It is not an overstatement to say that the Bills waited nine months for Sunday night's game.
When the Bills showed up in Kansas City for the AFC Championship Game in January, they were pretty sure they were going to win it. Sure, they'd lost a home game to the Chiefs in Week 6, but since that time they'd gone 11-1 with the only loss coming on a ludicrous DeAndre Hopkins Hail Mary catch in triple coverage as time expired in Arizona in Week 10. They were white-hot, having just stifled Lamar Jackson's Ravens the week before, and they felt they were ready to knock out the champs and represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
They did not. The Chiefs beat the Bills 38-24 that day, and Buffalo spent an entire offseason trying to figure out why it had played so badly in the biggest game of the season.
So yeah, the Bills had the Week 5 game in Kansas City circled on their calendar. And Sunday night, they absolutely played like it.
Nothing could stop Josh Allen and the Bills. Not the Chiefs' (admittedly banged-up) defense. Not the famously raucous Arrowhead Stadium crowd. Not the 77-minute halftime that resulted from a lightning delay. The Bills scored on four of their first five possessions. They intercepted Patrick Mahomes twice and won the turnover battle 4-0. They played with complete confidence, as if they went in there knowing they were the better team and weren't surprised by the result.
Honestly, they earned their way into the lead of the Week 5 overreactions column.
We already did "The Bills are the best team in the AFC" two weeks ago in this space, so it would feel redundant to do it again. Right now, they have a pretty solid claim on that title. Yes, the Chargers have the same 4-1 record and a win over the Chiefs. And yes, the Ravens have a win against Kansas City, too, and could improve to 4-1 with a Monday night victory. But Buffalo looked like the best team in the AFC for much of last season and, perplexing Week 1 loss to the Steelers notwithstanding, have picked up right where they left off.
No, this week's lead overreaction has more to do with how many times -- and in what context -- the Chiefs showed up in the previous paragraph.
