Chiefs aim to tighten up in red zone vs. hot Bills' offense

[HipKat 56]

The Buffalo Bills could have an advantage if they can get into the red zone in Sunday’s AFC championship game in Kansas City.

 

The Bills’ offense ranks 13th in red-zone efficiency, while the Chiefs’ defense ranks 32nd.

“We’re not as efficient in the red zone,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said a couple weeks ago. “That’s one place that we’ve talked about that we’d like to get better at.”

The Bills actually are better than their 13th ranking indicates. And the Chiefs’ defense arguably isn’t quite as awful as its ranking inside its own 20 indicates.

The Bills move the ball so well and so consistently that their 68 trips inside the 20 tied for the most in the league. They had the fourth most TDs inside the 20 (42) and the second most scores overall (59).

The Chiefs are allowing teams to score on 76.6% of trips inside the 20. Denver led the NFL at 47.5%. On the plus side, however, it’s not that easy to get into scoring territory vs. Kansas City. The Chiefs are tied for the sixth fewest trips by opponents into the red zone.

 

On their run to the Super Bowl last season, the Chiefs’ defense allowed just 11.6 ppg over the last six weeks and ranked ninth in red-zone defense. Not so this year.

The second half of the season, Kansas City allowed 31 points to both Carolina and Las Vegas, 27 to Miami and 29 to New Orleans. The Chiefs held Atlanta to 14 in Week 16 and the Browns to 17 in Sunday’s divisional playoff win.

“There’s an explosive play here, a red zone nonstop there and all of a sudden, they’ve got 29 points,” Spagnuolo said after a 32-29 win over the Saints. “So, if we could find consistency in our good play, I think our guys would all feel a lot better about it, and that’s what we’ll keep chasing.”

Kansas City’s defense has All-Pro players in defensive tackle Chris Jones and safety Tyrann Mathieu. Both were great in the Chiefs’ 26-17 win at Buffalo in Week 6.

But overall, the Chiefs haven’t dominated on defense. They’re 11th in points allowed, 21st in rush yards allowed and 14th in pass yards allowed. They’re 20th in sacks. Last year, they were 11th. In terms of pressure, they’re 18th in ESPN’s pass-rush win-rate metric.

The K.C. defense ranks 22nd according to Football Outsiders’ analytic – defense-adjusted value over average – which factors in the result of every play based on the league average, the game situation and the quality of the competition.

The bottom line is Kansas City has not played as well on defense as the two teams the Bills have beaten in the playoffs – the Colts and Ravens.

The biggest factor in the red-zone success of the Bills offense is quarterback Josh Allen.

He never has thrown an interception on 169 pass attempts in the red zone in his career. That’s the longest active streak in the NFL. He has 43 passing touchdowns and 24 rushing touchdowns in the red zone. The rushing TDs are the most by an NFL QB since 2018.

Good rushing makes everything easier for the offense in the red zone, where the space is tighter. Allen has eight of the Bills’ 16 rushing touchdowns.

“He’s a hard guy to tackle,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said earlier this season. “It’s just like tackling a running back.”

The Chiefs’ defense has allowed 22 passing touchdowns in the red zone and 29 passing TDs overall, which is 11th most in the league.

 

 

[JoeFerguson 412]

Bills shuts the Queefs out 42-0.

Chefs will be the 2nd-worst defense the Bills have faced in 2 months.

[HipKat 56]

5 hours ago, JoeFerguson said:

Bills shuts the Queefs out 42-0.

Chefs will be the 2nd-worst defense the Bills have faced in 2 months.

That would be amazing, even more than beating the Raiders in the 51-3 game