Chiefs vs. Bills what to watch Can Buffalos revitalized pass rush get enough p

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Last year in the AFC title game, the could not get pre sure on at all. On 39 dropbacks, Buffalo got pre sure only 11 times, and Mahomes was sacked just once. As a result, he carved up the Bills defense for 325 yards and three touchdowns. He sat in the pocket pretty much all day and just waited for or to spring open, and then found them. It almost looked easy at times.In the Super Bowl, things were quite a bit different for Kansas City. The ' offensive line was in even worse shape due to injuries, and Mahomes was under pre sure on more than half of his dropbacks. He went 26 of 49 for 270 scorele s yards against the , took three sacks, and barely escaped several others. It was ugly, and it clearly scarred the Chiefs.They Tony Snell Jersey  made sweeping changes this offseason to ensure that nothing like what happened in the Super Bowl would happen again. The Chiefs signed away from the , giving him a deal that made him the NFL's highest-paid guard (five years, $80 million, nearly $47 million guaranteed). They traded for from the , and the expectation is they'll sign him to a long-term extension as well. They signed and , got back from his opt-out year, and (most importantly) drafted and , each of whom became an immediate starter.They've got five new starters along the offensive line (with -- who opted out of last season -- being the fifth), and it's working quite well. Mahomes has been pre sured at a rate right around league average so far this season, and sacked just five times on 158 dropbacks.  The Bills, meanwhile, used their first two draft picks on edge rushers: out of Miami and . out of Wake Forest. They signed yet another former Carolina Panther in , and they got defensive tackle back after he opted out of the 2020 season. Their makeover is also working. Despite blitzing far le s often this season (20.1% of opponent dropbacks) than they did a year ago (33.5%), the Bills are doing a  Bruce Brown Jr. Jersey much better job of getting pre sure. Their 38.9% pre sure rate ranks fourth in the NFL through the first four weeks of the season Allen Iverso Jersey , and their 9% sack rate ranks fifth.And it's not just been one guy dominating. They have seven players with five-plus pre sures and four of them with at least eight. has taken a big step forward in Year 2, and continue to contribute at a high level, and has been excellent when asked to go after the quarterback.  This is where we feel obliged to mention an enormous caveat. The list of quarterbacks against whom the Bills have played so far this year is... not inspiring. It consists entirely of and three backups (, , and ). So, there is a good case to be made that we should perhaps take Buffalo's league-best defensive DVOA (Football Outsiders currently has Buffalo's defense being about as good as the next three best defenses combined, in terms of their value over average) with several hundred grains of salt.When considering Sunday's matchup, it's also important to note that at the moment, no quarterback in the NFL is doing a better job of neutralizing the pa s rush by getting rid of the ball quickly than Mahomes. He's released the ball within 2.5 seconds of the snap on 53.5% of his dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus, the eighth-highest rate in the league. His numbers on those throws are, in a word, otherworldly. I swear to you, these are not fake: 75 of 83 (90.4%) for 675 yards (8.1 per attempt), 10 touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 140.1 pa ser rating.He has been far and away the league's best pa ser on close-to-the-line-of-scrimmage throws, with nobody coming particularly close to him in pa ser rating and only residing in his neighborhood in EPA per play on pa ses of 10 or fewer air yards.  Just as important as getting pre sure in Mahomes' face is making sure that said pre sure results in him being dropped to the ground. That means it can't just be  Glenn Robinson III Jersey one guy getting into the backfield and in his grill. It has to be everyone. He's too good at the scramble drill stuff for one rusher to take him down. If there's pre sure up the middle and he tries to escape right or left, a defender has to be there waiting for him. If there's pre sure off the edge and he steps up into the pocket, he needs to do so into the waiting arms of a defensive tackle or a stunting lineman.Otherwise, this is what's going to happen -- over and over and over.The Bills are one of the very few NFL teams that actually has an offense capable of matching the Chiefs shot for shot. , and company can create big plays with the best of them, and Khyri Thomas Jersey  the Bills can thus score from anywhere on the field at any time.Of course, the best way to hang with the Chiefs in that regard, is to not have to. Beating up on their offensive line is the one way we have seen teams limit their explosive plays. The Bills couldn't get the job done last season in the most important game of the year, and they clearly prioritized being able to do so in any potential rematch. On Sunday night, they'll get their shot to prove they're better this time around.