Getty Image / David Eulitt
After fifteen postseason games, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will finally travel for a true road playoff game, when the Kansas City Chiefs travel to Buffalo to take on the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York.
Outstanding regular seasons and a few instances of teams seeded above them getting upset have resulted in Mahomes not getting a road start through his first five seasons in the NFL as a starter. But, with the team capturing the third seed in the AFC this year, and Buffalo nipping them for the second seed, that will come to an end.
Winning on the road in the NFL Playoffs is one of the toughest things to do in sports, and Patrick Mahomes and this Chiefs core will be up against it even more than usual. Buffalo is one of the most hostile places to play in the league, and there is a real sense of rivalry between these two teams given recent playoff matchups.
But, all of those matchups have been in Kansas City, Playoff home field is obviously determined by seeding. But, for some reason, the Chiefs have hosted the Bills in the regular season in the last two seasons, meaning the only time that Mahomes played in Buffalo as a starter was when there were no fans in the stands during the 2020 regular season.
Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins thinks that is going to make a huge difference.
“He has never been to the Bills’ stadium in full… The environment will be different and not to say it’s in our favor, but stadium is our favor,” Dawkins said, via Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN.com. “Stadium is us. That helps us. I don’t care what nobody says. This is the most dopest feeling I’ve ever had. We’re having two back-to-back playoff games home. Come on now, like we get to leave and go eat wings. It’s cool. So good luck,” Dawkins said, according to ESPN.
For me, this is one of the most anticipated divisional round games I can ever remember. The last time these two teams played in the postseason produced one of the greatest games in NFL history, and I expect another classic Sunday.
Currently, the Bills are 2.5 point favorites.