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| BUF at KC | CAR at ATL | CHI at STL | CIN at PIT | GB at NO | HOU at CLE | IND at SD | MIN at JAX |
| NE at MIA | NYG at ARI | NYJ at TEN | OAK at DEN | PHI at BAL | SF at DAL | TB at DET | WAS at SEA |
Week 12 Game Recap: Buffalo Bills 54, Kansas City Chiefs 31
What you need to know
| Buffalo Bills |
There was nothing wrong with the Buffalo Bills that a trip to Kansas City couldn't cure. They scored the most points since Jack Kemp played quarterback, while the defense recorded three sacks and five turnovers. The Bills started five scoring drives in Kansas City territory.
While Edwards started out a little shaky it didn't take him long to settle down. He was able to roll out to escape pressure or scramble away from the Kansas City pass rush as he completed 24 of 32 for 273 yards. He threw for two touchdowns and also scrambled six times for 38 yards and two more scores.
Marshawn Lynch averaged four yards a carry and punched in Buffalo's first TD on fourth goal from the one yard line. Fred Jackson averaged over six yards a carry, and on their first touchdown drive, Lynch and Jackson were the only Buffalo players to handle the ball. Lee Evans caught five passes for 110 yards but could not find the end zone. He seemed to benefit from the return of Josh Reed who missed the last three games with an ankle injury. Reed also caught five passes, including a touchdown, while backup TE Derek Schouman caught his first NFL TD. All three tight ends were involved in the passing attack, but Buffalo ran the ball to set up the pass and controlled the clock for over 35 minutes.
Kansas City tested rookie CB Leodis McKelvin but he intercepted two passes. In the second quarter he jumped Mark Bradley's slant route, intercepted the pass, and returned it 63 yards for a TD. It was a good pass, Bradley ran a good route, but McKelvin made a better play.
| Kansas City Chiefs |
The 54 points that Buffalo scored were the most ever surrendered by a Kansas City team. Their 1-20 record dating back to the middle of last season is the worst 21 game stretch in franchise history. While their offense has recently been able to move the ball and score some points, their defense is just plain bad. Teams that score 31 points should not lose by 23. Their tackling is atrocious and the Chiefs have only registered six sacks all season.
Tyler Thigpen completed 17 of 31 for 240 yards for three touchdowns and scrambled for another 29 yards on three carries. He also lost one fumble on a play where a Buffalo player did not even touch him. Tony Gonzalez was targeted all afternoon and caught 10 passes for 113 yards and one touchdown. He kept getting open and Thigpen was happy to keep throwing him the ball. Dwayne Bowe caught three passes for 58 yards, including a TD late in the fourth quarter, but dropped another and now trails only Braylon Edwards for most drops in the NFL this season.
Larry Johnson gained 81 yards on seven carries, although 63 came on one run early in the game. He was tackled at the three which set up the Gonzalez TD. Another 26 yard run was called back on a holding penalty, but Buffalo clamped down on him after his early success. In the third quarter he lost three yards on third and one forcing KC to punt.
In the five games since Thigpen has taken over as the starter he has thrown 11 touchdowns and averaged more than 240 yards a game.
What you ought to know
| QB Trent Edwards, Pass: 24 - 32 - 273 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 6 - 38 - 2 |
If you happened to play Edwards you struck fantasy gold. He accounted for four Buffalo touchdowns while posting a QB rating of 121. He also exhibited leadership, which the team seemed to be lacking in their four straight losses leading up to this game. With the Bills out of timeouts at the end of the first half, Edwards was flushed out of the pocket and scrambled toward the end zone. He took on three KC defenders inside the five yard line and dove into the end zone with :04 left. If he had been tackled short the half would have ended. He also ran for a second touchdown from five yards out and threw second half touchdown passes to Josh Reed and TE Derek Schouman.
