Buffalo Bills suffer ANOTHER CRUSHING PLAYOFF loss to Chiefs

Summary

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Buffalo Plus Podcast: "Buffalo Bills suffer ANOTHER CRUSHING PLAYOFF loss to Chiefs"

Date: January 22, 2024
Hosts: Mike Catalana, Jenna Cottrell, Dan Fetes

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Buffalo Plus Podcast delivers an immediate and emotional postgame breakdown of the Buffalo Bills’ heartbreaking 27-24 playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round. The hosts—Mike Catalana, Jenna Cottrell, and Dan Fetes—analyze the major moments, player performances, and coaching decisions that shaped another gut-wrenching exit for the Bills, as well as looking ahead at the roster questions that now loom over the offseason.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Emotional Fallout: "Crushing" Loss, Familiar Pain

• Opening Tone: The mood is somber as the hosts repeatedly call the defeat “crushing” and “sad,” describing a pervasive feeling of déjà vu and heartbreak for both the team and its fans.
• Groundhog Day Reference: The Bills’ playoff exits at the hands of the Chiefs are compared to “Groundhog Day” moments from previous seasons (12:20–12:53).

“It’s just a sad feeling of thinking that this team was really had something special... Stunned.”
— Dan Fetes (03:50)

2. First Half: Hope, Execution, and Standout Plays

• The hosts praise Buffalo's energy, game planning, and execution in the first half, singling out Joe Brady’s play-calling and Josh Allen’s command.
• Khalil Shakir’s Touchdown: A highlight catch sets the tone, making up for an earlier James Cook drop (01:35–02:15).
• Possessions are few and precious, putting immense weight on every drive.

3. Second Half: Missed Opportunities & Offensive Stalls

• Offensive Drop-off: The Bills’ offense becomes “vanilla,” with the O-line and James Cook struggling (09:53).
• The shift in momentum after halftime as the Chiefs score quickly; the Bills regain a lead, but can’t sustain it.

“Early on... the offense was balanced. It was mixing in quick pass games... second half... got pushed around.”
— Dan Fetes (09:53)

4. Special Teams Breakdown: The Turn in the Game

• Missed Field Goal: Tyler Bass misses a 44-yard attempt that would have tied the game, blamed partially on wind but called simply “stunning” (03:50–04:27).
• Punting Issues: Injured punter Sam Martin’s performance and fake punt debacle (02:32–03:21; 06:43–07:09).
• The hosts agree special teams "let them down” decisively in this playoff exit.

“Come on, it’s a 44 yard kick... you gotta make it.”
— Mike Catalana (03:21)

5. Controversial Coaching and Decisions

• Fake Punt: Universally criticized by hosts as a turning point—sloppy in design, questionable in execution, and indicative of shaky confidence (06:43–07:27).
• Defensive Penalties: Debates over pass interference calls, especially a crucial defensive penalty on Dorian Williams (05:48–06:22).

6. Defensive Struggles & Chiefs’ Execution

• Bills’ shorthanded defense (missing Benford, Bernard, Rapp) and poor tackling noted.
• D-Line “got dominated” despite being one of the healthier units (08:12–08:27).
• Chiefs’ O-line described as “best unit on the field” (08:27).
• Kansas City’s balance (eight 20+ yard plays to Buffalo’s zero) and Mahomes’ poise fuel the Chiefs’ win.

“The Chiefs offensive line was the best unit on the field.”
— Mike Catalana (08:27)

7. Josh Allen’s Performance and Responsibility

• Allen is described as doing everything he could, giving the team a chance on the final drive, but coming up short due to circumstances largely out of his control (11:21–11:49).

“Ball’s in your quarterback’s hands here... you take that. It’s Josh Allen 100%.”
— Mike Catalana (11:21)

8. Big Picture: Legacy, Frustration, and What’s Next

• The hosts outline major offseason questions: cap issues, possible aging roster changes, and the need for front office aggression (14:32–15:24).
• General consensus: coaching staff is likely to stay, but roster changes are coming.
• McDermott’s postgame remarks: assumes responsibility for “not enough impact” on defense/special teams (15:24).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Stunned. We were talking... a word to describe this feeling right now. Jenna came up with crushing.”
  — Dan Fetes (03:50)

• “This is Groundhog Day... Three out of the last four seasons.”
  — Jenna Cottrell/Mike Catalana (12:20)

• “The Chiefs offensive line was the best unit on the field.”
  — Mike Catalana (08:27)

• “I just don’t want Demar Hamlin to be my element of surprise. I want Josh Allen on the field.”
  — Dan Fetes on the fake punt (07:01)

• “Ball’s in your quarterback’s hands here... it’s Josh Allen 100%.”
  — Mike Catalana (11:21)

• “If I’m Brandon Bean, I become a little aggressive in the offseason... Something’s got to change.”
  — Mike Catalana (14:32)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:36–01:00 | Emotional aftermath; opening reactions | | 01:35–02:15 | Khalil Shakir’s touchdown; play breakdown | | 02:32–03:21 | Special teams miscues, punter injuries, impact on field goals | | 03:50–04:27 | The missed field goal and immediate reaction | | 05:48–06:22 | Defensive penalty discussion | | 06:43–07:27 | Critique of the fake punt | | 08:12–08:27 | Defensive line struggles and injuries | | 09:53 | Offensive second-half struggles | | 11:21–11:49 | Josh Allen’s final opportunity; taking responsibility | | 12:20–12:53 | “Groundhog Day” analogy; playoff heartbreak pattern | | 14:32–15:24 | Roster, offseason questions; call for aggression | | 15:24 | McDermott’s postgame accountability statement |

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Tone & Final Thoughts

The Buffalo Plus team maintains a candid, authentic, and sometimes raw tone throughout—mixing serious football analysis with the genuine emotional toll of another postseason disappointment. The central theme is one of frustration at missed opportunities, compounded by a sense of déjà vu and the growing urgency for organizational change despite the team’s overall talent and effort.

Closing Reflection:
In summary, this episode delivers a thorough, nuanced, and emotionally resonant postmortem on a classic Buffalo loss—informed by insider expertise, but undeniably shaped by both poignant frustration and cautious hope for the future.

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Transcript

[A]

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[A]

Ball's in your quarterback's hands here. Not putting the blame on Josh. I'm saying is, you take that. It's Josh Alle.

[B]

This is the Buffalo plus podcast, brought to you by Connors and Ferris.

[C]

All right, welcome Back to the Buffalo Plus YouTube channel, presented by Connors and Ferris. Mike Catalana, Dan Fates. I am Jenna Cottrell. Bill's Chiefs. Chiefs winning this game 27:24 in the divisional round. Please be sure to like, comment and subscribe to the channel. We always appreciate it. All right, guys, let's do what we always do. Let's break down this game. Mike, I want to start with you.

[A]

It's just crushing to see them lose like this. There were some really good things in this game. This team was. That first half was fun. Allen was Allen. Joe Brady was calling a great game. Look, they weren't stopping Mahomes, but they had the lead.

[B]

Still very few possessions. Yeah, that was probably the weirdest thing, was that you looked up and there was the third possession and it. The first half was almost over. Yeah, you kind of had that sense of like, one or two stops is going to be the difference in this game.

[C]

Thousand percent.

[B]

The Chiefs got them, the Bills didn't.

[A]

Bills got a couple at the end, gave themselves an opportunity. Look, there were some outstanding individual plays. Khalil Shakir made that big play when he bailed out James Cook after he dropped a touchdown and then made the touchdown catch, which, Dan, you got a better shot than CBS did, which. Which I give you credit for.

[B]

That insane thought to make that throw. Insane execution on the throw. An insane ability to catch that ball. Keep your feet in bounds inside the pylon. One of the plays of the year in that spot where you felt like that was the play.

[A]

Yeah, I was going to let you go here, but there are certain things, like Khalil Shakir is one of those guys that you feel a lot better about as the way this year went on. Yeah, but I can't get there yet. This is just the Chiefs again and it's here.

[C]

Here's when the fake punt went as poorly as it did. I thought that's. I mean, that's. That might be the game. And then to have the Jordan Poyer play to force that to take points off the board. I thought, this is new life. The Bills need to drive down the field. And at that point it seemed like, okay, this is exactly what's gonna happen. And then Dan, that drive stalled out, obviously.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And Tyler Bass and I hate. I don't even want to. Like, we have talked about special teams and the fear of having something go awry in that one third of the game.

[B]

You guys were right.

[C]

But like, it's like, I don't want to be right. Sorry. I'm not like Dan. I don't want to be like, I don't. I don't take joy in having.

