Bills’ Sean McDermott on the Chiefs: ‘They’re doing a lot right inside that building’

The Buffalo Bills’ playoff hopes were teetering in late November. They had lost three of their previous four games and went into their bye week with a 6-6 record.

Buffalo’s first game after the bye was a tough one: facing the Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Bills won 20-17 on Dec. 10 and that kicked off a six-game winning streak that has seen Buffalo win the AFC East, get the No. 2 seed in the postseason and beat the Steelers in a Wild Card game.

Coach Sean McDermott was asked this week by reporters what changed that day in Kansas City.

“I feel like the guys just really started to love one another, really lean in to one another and play together,” McDermott said. “And that has then formed a little bit of an identity and I believe it even started before that, to be quite honest. So sometimes you don’t see the results right away as things are happening kind of underneath the water there.

“So I credit the players and the staff for really, really generating that and then some of that happening very organically as well.”

The Bills will face the Chiefs again, this time in Orchard Park, New York, and the stakes are higher. The winner of Sunday’s Divisional playoff contest will advance to the AFC Championship Game.

This will be the seventh meeting between the franchises since the 2020 season, and their third postseason game in that time. McDermott was asked about the rivalry between the teams and quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

“I think it’s built on respect,” McDermott said of the Bills-Chiefs history. “I don’t really know Josh’s and Patrick’s relationship, but it seems like they certainly respect each other off the field and then it seems like they have a great amount of respect for each other on the field as well. And I think that’s great for the fans. It’s great for those two as individual players as well, and they’re at the tops of their profession, right?

“Overall, again, I think it’s just a credit to certainly them, as I mentioned, but also to where we’ve gotten to as an organization and a team. But I think at the same time, they’ve been able to win world championships now and so they’re doing a lot right inside that building and led by Andy (Reid) and Patrick, for sure.”

Here is more of what McDermott and Bills players said about the Chiefs during news conferences this week.

McDermott

On the Chiefs’ success

McDermott: “I think it’s a testament to who they are as an organization and the success that they’ve been able to have and then sustain. It’s a credit to their organization from top down and including Andy and his staff, the Hunt family and I just think overall that with where we’ve been able to get to, I think it’s starting to say a lot about who we are and what we’ve been able to achieve and then sustain as well. So I think there’s two good organizations and teams that have earned the right to be here.”

Does it seem like the Bills always have to face Chiefs in the playoffs?

McDermott: “They’re the reigning Super Bowl and a world champs, and they’ve been that. They’ve been to many Super Bowls now over the last few years and AFC Championship games. So you know, all you can do is control your level of play, right? We can’t control their level of play. There are phenomenal football team with a phenomenal coach and a phenomenal quarterback and some phenomenal players as well. So all of that we can’t control. What we can control is us and what we’re trying to get to in our level of play and that’s where our focus needs to be.”

Josh Allen

On facing the Chiefs again

Allen: “We’ve played this team once throughout this year, but really we’ve played them every year for the last, I think four or five years. So I think it’s two teams that are very familiar with each other. So the wrinkles that they put in, that we put in that we adjust to, those are going to be key to winning this game. So again, just trying to come in here and be as prepared as possible for game day.”

Can the Bills take anything from their 20-17 win over the Chiefs this season?

Allen: “I think you can pull a little bit but again, they’re watching film too. They’re making adjustments too, and they’re a really, really good football team, extremely well coached and they’ve got players on their defense especially that can make some really good plays and they can take games over. So it’s going to take 11 guys on the offensive side of the ball, on the defensive side of the ball and on the special team side of the ball. So it’s gonna be a complete team game that we’re gonna have to play.”

On facing the Chiefs defensive line

Allen: “I think they were second in the league in sacks this year, which you need more than one guy to do that. They’ve got a very ferocious group. They have a lot of motor in them. They don’t give up on plays. They’re constantly trying to chase down the quarterback. They feel like they get beat and the quarterback steps up and they’re right there. So they do a good job with their rush patterns and their games within their D-line. So, again, it’s something that we got to work on and we’ve got to make sure that we’re prepared to handle what they can throw at us. But it’s a really, really good group and then you throw that in with the back end that they got, it’s a pretty special defense.”

On having to beat the defending champs to keep their season alive

Allen: “They’ve been at the top of the mountain and they know what it takes to get there. We’ve yet to do that. And again, as a competitor, as a player to be in a situation like this is something that you dream about. You really do. And I know guys on this team have been waiting for this moment for a long time. And to think about how far we’ve come, even from seven, eight weeks ago, to where we are now to have an opportunity to host a game against them, they’ve won two championships in the last couple years. You know, you can’t be help but be excited for that.”

Center Mitch Morse

On the Chiefs defensive line

Morse: “All those dogs can hunt on the defensive line and it’s just a testament to Spags’ (Steve Spagnuolo) defense. And then when you have your opportunities to go one on one, they take advantage of those at times. So, for us, it’ll just be understanding that they play with a lot of energy. A lot of juice. They’re relentless when it comes to attacking the quarterback and stopping the run. So we’ll have to match that intensity, no doubt, and understand that it’s going to be a four-quarter game with some ebbs and flows. They’re going to have their punches in there and we’re just going to have to navigate those and make some endgame adjustments and stick to our rules.”

Defensive end Greg Rousseau

On having to beat the defending champs to get to the top

Rousseau: “I feel like that’s how it always is in sports. You know, you’ve got teams that take their turns being at the top, no matter what sport or what level you’re at. So they’re a really good team. We’re ready for the opportunity and we can’t wait.”

On the Chiefs offense

Rousseau: “Like you said, quarterback, tight end, running back, they’ve got good players all over the field. And that’s how good teams are built. So I mean, we’ve kind of got to use the same approach for every single player. It’s all about us doing our one-eleventh and just playing team defense.”