getting three hurries against him. Jones also got a QB hit against Ford and a hurry against Boettger. Jones had four run stuffs.

John Brown was questionable with a knee injury before the game and was held without a catch. Tight end Dawson Knox also missed the game.

Here is how News sports writers see Sunday's AFC championship game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

Vic Carucci 

This is not the same Bills team that lost in the October meeting between these teams. It has made improvements in all phases, especially on defense. Much of that is due to Matt Milano’s return from the injury that kept him out of the previous game. And the Bills have no reason to be ashamed of their effort in that loss.

That bodes well for the rematch.

The Bills are more than capable of going toe to toe with the Chiefs offensively. Buffalo’s defense is equally capable of holding its own against the Chiefs’ offense, with or without Patrick Mahomes.

Arrowhead will have a large crowd, but more than a few Bills fans will be there. And they will be celebrating, along with the team, a fifth trip to the Super Bowl. Bills, 30-23.

Jay Skurski

We’re operating on the assumption that Patrick Mahomes plays. Here’s the thing, though. I think the Bills can win regardless. Even if Mahomes plays, he’s unlikely to be 100% as he deals with a toe injury in addition to the head and/or neck injury he suffered against the Browns. If his mobility is impacted in any way, that’s a big deal for the Buffalo defense. The Bills’ defense is in a much better spot when it comes to defending the Chiefs than it was in Week 6 because of the return of linebacker Matt Milano. He can be used in a variety of ways, but the two biggest are in helping defend Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce and the Kansas City rushing attack that did big damage in the first meeting.

The bigger factor is Josh Allen. He was at his worst in Week 6. If he plays the way he has the rest of the season, the Bills’ offense can hang with the Chiefs – Mahomes or not. The Bills have been the best team in the NFL since that Week 6 loss. Now, they get a chance to prove it. Bills, 30-24.

Mark Gaughan

I think the Bills’ offense will have a much better day against the Chiefs than it had in October. The Bills benefited against Baltimore last week from having played Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in 2019. Likewise, I think having played the Chiefs already is an advantage for the Bills, particularly their offense. The Bills have a better idea of how difficult it is to handle defensive tackle Chris Jones. And Josh Allen has seen Steve Spagnuolo’s blitzes once already. I think the Bills will use the run game a bit more than last week, and I expect 60-plus rushing yards by the Bills. The Bills are the one team in the AFC that can keep up in a track meet with the Chiefs’ offense. I don’t see a good way for the Bills – or any defense – to contain Kansas City’s attack. You need to score 30 or more to beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. Nobody has stopped Travis Kelce all year, partly because you can’t leave Tyreek Hill in single coverage. I expect a great, high-scoring, nerve-wracking game. I think it comes down to this: Can either defense get a couple stops in the red zone and force some field goals? I think Kansas City’s offense is just a little more potent than Buffalo’s. Chiefs, 32-31.

Jason Wolf

Does anyone think this will be anything other than a shootout? Assuming Patrick Mahomes plays and plays well, of course.

The Chiefs and Bills finished the regular season as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the NFL in total offense, respectively, and were among the league’s most potent teams in points scored. Buffalo averaged 31.3 points per game during the regular season, second-most in the NFL behind the Packers, while the Chiefs averaged 29.6 points per game, sixth overall and third in the AFC.

The Bills have improved considerably since losing to the Chiefs, 26-17, in Week 6 in Orchard Park, and are about as healthy as can be expected at this point of the postseason. The Browns were inches from scoring what might have been a game-altering touchdown last week – the fumble through the end zone was a killer – before losing to the reigning champs by five points in Kansas City.

Buffalo can win this game. Bills, 31-30.

Rachel Lenzi 

Bank on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes playing Sunday, even if he’s not at 100%. It’s a long season, and the wear and tear catches up to those who go deep into the playoffs. The Bills could be going through similar injury issues, so this could turn into a survival-of-the-healthiest scenario.

The Bills' offense has developed and flourished in the weeks since a 26-17 loss to the Chiefs in October, particularly Josh Allen’s connection with Stefon Diggs, who has at least 100 yards receiving in five of the Bills’ last six games, and has averaged 12 yards per catch in that span.

The Bills have two challenges on defense: how the red-zone defense will limit the Chiefs' mobile offense, and how its defense can limit Kansas City’s run game. The Bills will make this game competitive. Chiefs, 32-27.

Jim Nantz has many friends across the country in the Bills Mafia who have asked him the same question all season long.

