Resilient Chiefs continue to expand repertoire, flash adaptability in win over Bills

In this scrambled, jumbled, capricious NFL season that will forever be entwined with the ever-lurking pandemic, the Chiefs appropriately enough found themselves playing their originally scheduled Thursday Night Football game late Monday afternoon at Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

Even in misty-to-downright-rainy conditions, though, the anticipated script still called for a fireworks contest between big-armed quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs and Josh Allen of the Bills, with each team seeking to regain equilibrium coming off discouraging losses that doused their 4-0 starts.

But if we’ve learned anything from 2020, it’s that no script is etched in stone.

So, naturally, the Chiefs’ 26-17 victory was all about … their running game behind a makeshift offensive line and a defense that muzzled Allen and the Bills most of the game.

Not with flash or sizzle, in other words, so much as with some grit and bristle in the defining moments.

Maybe no one statistic says more about the adaptability (and resilience, too) of this Chiefs team than this one:

Behind rookie Clyde Edward-Helaire’s career-best 161 yards on 26 carries, the Chiefs amassed more yards on the ground (247) than the air (221) for the first time since Mahomes took over the full-time starting job at the start of the 2018 season.

“Clyde was able to fill in the blanks there,” coach Andy Reid said, later adding that Edwards-Helaire would sleep well Monday night.

As might anyone who played, or follows the team, even on a night when up was down.

Now, Mahomes certainly had his moments, including a 37-yard completion to Byron Pringle on third and 12 to fend off a would-be Bills rally and set up the Harrison Butker field goal that made it a two-score game too late for Buffalo.

But the essence of this was the 46 rushes by the Chiefs, the most ever by a Reid-coached team.

That dimension primarily was engaged by Edwards-Helaire’s remarkable burst and ability to break tackles and the Chiefs’ inclination to adjust to how Buffalo was defending them.

But it was enabled by a cobbled-together offensive line that created a number of whopping openings that had Edwards-Helaire referring to the parting of the Red Sea. And that was nicely complemented by a defense muzzling Buffalo to just 206 yards a week after appearing vulnerable in a 40-32 loss to Las Vegas.

That defeat had unleashed some paranoia among some Chiefs fans.

But considering the Chiefs lost their fifth and sixth games last season (and then a week later lost Mahomes for several games with what initially appeared to be a catastrophic knee injury) and went on to win the Super Bowl, it would be a bit much to characterize this as some sort of must-win.

But it sure was a dose of redemption and dollop of reassurance for the Chiefs, who themselves had expressed dismay after the loss to the Raiders.

Certainly, it was heartening for the fans left fretful by a loss that logically figured to be a blip but still amplified some apparent issues — particularly on each interior line and in a defensive secondary that got scorched by the Raiders.

Not that this was a masterpiece that alleviates any concerns.

Not when you consider Butker missing yet another point-after attempt and Travis Kelce fumbling (albeit at the end of a first half marked by his two touchdown receptions) and more untimely penalties (some more legit than others) and a few more secondary breakdowns (some better exploited than others).

All of that made it anyone’s game at halftime, when the Chiefs led just 13-10 despite outgaining Buffalo 232-114 and Edwards-Helaire surging for 94 yards on 10 carries in the first 30 minutes.

But football isn’t a game of style points or a novelty act hinging merely on the sensational plays … much as those have become conflated in the Mahomes Era for the Chiefs.

It’s about a lot of other things but ultimately boils down to the collective will and persona of a team.

And this game was fresh testimony to the culture and mindset of the Chiefs, both in terms of how they responded to last week but also how they adapted to yet more flux.

They played without Sammy Watkins, out with a hamstring injury. Moments into the game, they lost stalwart right tackle Mitchell Schwartz for the night to a back injury a week after losing guard Kelechi Osemele (likely for the season) to torn tendons in both knees.

And the line was further revamped with Daniel Kilgore at center in place of Austin Reiter — who had been a fixture but was battling what Reid called a tender knee.

That ultimately meant a front line (L-R) of Eric Fisher, Nick Allegretti, Kilgore, Andrew Wylie and Mike Remmers.

Meaning two guys (Fisher and Wylie) who started the season at those positions.

“We had a lot of moving pieces there,” Reid said, later adding, “The guys didn’t really flinch. They just jumped in and went.”

So now the Chiefs have jumped back in the victory column for the 14th time in their last 15 games.

With reinforcements (Watkins, Schwartz and, oh, Le’Veon Bell, among them) on the way while also flexing fresh ways they can beat you … and creating their own script amid the flux.

“You’ve got to find ways to win,” Mahomes said. “That’s the biggest thing.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 7:50 PM.

Vahe Gregorian

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4868

Vahe Gregorian has been a sports columnist for The Kansas City Star since 2013 after 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He has covered a wide spectrum of sports, including 10 Olympics. Vahe was an English major at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his master’s degree at Mizzou.