Buffalo Bills ‘getting healthier and hotter’ at the right time (Post-Week 11 power rankings)

The Buffalo Bills are 9-2 for the first time since 1992.
Buffalo’s latest win, a 30-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, was a total team effort. Josh Allen sealed the game with a 26-yard scamper for a score in an MVP moment, but he was not alone in the win. Allen’s offensive line kept him clean all game and his shorthanded pass-catchers made play after play against a Chiefs defense that had been tough to score on all season long.
As for the other side of the ball, Buffalo’s defensive line generated pressure consistently. Behind the defensive line, the linebackers and secondary deserve a lot of praise for holding Patrick Mahomes under 200 yards passing while keeping Travis Kelce and DeAndre Hopkins in check.
Entering their bye week, here is a look at where the national media has the Bills on their power rankings and their analysis.
Preseason hot seat: Coach Sean McDermott
Current temperature of hot seat: Freezing
This was never about job security but instead about the challenge facing McDermott due to the many changes to the Bills’ roster. He has aced the task and put himself in conversation for NFL Coach of the Year. Buffalo is off to its best start since 1992 and goes into the bye week having taken down the defending Super Bowl champions and keeping the No. 1 seed in play. Despite injuries and new faces, McDermott has impressively coached the Bills to a 9-2 start.
A full column here on Sean McDermott’s big fourth-and-2 decision, but the TLDR is this: It was a massive choice in both the macro and micro sense; a great, confidence-building call for Joe Brady; and an even greater confidence-building call for Sean McDermott. Josh Allen said it best after the game: McDermott put his faith in his players. They’re going to remember as much later in the season.
Their regular-season dominance of the Chiefs continued Sunday, for whatever that’s worth – and the Bills will tell you, not all that much. But Buffalo is getting healthier and hotter, now winners of six in a row while scoring at least 30 points in the past five games. The AFC East is basically in the bag – again – but the goal is to host the first AFC championship game in 31 years … and much, much more.
We know they can beat the Chiefs in the regular season. Can they do it in the postseason?
Josh Allen’s 26-yard touchdown run on fourth down changed the trajectory of the Bills’ season, and might have been his MVP moment. Credit to head coach Sean McDermott for going for it, after seeing so many other teams play it safe and lose to Patrick Mahomes as a result.
The face some tough games down the stretch, but they have a chance at the top seed. The defense often gets overlooked and shouldn’t.
Josh Allen’s fourth-and-2 TD rumble will be talked about for some time. Was it his “MVP moment”? Perhaps. Did it start the boulder rolling toward the Bills taking the AFC crown? We’ll see. Buffalo has six games remaining, while Kansas City has seven, and the Bills are still a game back in the loss column. But even with their run game stalling at times, they made a statement by dropping 30 points on a Chiefs defense that hadn’t allowed an opponent to score that many in a regular-season game in more than two years. That they did it without Dalton Kincaid or Keon Coleman is a testament to Allen and his ability to lift everyone around him. Buffalo’s defense certainly did its job, forcing interceptions on K.C.’s first and last possessions and inducing three-and-outs on three separate occasions in between. Not to mention, the unit could get Matt Milano back for the home stretch. The Bills are by no means perfect, but they can go toe to toe with just about any team right now.
It can be argued that the biggest Week 11 statement was made on a fourth down in the fourth quarter in Buffalo.
Up two points and facing 4th-and-2 inside field-goal range, the Buffalo Bills eschewed a kick. Instead, quarterback Josh Allen took off. Twenty-six yards and seven points later, the Bills handed the Chiefs their first loss and made their own statement as the team to beat in the AFC.
While talking to reporters after the victory, Allen said that he appreciated head coach Sean McDermott going with the aggressive route on the play.
“I appreciated Coach for trusting us,” said Allen. “Any time you give the ball back to Pat (Mahomes), that offense, down six with the game on the line, I like their odds in that situation,” Allen added. “So, wanting six or seven (points) to try to make it a two-score game.”
After watching Allen roll through the Chiefs defense, wide receiver Khalil Shakir said that he’s just glad Allen is on his team.
“When Josh takes off, I find myself just watching, like, ‘Wow, he’s different,’” Shakir said. “When he took off today, I just started yelling. I couldn’t stop yelling. I was blanking in the head.”
Analyst’s Take
After a two-score win over the reigning champions, Buffalo is the team to beat in the AFC. Without starting tight end Dalton Kincaid and upstart rookie wideout Keon Coleman, the Bills knocked off the Chiefs, who came into Week 11 undefeated.
Though the Chiefs have had the Bills’ number in January, Buffalo should feel confident about another meeting with Kansas City in the playoffs.