“ ‘When are you going to do a Bills game?’ ” the play-by-play announcer said. “The next week, ‘when are you going to do a Bills game?’ And then again, ‘When are you going to do a Bills game?’ What they don’t understand is I don’t set the schedule. I go where I’m told.”

CBS’ No. 1 team of Nantz and analyst Tony Romo are finally doing a Bills game Sunday when Josh Allen and company head to Kansas City for the AFC title game.

While searching for a mask as he arrived to pick up his 5-year-old son at a California school, Nantz didn’t mask his love of Allen and the charitable nature of Bills fans in a 40-minute telephone call.

Nantz’s legion of Bills fans include his former neighbors; a friend in Atlanta; the owner of the announcer’s favorite Buffalo restaurant, Hutch’s; and Bonnie Roesch, the wife of Charlie Roesch, better known as Charlie the Butcher.

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He corresponded this week with Bonnie Roesch, telling her that she had a “very good take” on the injury to Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes that led to his leaving Sunday’s victory over the Cleveland Browns and entering concussion protocol.

Nantz noted that she has reflexology knowledge and that he takes some reflexology oil she sent him on the road with him.

“She’s a character,” Nantz said. “She has this theory that I think it's got legitimacy.”

Nantz explained that Bonnie Roesch noted that before Mahomes went into concussion protocol, he was hobbling from injuring his left big toe earlier, which she noted in the reflexology world is directly related to the head and neck area, including all four lobes in the brain, plus several vertebrae in the neck area.

She theorized that Mahomes was already compromised in the head and neck area before that tackle.

“Honestly, it makes a lot of sense,” Nantz said. “Bonnie might actually have it that Patrick suffered perhaps a pinched nerve instead of a concussion. It's a genius take.”

However, the theory hasn’t gotten much traction.

Nantz’s take is that Buffalo fans are “unique.”

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To use one of Charles Davis’ favorite words Saturday describing the aggressiveness of Indianapolis Colts coach Frank Reich, the analyst was “uber” sharp.

“I’m in awe of them,” Nantz said. “I'm disappointed … that we didn't have a game there this year. I'm sure that we will more than make up for it in the years ahead, because Buffalo is going to be a powerhouse with number 17 (quarterback Josh Allen) and Sean (coach McDermott) on the sideline. ... This team is going to be a part of the story at the upper echelons of the AFC for a long time.”

Nantz said he has seen several Buffalo games on television, but expects to do extra homework on the Bills since he has done many Chiefs games in the last few years.

“We’re going to spend a little more time on the production calls, the Zoom calls with the Bills,” Nantz said. “We've got some catching up to do. It's not anything complicated.”

He and Romo also have relationships with Allen. Nantz said he invited the Bills quarterback and New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold to Butler Cabin at The Masters a few years ago.

“You can’t help but like this kid,” Nantz said. “He is something special. He's just a great, great young man.”

Nantz said Romo and Allen have had dinner together and did a speaking engagement together. Allen has credited Romo for giving him some off-season advice.

Nantz and Romo worked the CBS broadcast of Allen’s first victory as a rookie, when he scored three touchdowns in a 27-6 upset of Minnesota in the third game of the 2018 season.

“He made several crazy athletic moves,” Nantz recalled of the game in which the quarterback memorably leaped over a Viking defender.

Nantz also has some great memories of the 1990s Bills when he worked games for the CBS Radio network, including the 51-3 victory over the Los Angeles Raiders that sent them to their first Super Bowl.

“I remember everything about that game, and how difficult it was to call it just because of the one-sidedness of it,” Nantz said.

He knows he will have plenty to talk about this Sunday and wants to make sure he addresses one positive Buffalo topic.

The play-by-play announcer was “awed” by the Bills Mafia raising funds for the charities of former Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton, Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson and in honor of Allen’s late grandmother Patricia Allen.

“I’m so into people who try to do things that help others,” said Nantz, whose Nantz National Alzheimer Center in Houston recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. “Tell me anyplace else anywhere you've ever heard of a fan base taking care of an opponent’s foundation. That’s like storybook stuff. It is amazing. It speaks to the quality of the people.

“It's pretty neat the way the Bills are aligned as an organization. You've got the quarterback at age 24, who is going to be there for who knows, the way these guys are going into the 40s now. Maybe another 20 years.

“You got a coach that there are any number of stops around the NFL that are kicking themselves right now, saying, ‘why didn't we sign him? Why didn't we interview him?’ Or … ‘why didn't we select him after we interviewed him?’ You've got the ownership that's doing things the right way top to bottom and you got a fan base that is vocal and … supportive of their team and doing everything with class, showing other people what sports is about. I've never seen anything like it. So total, total respect here for what is going on with the Bills and their organization.”

