The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills are headed for a showdown in the Divisional Round after both clubs shellacked their opponents in wild-card matchups.
In a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game, which K.C. won 38-24, Patrick Mahomes expects a battle.
“Yeah I mean you expect a really good football team that’s going to play really hard. We’re expecting a fight, we’re expecting a battle,” Mahomes said, via the team's official transcript. “They have a great offense, great defense, great special teams and we played them in the AFC Championship last year and we know that it’s going to be another fight for us if we want to try to move on to the AFC Championship Game this year.”
The Chiefs blasted Pittsburgh, 42-21, on Sunday night. The Bills demolished New England on Saturday night, 47-17.
Josh Allen and Mahomes each threw five pass TDs in their 2021 wild-card games (Allen: 308 pass yards, 5 pass TDs, 0 INT, 66 rush yds; Mahomes: 404 pass yards, 5 pass TDs, 1 INT, 29 rush yds. The Divisional Round matchup will mark the first playoff game in NFL history featuring two QBs to each throw five TD passes in their previous playoff game.
"You've got Josh Allen and\] you've got Pat on our side," Chiefs defensive end [Frank Clark said, via ESPN. "These are two of the best guys in the league. You say the two best young quarterbacks in the league today, I'd say 99% of the people in the world are going to say Pat Mahomes and Josh Allen."
K.C. beat Buffalo twice last season, including the playoff victory to send them to the Super Bowl. The Bills bested the Chiefs in Week 5 this year at Arrowhead, 38-20, in a game in which Allen threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns, and Mahomes went for 272 yards and two touchdowns but was also intercepted twice.
The showdown will kick off Sunday night in Kansas City at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS.