Kansas City Chiefs Much Healthier for AFC Championship Rematch Against Buffalo Bills

The Kansas City Chiefs lost one game this season when they played their starting unit. That came in Week 11 against the Buffalo Bills in a hard-fought matchup that ended in a 30-21 score. As often happens with games in the middle of the season, both the Chiefs and the Bills had plenty of players banged up for the contest.

Kansas City was missing four key starters in Week 11, and a fifth player — kicker Harrison Butker — who contributes tremendously on special teams. Among those missing players, three of them were offensive players who will be in uniform this week. The Chiefs were also without stud wideout Rashee Rice, who suffered a serious knee injury in Week 4 and won’t play until next season.

Running back Isiah Pacheco was one of the Chiefs’ missing persons against the Bills, as he was on Injured Reserve (IR) with a fractured fibula. This marks the second straight season where Pacheco missed the regular-season tilt between the Chiefs and Bills before suiting up for the playoff matchup. Last year, Pacheco rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries against Buffalo in the playoffs — his highest total during last year’s postseason.

This season, Pacheco has struggled since returning from the injury. In two games before breaking his fibula, he carried 34 times for 135 yards and a touchdown. In the six games he’s played since returning, Pacheco has carried 54 times for 193 yards and one touchdown while splitting carries with veteran running back Kareem Hunt.

Marquise “Hollywood” Brown is also back in action for the Chiefs. He missed the first matchup between these two clubs because he was on IR thanks to a shoulder injury.

He’s played in three games since returning, nabbing nine of the 17 passes thrown his way for 91 receiving yards. While those aren’t big numbers, it just gives Patrick Mahomes yet another target to find in the passing game.

Adding Brown to JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeAndre Hopkins, Xavier Worthy, Noah Gray, and the most important piece, Travis Kelce, makes for a much more diverse offensive group.

Perhaps most importantly, the Chiefs will have a pair of defensive starters in defensive end Charles Omenihu and cornerback Jaylen Watson for this one. Omenihu was out in November while he was recovering from an ACL tear he suffered in last year’s AFC Championship Game.

Omenihu had just six tackles and a sack in his six regular-season games, but he had four tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble in last week’s 23-14 win over the Houston Texans. The Chiefs and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo do a great job disguising their intentions on the blitz, and Omenihu is just another weapon for the defensive mastermind to deploy.

Watson, on the other hand, is a fantastic corner, and while he split time with Nazeeh Johnson last week against the Texans, it wouldn’t surprise me if Watson played more this week if he’s able. When these two teams met last, the Bills abused Johnson.

According to Pro Football Reference, quarterback Josh Allen was 6-for-7 for 89 yards, a touchdown, and a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeting Johnson in the first meeting. Kansas City is likely to use All-Pro corner Trent McDuffie to follow top wideout Khalil Shakir, so the combo of Watson and Johnson will have to be sound. Watson is a huge upgrade if he’s feeling close to one hundred percent.

Now, the Bills will also have some players available who missed the first meeting. They’ll also have some who are in much better health than they were during that game, as well.

Wideout Amari Cooper played against the Chiefs while dealing with a wrist injury. He wore a soft cast and still made two huge receptions for 55 yards in the game. He’s been invisible in the playoffs, catching just two passes for eight yards on four targets. However, he’ll be at full health in a big game.

Buffalo will also have starting right tackle Spencer Brown, who missed the first meeting thanks to an ankle injury he’d suffered the week prior. Brown was replaced by Ryan Van Demark, who performed admirably in that Josh Allen wasn’t sacked in the game.

However, the Bills ran for just 49 yards on 19 non-Josh Allen carries. With Brown back in the fold, the Bills should feel much more confident in their rushing attack, which has been excellent the last two weeks against two great run defenses in the Denver Broncos and the Baltimore Ravens.

Buffalo was also without defensive end Dawuane Smoot, who was on IR with a wrist injury. Smoot has been an underrated bright spot this season, as he’s run the Shaq Lawson role of setting the edge, keeping contain, and maintaining sound gap-integrity up front.

Smoot’s totaled 16 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 11 regular-season games, adding one tackle and a quarterback hit this postseason. He is a valuable part of the defensive end rotation.

The Bills were without two of their top pass-catchers, as well. Tight end Dalton Kincaid missed the game with a knee injury, and Keon Coleman was out with — you guessed it — a wrist injury, as well.

All those two players did this year was combine for 132 targets, 75 receptions, 1,014 receiving yards, and six scores. While Curtis Samuel (5/58/1) and Dawson Knox (4/40/0) performed well in place of Coleman and Kincaid, it will be nice for offensive coordinator Joe Brady to have his whole cadre of weapons available this week.

The Chiefs also made a big change up front, as they moved their All-Pro left guard, Joe Thuney, to left tackle — which had been manned by Wanya Morris, D.J. Humphries, and Kingsley Suamataia at different points this season. Thuney has been fantastic, and his replacement at left guard, Mike Caliendo, has been very good, as well. This is as strong as the Chiefs’ offensive line has been all season.

The Bills were missing one other star player in the first meeting: linebacker Matt Milano. After a shaky first few outings towards the end of the regular season, Milano seems to have found his stride in the playoffs.

He’s made eight tackles this postseason, adding four quarterback hits and a sack to his ledger. The problem is that he’s dealing with hamstring soreness, an issue that caused him to miss Baltimore’s final drive last weekend.

Milano isn’t the only Bills defender dealing with a potential injury issue. Cornerback Christian Benford was limited in Wednesday’s practice because he’s in concussion protocol. Safety Taylor Rapp missed practice after he left the Ravens game on a cart thanks to a hip injury.

Head coach Sean McDermott called Rapp “day-to-day,” and it would be a huge blow if he were to miss the game. One thing that all three of those players have in common is that they all missed last year’s playoff game against the Chiefs due to injury, as well.

So, while the participants in this weekend’s AFC Championship Game might look quite familiar to us all, the teams won’t be nearly the same as they were in the first meeting they had back in November.