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Bills fans might say the only thing missing is a storybook ending to this season.

Nantz doesn’t expect Sunday’s game to be anything like Kansas City’s 26-17 earlier victory over the Bills, but adds that the Chiefs find a way to win, with the last eight wins by a combined 32 points.

“They're not blowing people out. I expect this is going to be a fantastic, riveting game down to the wire.”

If Kansas City beats the Bills and wins back-to-back Super Bowls in two weeks, Nantz sees the “early stages of a little mini-dynasty.”

“But maybe it's just the beginning of what could be a great rivalry between these two teams,” Nantz said. “Maybe this is start of a glorious long stretch between Kansas City and Buffalo.”

If so, his Buffalo Mafia friends won’t have to ask Nantz when he is going to do another Bills game.

The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs bring plenty of armory into the AFC championship game. That, of course, is provided all-world quarterback Patrick Mahomes clears concussion protocol and can play.

For openers, No. 1 seeds in championship games off a straight win-no cover loss are 9-4 straight up and 8-4-1 against the spread, including 8-1 straight up and 7-1-1 against the spread if they scored more than 20 points in their last game. And there is Andy Reid, who has a stodgy 21-12 straight up and 23-10 against the spread mark versus AFC East opponents.

The Bills don’t figure to back down here, though. They are 10-7 straight up and 11-5-1 against the spread the past two seasons as an underdog of six or fewer points. Josh Allen enters with a 107.2 passer rating, just one notch below Mahomes’ 108.2, and Allen's sterling 13-8 straight up and 13-6-2 against the spread career record on the road. That includes 8-3 straight up and 8-2-1 against the spread in games in which the Bills have a greater than .666 winning percentage, and 4-0-1 against the spread as an underdog in those circumstances.

It doesn’t hurt knowing that Buffalo is 4-0 SU in its last four AFC title games. And then there is a potential sharpness issue surrounding Mahomes who, should he return, has played only 2.5 quarters of action in 2021. We simply cannot back a team laying points at this stage of the season that has not beat the spread since Nov. 1, going 0-8-1 against the spread since then. Not when defending Super Bowl champions are only 7-11 straight up and 8-10 against the spread in the postseason against greater than .750 foes, including 2-6 straight up and 3-5 against the spread against opponents coming off three consecutive wins. 

Buffalo is 6-2 straight up against playoff teams this season. Bills coach Sean McDermott 8-1 against the spread as a nondivision underdog against winning foes. Same season nondivision revengers are 15-8 against the spread in conference title games since 1998. Add it up and we’ll back destiny’s child here.

Prediction: Bills over Chiefs by 4.

Marc Lawrence previews the NFL from a Vegas perspective. You can follow him online at Playbook.com or @MarcLawrence.

Stefon Diggs doesn’t come across as someone who gets nervous easily.

To borrow a line from Outkast, the Buffalo Bills’ star receiver looks cooler than a polar bear’s toenails at pretty much all times. Heck, in a 2017 interview with The Undefeated, he said he wouldn’t even be nervous meeting Halle Berry.

Diggs, however, recently admitted to a situation that made him feel those butterflies in his stomach. It was back in May when several of his new teammates, including quarterback Josh Allen, gathered in Florida for informal workouts.

That was the first time Diggs had met them since he was traded to the Bills by the Minnesota Vikings two months prior. Just as the Bills were about to get started with a drill, veteran receiver John Brown brought Diggs to the front of the line.

That encouragement was all the receiver needed. He ran the route, and the nervousness melted away under the South Florida sun. Diggs was at home with his new team – even if he was 1,400 miles from where that team plays.

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Fast forward to today, and the start of a new year, and Diggs reflects back on the move that brought him to Western New York.

“I was telling my people, just the other day, it’s the scene in the movie where a lot of things go right,” he said. “I’m not going to say anything is perfect. I’ve had my highs and lows, especially just as far as going into this (past) year. I’m just thankful to be where I am right now, because I didn’t envision it being this way or even working out this well. So coming from a thankful standpoint of being humble and still being hungry because it’s a lot more out there. I’m thankful for the group that I’m around, I’m thankful to be healthy and to be around such great people.”

After a regular season in which he became the first Bills player to lead the NFL in both catches (127) and yards (1,535) – setting single-season franchise records in both categories – the trade for Diggs is already looking like one of the best in team history.

