The next installment of the Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes rivalry will be upon us soon as the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs do battle in Week 9.
With the Bills at home and seeing an in-form Chiefs team roll into their building, this has all the makings of yet another classic contest, which seems to be the norm when these two AFC heavyweights go toe-to-toe.
Given that Mahomes is on the other side of the field, it would be natural to think that the Bills might have a different game plan this week compared to Andy Dalton last week.
And for Allen, he’s certainly aware that No. 15 is a different beast compared to anyone else.
“Anytime you’re playing against a good team and a good quarterback, you have to play at the top of your game in order to win a football game,” Allen said. “Not that you don’t go out there and try to play your best all the time, there is a heightened sense of awareness to that of understanding who’s on the other side of the football. You want to go out there, and our goal is to try to score on every single drive, and that’s what we try to do.”
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Bills need to squash playoff demons vs. Chiefs
That might be tricky to do, considering this isn’t a playoff game, but the Bills need to get a statement win for their confidence.
Yes, Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens might be that, but since then, they haven’t played a true contender (could make the case for the Patriots), so this is looming as a measuring-stick game for the Bills.
Win, and the pattern continues of Buffalo beating Kansas City in the regular season, but lose, drop to 5-3, and look bad doing it, questions will be raised about a team that a few weeks ago was expected to canter to a division title and No. 1 seed in the AFC.
So, while it is Week 9, this feels like a season-defining moment for Buffalo.
Can the bogeyman be slayed?
