Quarterback Josh Allen will lead the Buffalo Bills into their divisional-round matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs (12-5) full well known that the Bills (11-6) go where Allen takes them.
Prior to facing him, Allen has been a huge topic of discussion in Kansas City this week. Some of the top praise came from Chiefs pass rusher Melvin Ingram.
“Man, he’s one of the elite quarterbacks in this league, and you’ve got to try to cancel out every phase,” Ingram said per Chiefs Wire. “You’ve got to play assignment football because when you’ve got a quarterback that can run, that can throw, that can do everything, you’ve just got to play assignment football and not try to do too much.”
Roaming around the backend for the Kansas City defense is safety Tyrann Mathieu. After watching Allen throw five touchdowns in the wild-card round and another three in Week 5’s Buffalo win against KC, Mathieu is well aware of Allen’s abilities as well.
“I think he’s a great athlete. He’s obviously a guy that can make all the throws, and any time he’s using his legs, it seems like it’s to his advantage,” Mathieu said.
Perhaps the top form of respect from the Chiefs came from the coaching staff. Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said that the defense is having extra conversations specifically about tackling Allen.
“We’ve spent a lot of time this week in the couple meetings we’ve had, talking about how to tackle this quarterback,” Spagnuolo said “We don’t usually spend so much time talking about tackling a quarterback — but he’s big, he’s strong, he’s got the stiff arm. If you don’t get him down with a couple of guys, he’s already shown he can break tackles. He extends downs.”
In addition to with Allen’s superior day passing the ball in Buffalo’s win in Kansas City earlier this season, he ran the ball well. His 59 yards rushing led the Bills and he also scored on the ground to give him four total in game.
Another effort like that and Buffalo will certainly like their chances against the Chiefs again.
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