Where it lands exactly on that list is up for debate. Here’s a look at five of the best trades involving player acquisitions in team history – and the parallels between the deal for Diggs and a move that came 34 years ago.

‘Biscuit’ comes to Buffalo

It was Halloween 1987, and the Bills were involved in a three-team trade that remains one of the biggest in league history. Needing a last piece for their defense, the Bills sent running back Greg Bell, their first-round draft pick in 1988 and first- and second-round picks in 1989 to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for linebacker Cornelius Bennett.

The Colts in turn sent all of that, running back Owen Gill, their own first-round pick in 1988 and a pair of second-round choices to the Los Angeles Rams for running back Eric Dickerson.

“When I got traded, I didn't think much of it,” Bennett told The Buffalo News on Thursday in a phone conversation. “The only thing I thought was, you know, I'm finally getting my chance to live out my childhood dream of playing professional football.’ ”

Bennett arrived having not played a down of professional football to that point. The Colts made the linebacker the No. 2 overall draft pick out of Alabama in the 1987 draft, but had not been able to sign him to a contract.

“Here I was just this hot shot No. 2 pick in the draft not willing to take what I thought was less than fair market value at that particular time,” he said.

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Bennett can relate to those nerves that Diggs felt in Florida.

“I had to just come in and be quiet and do my job,” he said.

Over a nine-year career with the Bills, few did it better. Bennett made the Pro Bowl five times in those nine years, was chosen as a first-team All-Pro in 1988 and was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week seven times. He had a knack for making the big play, forcing or recovering 41 fumbles. The Pro Football Hall of Fame named him to its all-1990s second team. Most recently, he was a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time.

“We wouldn’t have been able to accomplish our incredible run and pretty much having a foothold in the history books without Cornelius Bennett,” Bruce Smith said in an interview with The News last year.

The similarities between Bennett’s arrival and Diggs’ addition this year are hard to ignore.

In the 1988 season – Bennett’s first with the team – the Bills had the No. 3 scoring defense in the NFL. He turned in arguably his best season – making 103 tackles, 9.5 sacks, two interceptions, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

“Over time, I came to the realization that I was a big part of our success,” Bennett said. “I guess that's probably the only time you'll ever hear me say some selfish words – ‘I was, instead of we were’ – but looking at (Diggs’) situation, I definitely can say that he has been the key component coming in, the last piece.

“The team has played well over the last three years, been in the playoffs. They've had capable receivers in the past.”

Nobody like Diggs, though. The Bills ranked second in scoring and tied for second in yards on offense this season, a year after ranking 23rd and 24th, respectively, in those categories. Even as an admitted casual observer of the NFL, Bennett could see from Diggs’ time in Minnesota that the Bills had landed a premier talent.

“What I didn't know and couldn’t see is his locker room presence,” Bennett said, “but from watching the clips and the highlights, seeing how he interacts with everybody, especially his quarterback, he seems to be that guy, that locker room piece. It looks like he’s a team guy. He wants to fit in. When he first got traded, he met with his quarterback, they hooked up. That showed his desire to be a team player and not come in there as some highly sought-after individual.”

As with any trade, there were questions after the Bills made each deal. In Bennett’s case, they were acquiring a rookie. In Diggs’ case, they were getting a player who, while highly productive, was made available by his former team for a reason.

“I think the thing was, what was he going to bring from the off the field part of it,” Bennett said. “His attitude, being in the locker room, he's proven whatever his situation was in Minnesota, whatever they thought of him, he's proven them wrong. ... From looking at his numbers from in Minnesota to now, I don't know who you're going to go out and get a guy that's better than him. ... His maturity was definitely way ahead of mine. He's a much older guy than I was when I got traded. His pedigree had already allowed him to have a voice in the locker room.”

While Diggs never publicly asked for a trade, there was enough circumstantial evidence to suggest he would welcome one. When it finally went down – with the Bills sending 2020 first-, fifth-, and sixth-round picks, as well as a 2021 fourth-rounder – Diggs was ready for it.

“I accepted it before it even happened,” he said. “Football means a lot to me, but I also understand this is a business. You always have to go in with 'don't get your feelings or your heart caught up in the business, because that's never good for business.' For me, whatever new situation I was going to be put in or chosen in, I was just going to embrace it.

“The first thing I always try to do is earn the respect of my teammates and my coaches, and that's by working your butt off. Just grinding, putting that work in and letting the chips fall where they lay. For me, I just approached it as a business mindset, you know, having come full circle like I've got a new family. I'm really cool with these people here.”

