KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Josh Allen walked off the sector inside Arrowhead Stadium a yr in the past juggling the frustration of an AFC tile sport loss to the Chiefs with a profound sense of optimism about the way forward for his up-and-coming Buffalo Payments.
There was nothing however soul-crushing sorrow Sunday night time.
Allen and Chiefs counterpart Patrick Mahomes had dueled all night time in a playoff sport positive to go down in historical past, main their groups to a mixed 25 factors within the ultimate 2 minutes of regulation. But it surely was Mahomes who delivered the coup de grace with a landing cross to Travis Kelce in extra time, lifting the Chiefs to a 42-36 victory.
The Chiefs had been headed to their fourth straight AFC title sport, this time towards the Bengals subsequent Sunday.
The Payments had been headed again to Buffalo with a ninth straight playoff loss away from house.
“Pat performed superb. I’ve acquired a number of respect for him and the Chiefs as an entire. They made another play than we did; that’s what it got here right down to,“ Allen stated. “However I’m pleased with our guys, how we fought, how we battled, how we got here by means of and persevered over some issues all through the course of this sport and the course of the season. It clearly — it hurts.
“You don’t like feeling like this, particularly back-to-back years on the identical place.”
The best way the sport performed out made it downright excruciating.
The Payments had been trailing 23-14 in a heavyweight slugfest earlier than lastly mounting a second-half comeback, and Allen thought he’d completed it off when he discovered Gabriel Davis for the go-ahead rating with slightly below 2 minutes left in regulation.
Absolutely, the league’s top-ranked protection would maintain on from there.
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/football/2022/01/24/bills-fight-valiantly-in-another-playoff-loss-in-kansas-city/2022012400010-61ee32f5cc32fc5d50ab4137jpeg.jpg)
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/football/2022/01/24/bills-fight-valiantly-in-another-playoff-loss-in-kansas-city/2022012400010-61ee32f6cc32fc5d50ab4138jpeg.jpg)
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/football/2022/01/24/bills-fight-valiantly-in-another-playoff-loss-in-kansas-city/2022012400010-61ee32f7cc32fc5d50ab4139jpeg.jpg)
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/football/2022/01/24/bills-fight-valiantly-in-another-playoff-loss-in-kansas-city/2022012400010-61ee32facc32fc5d50ab413ajpeg.jpg)
It turned out to be simply the beginning of a chaotic end: Mahomes threw a 64-yard landing cross to Tyreek Hill to regain the lead, Allen answered with a playoff-record fourth TD cross to Davis to offer it again to Buffalo with 13 seconds to go, and the Chiefs by some means managed to offer Harrison Butker an opportunity to kick a 49-yarder to ship the sport to extra time.
What was going by means of Allen’s thoughts with 13 ticks on the clock?
“I’m considering it’s Pat Mahomes on the opposite facet,” Allen replied.
The best way the sport performed out, it appeared as if no matter crew gained the coin flip for extra time would win the sport. And when Allen referred to as tails, and the stadium lights shined on heads, the sport was out of his palms.
Mahomes led his crew swiftly down area, hit Kelce in the long run zone and set off a wild celebration on the sector.
“It’s simply going to depart a nasty style in our mouth,” stated Davis, who had eight catches for 201 yards together with the 4 TDs. “I do know that it’ll be one thing I’ll be fascinated with till subsequent season begins once more, as a result of there’s nonetheless going to be video games happening, and the Tremendous Bowl’s going to be performed, and also you’re going to see it on TV and know you need to have been in that place. So it’s undoubtedly going to have folks with a chip on their shoulder.”
None extra so than the one beneath heart.
Allen was 27 of 37 for 329 yards passing and 4 touchdowns with out an interception, and he led the Payments with 68 yards on the bottom. No different participant in NFL historical past had handed for at the least 300 yards and three touchdowns, accomplished 70% of his throws and led his crew with at the least 65 yards speeding.
Besides, nicely ... Mahomes did it, too.
“We’ve acquired to proceed to work to beat him,” Payments coach Sean McDermott stated. “Give him credit score. He made a pair performs down the stretch and had an important sport. That’s what nice gamers do: They make massive performs in massive moments of huge video games, and he made massive performs. However once more, I’m pleased with the best way the blokes fought. They battled.“
For a franchise that after misplaced 4 consecutive Tremendous Bowls, it simply wasn’t sufficient.
Once more.
“You’re strolling off the sector and also you notice you gained’t have the identical roster every yr, coaches included. Numerous us have been collectively 5 years. That may not be the case,” Payments security Micah Hyde stated. “It’s past soccer. We’re actually like brothers. We celebrated, we cried collectively, we laughed collectively all through the years. And as soon as one thing like that occurs, it’s a tough option to exit. It’s powerful.”
___
Extra AP NFL protection: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL