Bills vs. Chiefs: Behind the numbers of Week 6

We take a look at the Kansas City Chiefs victory over the Buffalo Bills from the stat sheet and see what we can learn.

The Kansas City Chiefs bounce back from their embarrassing divisional lost to the Las Vegas Raiders with a 26-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills. The score would suggest that this game was a fairly close, but the reality is that the Chiefs decimated the Bills.

We can prove that, mathematically.

In order to do this, we take a deep dive into the stat sheet, look at all of the most notable numbers and break down what it means for the Chiefs in the future.

245 rushing yards

Of course, we have to start with the rushing numbers, as they have been analyzed en masse the last few days.

The Kansas City Chiefs ran over the Buffalo Bills, racking up 245 yards on the ground, which is the highest rushing total of the season. As a matter of fact, the last time the Chiefs had more then 245 yards rushing was Week 16 of 2012 in a game against the Indianapolis Colts (352 yards).

Clyde Edwards-Helaire finally had his breakout game, grabbing 161 yards on the ground and making his presence known. It is slightly unfortunate and unfair that he did not get the chance to visit the end zone, but if the opposing defenses continue to give up these kinds of lanes, it will not be much longer before his TD total will skyrocket.

Even Darrel Williams got in on the fun, grabbing 26 yards on the ground and 15 through the air, although most notable is his one touchdown. On a fourth and one on the Bills 13, Williams bounced outside and sped to the endzone to put the Chiefs up by 10 and out of reach for the Bills.

The ground control helped the Chiefs command the time of possession battle as well, with 37:45 minutes of control to the Bills 22:15 minutes. With over a quarter of more control time (15:30 minutes), it is no surprise that the Chiefs won this game.

14 of 27?

Josh Allen went 14 of 27 for only 122 yards through the air.

For someone with legitimate MVP interest entering the game, this was a very poor performance from Allen, although that can largely be contribute to the efforts of Kansas City Chiefs defense.

Allen was pressured on 35.5% of his drop backs, with the Chiefs using countless blitzes to put that pressure on Allen. This forced 24 percent of Allen’s tosses to be considered “bad passes”, and although the defense never actually recorded a sack, they did force a late game interception.

There is some room for concern here as well, as the Chiefs allowed Allen to also scramble for 42 yards on 8 attemps, which is 5.25 yards per carry. These plays should have been over when the defensive line got into the backfield, but they allowed Allen to escape and extend drives with his legs. With quarterbacks like Teddy Bridgewater and now Tua Tagovailoa on the schedule, the defense will want to put some checks on the quarterback’s ability to scramble past them.

8 penalties

The Chiefs committed 8 penalties throughout the game which awarded the Bills 68 yards.

This is starting to become a problematic trend for the Chiefs, after committing 10 penalties for 94 yards last week against the Raiders. These penalties not only help give up quite a few yards to opponents, but they also keep the Chiefs defense taxed by extending drives.

Most notably are the penalties on the Chiefs secondary, which help move opponents up and down the field. Against teams like the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers who struggle to pass deep and rely on defensive miscues downfield, these errors can not happen.

1-yard average

Mecole Hardman averaged a single yard per punt return, and only 16.5 yards per kick return.

The only way these numbers could have been worse is if they had been negative. The Chiefs’ special teams unit has really struggled this year, with Hardman being a serious area of concern. Hardman was probably one of the only seriously negative performances of Monday night, and he only served to hinder the Chiefs.

The Chiefs average starting position on the field was their own 21 yard line, and if it were not for Daniel Sorenson’s late game interception, that moves back to the Chiefs 17. This is largely due to Hardman’s terrible punt and kick returns.

The Chiefs special teams unit has been something to behold since they hired Dave Toub, but this season has left us with quite a few questions.

12 points

Travis Kelce grabbed 2 touchdowns on Monday with 65 receiving yards—all on only five receptions.

That means that Kelce scored on 40% of catches and had 13 yards per catch, which is impressive, but especially so when the entire game was mostly defined by the ground game. This also gave Kelce his fourth and fifth touchdowns of the season, putting him on pace to grab just under 15 touchdowns for the season. This also pushed Kelce to 470 yards on the season, which puts him on pace for 1,253 yards on the season.

Kelce currently has the second most first downs on the team with 26, 5 behind Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s first place. He also has more receiving yards then any other tight end in the league, is tied for most touchdowns among other tight ends, and currently averages the second most yards per game among tight ends (behind only George Kittle).

Kelce is being overlooked quite a bit this season despite having a great season, and this served as a great opportunity to give him the respect he deserves.