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Diggs is a perfect fit for the Bills. His skill set matches perfectly with quarterback Josh Allen. Any concerns about his unhappiness in Minnesota carrying over to his new home haven’t come to fruition. It’s hard to be too upset as a receiver, after all, when you get 166 targets and your team wins 13 games.

There should be years of production to come. At 27 years old, Diggs is in the prime of his career. He has three more years on his contract – and will be playing for an extension on that deal soon enough. Teammates and coaches rave about his physical condition, saying they have rarely, if ever, seen a player work harder on his body. 

Despite all of that being true, Diggs joked that he could count on one hand the number of people who believed his first season in Buffalo would go as well as it has – even if he believed all along.

“I was more so counting other people, as far as the people that trusted and believed that the process was going to work out and we had the right guys and bringing me here was one of the right decisions,” he said.

The trade for Diggs isn’t the only one paying off currently for the Bills.

Highway robbery of Hughes

When former General Manager Buddy Nix shipped linebacker Kelvin Sheppard to the Indianapolis Colts on April 29, 2013 in exchange for pass rusher Jerry Hughes, not much was made of the deal. Although Hughes was a former first-round draft pick, playing time was hard to come by with the Colts behind Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.

Hughes, though, quickly showed all he needed was a fresh start. He had 10 sacks in his first year in Buffalo, and has been one of the team’s most consistent pass rushers ever since. He hadn’t missed a game until this past week, ending a streak of 146 straight games.

“Stefon is a little bit like myself,” Hughes said. “Once he was traded and he stepped foot in this building, he came to work every day. Learning the offense, getting with Josh, getting with (offensive coordinator Brian) Daboll, getting with his receivers coach – doing every little bit he could to catch up to the team, to be up to speed so there wouldn't be any gap.

“It was very similar to myself back in 2013 when I got here. I hit the ground running. I wanted to dive quickly into the playbook so I could get acclimated to it, so once we hit the field, I'm not holding my teammates back. That's the way Stef has been, and that's why he's had the season that he's had. He comes here and he comes to work.”

The trade for Diggs is one that truly can be viewed as a win-win. With the first-round pick acquired from the Bills, Minnesota selected LSU receiver Justin Jefferson. He turned in a record-setting season with 88 catches for 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns. That’s the most receiving yards by a rookie receiver in the Super Bowl era (since 1970).

The trade for Hughes was much more one-sided. Sheppard spent just one season in Indianapolis before bouncing around to Miami, the New York Giants and Detroit before being finished in the NFL after the 2018 season.

So which deal was better?

“I got to go with the one that got us to 13-3, man,” Hughes joked.

There are other trades that were decisive wins for the Bills (for our purposes, we’re not counting trades that returned draft picks, so the deal that netted the pick that became quarterback Jim Kelly, for example, is not considered here).

Trading linebacker Kiko Alonso for running back LeSean McCoy in 2015 was another heist for the Bills. McCoy rushed for 3,814 yards and 25 touchdowns in four years after joining the team, while Alonso spent just one year with the Philadelphia Eagles. He went on to have three fairly productive years with the Miami Dolphins, but is currently out of the NFL.

Going back a few years, the Bills traded backup quarterback Dennis Shaw to the St. Louis Cardinals for wide receiver Ahmad Rashad. Shaw would throw just four more passes the rest of his career, while Rashad had a team-leading 36 catches for 433 yards and four touchdowns as the Bills went 9-5 to make the playoffs in 1974.

For now, the trade of Bennett remains the gold standard for the organization. What will it take for the deal for Diggs to take over that unofficial spot?

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"I’m cool. No major issues," Diggs said. "Don’t believe everything you read. I’m just messing. I’m all right though, big guy. Thanks for asking."

“Only if they win the Super Bowl,” Bennett said with a laugh. “Can they maintain? They don't want to be a one-hit wonder, because we've seen that before as well. Even though I half-jokingly say that, the icing on the cake would be them winning the Super Bowl. Then you could start comparing. I had a nine-year history there where we got better and better, finishing off in 1995, the last Bills home playoff game. That's our footprint.

“It's an honor to be associated with greatness and to be remembered, because that's why a majority of us play the game, is to leave our footprint in the sand so generations can follow after us.”

Diggs is off to a good start in that regard, but Bennett is right. A deep playoff run – one that culminates in something that those great teams from the early 1990s were never able to accomplish – would elevate it to an entirely new level. The first chance to start writing that legacy comes Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts.