One of the wildest weekends in NFL playoff history just got wrapped up, and it was capped off with one of the best playoff games in recent memory. The AFC Divisional Round Game on Sunday, January 23rd between the Chiefs and the Bills featured two of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL in Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.
This game was the perfect definition of a back and forth matchup as both teams would not give up throughout the whole game. Fans did not want this game to end as the Chiefs won in overtime with a 42-36 win over the Bills. It seemed impossible for this game to not be as crazy as the other divisional games that were played before it.
This game was an offensive showdown to the very end as fans saw wide receiver Gabriel Davis set an NFL postseason record with four touchdowns in one game. The former fourth-round pick out of UCF was not even heard of going into this game but he was surprisingly Josh Allen’s favorite target on a team that has a great young tight-end in Dawson Knox and one of the best wide receivers in the league in Stefon Diggs.
Josh Allen played an amazing game as he was 27-37 on his passes, threw for 329 yards, and had 4 touchdowns. Patrick Mahomes was also spectacular as he was 33-44, threw for 378 yds, and also had 3 touchdowns as he was all over the place on the field. Mahomes did the unthinkable as he had only 13 seconds and three timeouts from his own 25-yard line to try to give his team a shot at tying the game on a field goal. Mahomes was able to do this on two passes with completions to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce and got his team into field goal range.
The last two minutes of the game had a total of 25 points being scored from both teams. The Chiefs and the Bills were not going to go home without a fight and did not let any lead from the opposing team count them out. Fans and people across the league are questioning the overtime rules after this game as many are seeing it to be controversial. The Chiefs won the coin toss, they had the ball first, they went down the field and scored. Many people believe that it is unfair for the Bills to not receive an opportunity to try to tie the game and it will be interesting to see where this rule goes down the road. This overtime loss ended the hopes of a Super Bowl championship for the Buffalo Bills as they suffered heartbreak again at Arrowhead Stadium.
The three divisional games before this one all had game-winning field goals to end the game and even included a 24 point comeback from Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who fell short against the Los Angeles Rams.
The Chiefs are back in the AFC Championship and make history as the first team to host four consecutive AFC Conference Championship games. Fans across the league are considering this rivalry between Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes to be Peyton Manning vs Tom Brady 2.0. This game showed that the AFC will be the conference to watch over the next decade as fans will be looking forward to more amazing matchups between these two teams for years to come.
Nicholas Holdofsky is a third-year English student.
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