NFL play-offs
Dates: 13-28 January 2024
BBC coverage: Live text coverage of every match on the BBC Sport website and app and live radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds every Sunday evening, with Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Detroit Lions this Sunday (21:00 GMT)
It was one of the best finishes to a play-off game in NFL history.
Two years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs had a narrow lead in their divisional round game at home to the Buffalo Bills. Then Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen produced a quarterback masterclass.
In the final two minutes, the lead changed hands three times before the Chiefs kicked a field goal to force overtime, in which they clinched a 42-36 win on the first possession.
For Mahomes and Allen, the two young stars, it was a match to suggest the beginnings of a classic rivalry.
Mahomes hinted as much afterwards, when he said: “We’re going to play this team [the Bills] a lot in games like this. With that quarterback [Allen], that coaching staff and those players, there are going to be a lot of battles.”
The next such battle takes place this Sunday, again in the divisional round, with Buffalo hosting the defending champions for the latest chapter in a quarterback contest that could come to rank among the all-time greats.
And there is plenty more drama in store this weekend as the top seeds join the play-off party having earned a first-round bye, with three in-form underdogs aiming to pull off an upset.
Toppling Mahomes a ‘dream’ challenge for Allen
Mahomes’ first meeting with Allen was in 2020 and their paths have continued to cross regularly, with this their third play-off meeting in four years.
Overall, they have a 3-3 record against each other but Mahomes has won both previous play-off games, in 2021 and 2022.
With Kansas City and Buffalo still among the best teams in the AFC Conference, they are set to keep colliding on the road to the Super Bowl, just like legendary quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning did between 2001 and 2016.
Brady had…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-play-offs-buffalo-bills-075151319.html
Author : BBC
Publish date : 2024-01-20 07:51:51
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