Rushing attacks
While the 707 combined passing yards on Sunday night played an intricate role in making the game so memorable, it is imperative to observe the impact made by the rushing attacks in order to totally understand why this game was perfect. Typically, a game featuring such high-powered passing offenses includes a mere supplemental ground game to open up such widespread success through the air. In The Perfect Game, however, the physicality of the rushing attacks of both the Chiefs and Bills created a tone that simply cannot be met in a prototypical “shootout.” Moreover, what makes the commitment of each offense to their rushing attack last night so special, is how apparently dedicated each of these teams are to evolving in order to compete with one another. This rivalry, as previously stated, is young. We are only in the first chapter of the novel that will become the Chiefs vs the Bills in the 2020s, and The Perfect Game was only the first climax.
Kansas City’s offense combined for 182 yards (6.7 yards per carry) and two touchdowns, and Buffalo, as a team, posted 109 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and one touchdown on the ground. Again, both quarterbacks led their teams in rushing yards, Mahomes with 69 (9.9 yards per carry) and a score, and Allen, with a frequently designed approach, gathered 68 yards of his own (6.2 yards per carry). In complement to Mahomes, Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran for 60 yards on 7 touches for an impressive — and encouraging — 8.6 yards per carry, and topped off his night with a shifty 22-yarder that brought K.C. to the red zone midway through the second quarter where they would eventually find the end zone and take their first lead of the game.
Mecole Hardman provided the flash with 2 carries for 31 yards and a touchdown that gave the Chiefs their third lead of the night late in the third quarter. For the Bills, Devin Singletary, who was Buffalo’s x-factor in their stretch run, was limited, but still found the promised land to cap off the monotonous, tone-setting, opening drive of the game with a touchdown. He would finish the night with a final line of 10/26/1.