Kansas City Chiefs show depth and grit in victory over Buffalo Bills

The Chiefs showcased their depth in their gritty win over the Bills.

This week, the Kansas City Chiefs leaned on a surprising and very effective rushing attack to dismantle the Buffalo Bills. The Chiefs weathered the rainy conditions en route to a 26-17 victory.

There are plenty of takeaways from this impressive, albeit slightly bizarre victory. Without further adieu, let’s dive into the lessons we learned from the Chiefs’ fifth win of the season.

The offensive line silenced critics

Just a week after Kelechi Osemele‘s knee injury that gutted the team, Chiefs fans held their breath on Monday as star right tackle Mitchell Schwartz exited the game early. For an offensive line that was coming off such a poor performance against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5, Schwartz’s back injury felt like the death blow. This was a worst case scenario, especially given the rainy, gusty Buffalo weather that already affected the Chiefs aerial attack.

Instead of total dissolution, though, we instead saw an absolute masterclass from the offensive line, especially when run blocking. Nick Allegretti, Daniel Kilgore, and Mike Remmers—a 7th round pick, a late free agent signing, and a journeyman, respectively—turned in a Herculean effort. They mauled Buffalo’s d-line all day, clearing gaps for Clyde Edwards-Helaire to the tune of 245 rushing yards as well as controlling Buffalo’s pass rush.

The offensive line—composed of Fisher, Allegretti, Kilgore and Wylie, and Remmers—played with confidence and synergistic dominance. Kilgore was excellent filling in for Austin Reiter. Reiter was a surprise scratch this week, and one has to think Kilgore has won the job going forward. Also, I have to give a special shout-out to Allegretti, who made my alma mater, the University of Illinois, extremely proud with his relentless bullying of Buffalo’s linemen and edge rushers.

Suddenly, it looks like the Chiefs have a decent amount of depth on the offensive line, a pleasant surprise given the worries Chiefs fans had during the week. Assuming Schwartz returns, it looks like what seemed to be a somewhat depleted unit is now one with a fair bit of depth.

Enough cannot be said about Andy Heck, the Chiefs O-line coach. He navigated an unusual game schedule and a couple key injuries to starters, all in the wake of a poor performance against Las Vegas. His reserves were not only ready, but they took over the game. This week’s game ball has to go to Heck and the rest of that line for a tremendous turnaround that I’m confident no one saw coming—besides the players themselves, of course.