KC Chiefs vs. Bills recap: Quick thoughts from the Divisional Round
By Matt Conner
The secondary was woefully thin
The single play that best illustrates just how thin the Chiefs were in the secondary came with two minutes to go in the third quarter with the Chiefs up 23-14. It was then that Josh Allen decided to take a shot down the field and found Gabriel Davis streaking past the entire Chiefs defense and beyond a clearly beaten Charvarius Ward for a 75-yard gain, the biggest play of the game. It was a one-play drive and it showed just how vulnerable the Chiefs looked in the secondary.
The problem for the Chiefs is that they came into the game a bit thin with the news that Rashad Fenton was going to be inactive after suffering from a back injury all week long. Fenton did not practice on any day of the week and was designated as questionable. From there, he was left inactive which meant more time for the guys down the depth chart like Mike Hughes and Deandre Baker.
What made matters even worse was that Tyrann Mathieu left early in the first quarter on the opening drive of the game with a head injury that left him in the team’s concussion protocol. A trip to the locker room confirmed things and he was out of the game. For a hot second, even Ward was in the blue medical tent. The bottom line is that the Chiefs were down their best overall player in the secondary and the emotional leader while also being down a couple of talented players as it is.
The secondary is always going to give up yards against a guy as talented as Josh Allen but it’s even tougher when the injuries start to rack up.