Edwards was a little shaky at the start of the game. He dumped the ball short when receivers appeared to be open further downfield and overthrew a wide open Robert Royal on their first drive of the game. As the game wore on, however, he began to settle down. After he hit Lee Evans on a deep 51 yard post in the second quarter he seemed to play with more confidence. Maybe it finally dawned on him that he was playing against the Kansas City Chiefs.
| QB J.P. Losman, Rush: 3 - -2 - 0 |
Losman performed mop up duty late in the game with Bills comfortably ahead.
| RB Marshawn Lynch, Rush: 20 - 79 - 1, Rec: 5 - 25 - 0 (5 targets) |
Lynch tied the score in the first quarter when he punched in a tough TD on fourth and goal. Four of his targets came in the first half as Edwards initially shied away from throwing downfield in favor dump off passes. Lynch ran hard and was able to break the initial tackle more than once and dragged tacklers down the field all afternoon. He was still in the lineup late in the fourth quarter.
| RB Fred Jackson, Rush: 9 - 56 - 0, Rec: 2 - 20 - 0 (2 targets) |
Jackson averaged just under six yards per carry and caught two passes for 14 yards. He continues to be a valuable member of this offense. He is the primary ball carrier in about one third of the Bills' running plays and is a solid receiver out of the backfield.
| WR Lee Evans, Rec: 5 - 110 - 0 (8 targets) |
After catching six passes for 63 yards in his last three games, Evans led the Bill with five receptions for 110 yards. His 51 yard grab in the second quarter seemed to energize the team and Edwards started to look for him again. Having Josh Reed back in the lineup was a plus.
| WR Josh Reed, Rec: 5 - 50 - 1 (6 targets) |
The Bills were happy to get their sure handed receiver back. Reed drew some attention away from Lee Evans as he caught five passes for 50 yards including an eight yard TD in the third quarter. No other receiver could step in and replace him while he was sidelined.
| WR Roscoe Parrish (1 targets) |
In the fourth quarter, Parrish had a first down catch knocked out of his hands on a jarring hit. Kansas City special teams schemed to prevent him from being able to return punts for any significant yardage.
| TE Robert Royal, Rec: 3 - 29 - 0 (4 targets) |
On third and goal from the one yard line on the Bills' first drive, Royal was wide open in the end zone but Edwards badly over threw him. Lynch scored on the next play, and Royal went on to catch three passes for 29 yards. A first down catch in the second quarter was negated by penalty.
| TE Derek Schouman, Rec: 3 - 25 - 1 (3 targets) |
Part of the Bills' two tight end formation, Schouman has decent hands. He caught a 17 yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to round out their scoring for the afternoon.
| TE Derek Fine, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (1 targets) |
The reserve tight end caught his only target in the third quarter for 14 yards. While primarily a backup to both Royal and Schouman, Fine has played enough to earn a varsity letter.
| PK Rian Lindell 4 - 4 FG, 6 - 6 XP, 18 points |
Lindell was perfect from 21, 39, 34, and 38 yards and was perfect on all extra points.
| BUF Rush Defense |
Larry Johnson was held under 100 yards but he only carried seven times. Statistically, KC looked like it ran the ball very well, gaining 159 on 13 carries, but Thigpen gained 29 yards on three tries and Quinn Gray added 27 yards on one scramble at the end of the game as time expired.
| BUF Pass Defense |
Kansas City tested rookie CB Leodis McKelvin early on but he intercepted two passes, returning one 63 yards for a touchdown. The Bills sacked Thigpen three times, although Kansas City threw for just over 300 yards and four touchdowns. Quinn Gray took over in the fourth quarter and tried to impress his coaches.
| QB Tyler Thigpen, Pass: 17 - 31 - 240 - 3 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 3 - 29 - 0 |
Thigpen has tremendous mobility which creates many problems for defenses. Not only can he roll away from pressure and throw on the run but he can tuck the ball and become a running back. He gained 29 yards on just three carries, but he also completed 17 of 31 for 240 yards and three touchdowns. Rookie CB Leodis McKelvin picked him off twice and returned one for a TD. Thigpen also fumbled the ball without getting hit which Buffalo recovered. If your league doesn't penalize for turnovers Tyler Thigpen had a very good game. If you count the fumble and the two interceptions, not so much.
