The Buffalo Bills leaned on a familiar combination to help them prevail against the Kansas City Chiefs, with the enduring brilliance of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs no surprise to their team-mates in a potentially critical win.
Buffalo gained a measure of revenge for the Bills' incredible overtime loss in the AFC Divisional Round last season with a 24-20 win at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday.
Taron Johnson's fourth-quarter interception of Patrick Mahomes sealed the win at the end of an absorbing contest between two teams that entered Week 6 at 4-1.
Prior to the pick by Johnson, Allen and Diggs linked up three times on a go-ahead drive, including for an 18-yard completion that set Buffalo up at the Kansas City 28-yard line. Allen then showed astonishing athleticism to hurdle a defender on a 16-yard run before finding tight end Dawson Knox on a pinpoint touchdown throw to the corner of the endzone.
Diggs finished the game with 148 yards and a touchdown, with Knox saying of his rapport with Allen: "We see it every single game, every quarter.
"Those two making plays where it's almost not surprising at this point. I mean, they make incredible plays every game, but we're so used to it now, it's like, 'Oh there's Josh and Stef making another incredible play.'
"You know, Josh hurdling people yet again - it scares me. It works so yeah… it's fun being team-mates with those guys."
While Knox seemingly attributed little importance to the Bills standing atop the AFC after six games, he understood the significance of the victory over the team likely to be their primary challenger for the top seed in the conference and home advantage throughout the road to the Super Bowl.
Knox added: "Obviously, it's great to be on top of the conference, but we'll enjoy this one for 24 hours and then move on to the next one.
"We do know the importance of a home playoff game. It's a testament to their fans here in Kansas City. It's a great home field advantage for them. And they're so loud that we have to go silent count.
"Communication is really hard, which is a whole extra level of difficulty, but we know that in Buffalo, it's a whole different level. So, we want to do everything we can to get home playoff games."
Johnson sealed the win as he broke downfield after dropping into zone coverage and picked off a late throw from Mahomes over the middle to rookie receiver Skyy Moore.
"We were playing zone and he read it perfectly," said safety Jordan Poyer of Johnson.
"I told him that was one of the greatest plays that I have seen on the field. The situation, the moment, that was just a hell of a play for this team.
"Taron has been a guy who's been in the system a long time, who we all trust. We all know he's going to go out there and make plays. Nobody played perfect and it was just always, 'Next play, next play, next play.' And at the end of the day, he came up with the biggest play of the game and allowed us to win the game."
Philadelphia Eagles turn up the Hurts on Tampa Bay to remain unbeaten
The Philadelphia Eagles maintained their perfect start to the season, proving too strong for previously unbeaten Tampa Bay.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts led his team to a 25-11 win as he masterminded a game-deciding drive that lasted nine minutes.
Hurts threw for 277 yards and scored a touchdown while running back D’Andre Swift racked up 130 yards on 16 carries.
The Eagles are 3-0 for the second successive season and join Miami and San Francisco as the only unbeaten sides.
Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow shook off a calf injury to throwing for 259 yards to beat the Los Angeles Rams 19-16 for the Bengals’ first win of the season.
Burrow, who picked up the injury in pre-season and aggravated it against Baltimore last week, only returned to training on Thursday.
Running back Joe Mixon’s 14-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave the AFC North champions their first lead of the season.
Logan Wilson intercepted Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford twice and he was sacked six times.
Chargers wide receiver Williams out for season with torn ACL
The Los Angeles Chargers will be without star wide receiver Mike Williams for the remainder of the 2023 season after an MRI confirmed he tore his ACL in Week 3, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Monday.
Williams went down in the third quarter of the Chargers’ 28-24 road win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday after recording seven catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.
Williams entered Monday’s action ranked 12th in the league in receiving yards (249), tied for 12th in targets (26) and tied for 13th in catches (19).
Since being selected seventh overall by the Chargers in the 2017 NFL Draft, Williams has 309 receptions for 4,806 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Los Angeles lost its first two games by a combined five points before defeating Minnesota.
The Chargers went 10-7 last season and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2018. They led by 10 points after three quarters in the wild-card round at Jacksonville before the Jaguars rallied for a 31-30 victory.
Miami Dolphins turn down record bid in rout of hapless Denver Broncos
The Miami Dolphins rattled up the highest points total in the NFL since 1966 as they overwhelmed the winless Denver Broncos 70-20.
Rookie De’Von Achane ran for 203 yards, two touchdowns and collected a touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa – who completed his first 17 passes – while fellow running back Raheen Mostert ran for three touchdowns and caught another.
Coach Mike McDaniel opted against a last-ditch field-goal attempt which would have broken the record of 72 points set by Washington against the Giants 57 years ago.
AFC East rivals Buffalo Bills also had a commanding victory as they routed the Washington Commanders 37-3.
Josh Allen threw for one touchdown and ran for another as the Bills defence sacked home quarterback Sam Howell nine times.
Howell threw four interceptions, once of which was returned for a touchdown by AJ Epenesa – as the Commanders went scoreless until a field goal with 46 seconds left on the clock.
Elsewhere in the AFC East, the New England Patriots won 15-10 to beat the New York Jets for a 15th successive game and avoid a first 0-3 start since 2000.
Patrick Mahomes threw three touchdown passes, two to Jerick McKinnon, but had to take second billing to a watching Taylor Swift as Kansas City Chiefs ease passed the winless Chicago Bears 41-10.
Swift cheered on from a suite at the invitation of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, with whom she has been romantically linked and who also grabbed a touchdown pass from Mahomes.
Reigning MVP Mahomes threw for 272 yards, Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire adding touchdown runs as the Bears fell to a 13th straight defeat ahead of a clash with the Broncos next week.
Kenny Pickett passed for 235 yards with two touchdowns as the Pittsburgh Steelers held off a fourth quarter comeback from the Las Vegas Raiders to win 23-18.
The Raiders, who trailed 23-7 going into the final quarter, cut the deficit to eight points but opted to take a field goal on fourth and four in the closing moments.
Dallas Cowboys’ impressive start to the season hit came to an abrupt end as they lost 28-16 at Arizona Cardinals, Joshua Dobbs throwing for a touchdown and 189 yards to secure his first win as a starting quarterback in his seventh NFL season.
Quarterback Derek Carr was forced off with a shoulder injury as the New Orleans Saints coughed up a 17-0 lead to lose 18-7 to the Green Bay Packers while Kenneth Walker II rushed for a pair of touchdowns as the Seattle Seahawks won 37-27 over the winless Carolina Panthers.
The Minnesota Vikings are also 0-3 after they went down 28-24 to the Los Angeles Chargers, Justin Herbert completing 40 of 47 passes – a franchise record 18 of them to Keenan Allen – for 405 yards and three touchdowns.
Andrew Beck returned a kick-off 85 yards for a touchdown and CJ Stroud threw for two more as the Houston Texans beat the faltering Jacksonville Jaguars 37-17.
Matt Gay kicked four field goals from more than 50 yards, including the game winner in overtime from 53 yards, as the Indianapolis Colts won 22-19 to inflict a first defeat of the season on the Baltimore Ravens.
The Tennessee Titans totalled just 94 yards in offence as they went down 27-3 at the Cleveland Browns, while the Atlanta Falcons went down 20-6 at the Detroit Lions.
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