Kansas City, Mo. — Just a few minutes after his team walked off the field at Arrowhead Stadium, having just lost the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sean McDermott expressed his eagerness to put on the tape and see what exactly happened.
The Chiefs potent offense was explosive and unstoppable through all four quarters. Kansas City scored on six of their seven possessions in the game (not counting kneel down at end of first half and game), and its defense continued to have answers for Josh Allen and Buffalo’s offense, dominating the matchup for the second time this season.
McDermott said it’s probably not a good idea for him to turn on the tape right away. The pain is still fresh and some time is required for healing. A lot went into the season, which ended with the franchise’s first playoff wins in more than two decades. Now attention will soon turn to the next eight months of preparation for next season, and the Chiefs will be on the mind of McDermott and the entire organization.
“At the end of the day this is our measuring stick,” he said. “If you lose in the AFC Championship game, that’s the team you gotta beat. So we gotta do everything with that in mind this offseason.”
McDermott took a conservative approach in the game, settling for a pair of red zone field goals when his team had chances for touchdowns in the Chiefs’ red zone. First at the end of the second quarter, McDermott opted for points because his offense was struggling to score. The only touchdown it managed was after a turnover on special teams because of muffed punt that set the Bills up inside the Chiefs 5-yard line. The second was in the third quarter and Buffalo trailed by 12 points. Instead of going for it on 4th and 3, McDermott sent out Tyler Bass for another short chip shot.
If McDermott had it to do again, he said he might have changed some of his decisions.
“I thought about going for it on both occasions. Maybe if I had it to do all over again I would have went for maybe one of them,” he said. “But the one before half for sure I wanted to get points. ... I wanted to at least have something to show for it coming into half. Especially knowing they were getting the ball after half. I’ll look back at that and I’ll go back and reevaluate that, especially the one after half. As an entire team we’ll learn from this experience.”
Allen played better than the first go around against the Chiefs, but KC defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuola continued his blitzing barrage and the 24-year-old quarterback struggled to rally the offense for points on most drives.
McDermott said there were a couple times where Allen extended the play too long instead of throwing it away.
“Josh is a heck of a competitor so I love that about him. I think he’ll continue to take more steps now being in this setting tonight,” McDermott said. “And that’s why it’s so critical we’re in this setting. We certainly wanted to win but what you take from this as an organization and how you handle the week and potential next step. The speed and intensity of this game, in particular on someone else’s home field. All of that, just having been here before myself. We as an organization - players, staff, coaches - all of us can learn a lot from this.”
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