Thigpen is making a bid to become the Kansas City starter next year in the new spread offense. With two tight end sets and three receiver formations, the idea is to keep defenses off balance. In his first five games as a starter, he has thrown 11 touchdowns and averaged over 240 passing yards per game.
| QB Quinn Gray, Pass: 7 - 8 - 76 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 27 - 0 |
Gray got into the game in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach. He played in two series and responded by completing seven of eight for 76 yards and one late touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe.
| RB Larry Johnson, Rush: 7 - 81 - 0, Rec: 2 - 24 - 0 (3 targets) |
Johnson found room to run against the Buffalo defense. He just lacked opportunity. He set up the second Kansas City touchdown on a 63 yard run to the Buffalo three yard line. He averaged 11.6 yards on each of his seven carries, and had another 26 yard gain called back on a holding penalty. But as Kansas City fell farther and farther behind the yards were harder to come by.
| RB Jamaal Charles, Rush: 2 - 22 - 0, Rec: 3 - 45 - 1 (4 targets) |
Jamaal Charles carried twice for 22 yards but lost a fumble in the second quarter at the KC 28 yard line. The turnover led to a Buffalo field goal. He also caught three balls for 45 yards, including the first Kansas City touchdown on a 36 yard pass.
| RB Mike Cox, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (2 targets) |
Cox managed to catch one pass in the third quarter for five yards.
| WR Dwayne Bowe, Rec: 3 - 58 - 1 (6 targets) |
The initial KC strategy involved more passes being thrown to whoever rookie DB Leodis McKelvin happened to be covering. Luckily, if you had Bowe in your lineup, garbage points count just as much as the other kind, because his TD catch came with about two minutes left in the game and the Chiefs hopelessly behind.
Bowe now has 128 receptions for 1,719 yards and 11 TDs in the first 28 games of his NFL career. Calvin Johnson, the second player taken in the 2007 draft, is a distant second to that total among receivers in the '07 draft class.
| WR Devard Darling, Rec: 2 - 14 - 0 (2 targets) |
After Mark Bradley left the game Darling saw action in the fourth quarter and the journeyman caught both targets for 14 yards.
| WR Mark Bradley, Rec: 2 - 52 - 1 (4 targets) |
Bradley has been a hot waiver wire acquisition lately, and his 45 yard TD catch in the third quarter showed that he has the ability to become a legitimate number two receiver to Dwayne Bowe.
Bradley had been limited during the week with a calf injury which eventually sidelined in the third quarter. The extent of injury was not immediately known. The Chiefs acquired Bradley on Oct. 1 as a free agent after his release from Chicago.
| WR Will Franklin, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (2 targets) |
Will Franklin is a promising rookie who has yet to become the No. 3 receiver some people thought he might be coming out of training camp. He caught one pass for five yards but the other target was poorly thrown and intercepted. After Bradley left the game in the third quarter Franklin did not move up the depth chart and was only targeted once more.
| TE Tony Gonzalez, Rec: 10 - 113 - 1 (13 targets) |
The Bills did a poor job covering one of the best tight ends in NFL history, and he caught three passes on their first touchdown drive of the game. He was usually wide open, too, like on his two yard TD catch in the second quarter. He was the one player Buffalo could not defend, but even when they managed to surround him with three defenders he still caught the ball. Gonzalez' ten receptions moved him pass Keenan McCardell for ninth place on the NFL's career receptions chart.
| TE Brad Cottam |
While he did not make the stat sheet, rookie Brad Cottam continues to get playing time when Kansas City uses two tight ends with two wide outs. With Gonzalez getting open throughout the game, Cottam never became an option.
| PK Connor Barth 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
Barth was good on a 45 yard field goal and perfect on all four extra points.
| KC Rush Defense |
Bad tackling. While neither Lynch or Jackson gained more than 100 yards, the Bills managed to rush for 171 yards and a 4.5 yard average. Lynch ran for one TD and Edwards scrambled for two more. They also picked up 13 first downs on the ground and controlled the clock for over 35 minutes.
| KC Pass Defense |
So far this season, the Chiefs have only managed to register six quarterback sacks. While they were unable to sack Edwards, they did flush him out of the pocket and through the hands of their rush defense.