[A]

No, no, there's no joy. It's just joy amongst the three of us. Like, and look fast, like. And I get it. I don't, you know, I don't know. Obviously Martin tried to tough it out and I don't know how much Dan that played into roster spots because I'm not sure. He was not good in the game punting the ball. And I don't know if it had any impact on him holding the ball. Like, I don't know if hamstring is going to impact you holding it. But come on, it's 44 yard kick and I know you. You can tell what was the wind like?

[B]

It was windy today. Like, there's no question about it. And that's what kind of Bass kind of said after the game. He knew the ball was going to. The wind was pushing it in that direction. He should have played it more left. He said he missed it. Right. There was no thought. There was no thought in my mind when they went out there. I thought it was close enough for Bass. Stunned. We were talking about it just for this. A word to describe this feeling right now. Jenna came up with crushing. I know people have commented in like, you guys aren't fans. That's sad. Like, I'm sad right now.

[A]

Yeah, me too.

[B]

It's just a sad feeling of thinking that this team was really had something special. And when you saw that drive after they knocked that ball out of the end zone by a whisker, did he stay up and you went, oh, my God, they've got a chance. And then the drive, the fourth down conversion to Shakir, the third down completion to Sherfield. The way Josh fumbles the ball.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

And then, yeah, Chief's going to scoop.

[B]

It up instead of falling on it. And they recover all of those things. And I looked at them and I went, this is going to be an eight minute legacy drive. That was a Legacy drive. And it stalled out on third down or on second down over the middle to Shakir.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Dion got pushed into Josh. I was just watching the TV broadcast of it by Chris Jones. I don't know how much that affected him. He had digs underneath for probably at least 6, 7 yards. I think that's a little bit of hindsight. I think they wanted the touchdown, and.

[A]

I understand you wanted the touchdown because they did get a couple of stops. It's crazy, though. The Chiefs moved the ball so well. They really, I think, technically ended up with four third downs.

[B]

Insane.

[A]

And they only converted one of them. One of them they converted by penalty. So I don't even know if that's interference. You know that, by the way, that was a bad call.

[B]

No, it was a bad call.

[A]

The contact was made before the ball was in the air, and the contact was within the five yards. And the refs actually said to each other, good call. When you look at the replay, the ball is not Adam Mahomes hands. He hits him within the 5 yards. Legal play for defense. And they missed it, that one. When you look at it on the replay, the ball's not out of Mahomes.

[B]

It was super late.

[A]

I think they just threw the flag now like it was crazy, crazy late.

[C]

But that they called it. Then the Bills defense got us Dorian.

[B]

Or was it called Dorian? Because I thought.

[A]

Yeah, no, it was Colin Dorian Williams. And he did. He gave him the little, like, hip check there, but the ball wasn't in the air, and it was within five yards. So it's a bad call. But look, they got the reversal on the fumble, which was the biggest. Biggest call of the game. Because at that point, they would have gone up, what, 10? And it would have been tough. But then they got it back.

[B]

Hated. Hated the fake.

[A]

Oh, it's awful.

[B]

Yeah, it was a. Sean said it was. He wanted it to be a little bit of an element of surprise. They hadn't faked a punt all season long. He thought his offense needed a spark because the defense couldn't get it by stop. I just don't want. I just don't want Demar Hamlin to be my element of surprise. I want Josh Allen. Allen on the field. If you. That's what you want.

[A]

But I even hated the design of the play. Everything's going back and forth. He's basically saying, hey, guys, in case you didn't know, I'm gonna run it here.

[C]

It was very slow development.

[B]

It's like when they go to. To do the fake, like, to Try to get them motions around everybody. And you're like, this isn't a normal play. Like they're doing stuff that's not normal.

[A]

But they survived that. They survived. Like you said, they survived all these things to go down the field. And you know, I got here wide right.

[C]

Yeah, I know, I know that.

[A]

I know it comes up all the time. Al Michaels, it's your fault you had to make that call so pronounced back in the first Super Bowl. But he did miss it. And look, I think they needed a touchdown on that last drive. Probably because I didn't have much faith in them. Just probably stopping them from a field goal. I mean, if. If you get a touchdown there, at least you go up by four and they got to score a touchdown. At least you try to keep.

[C]

You have that type of pressure that you would put on them. And the Bills defense had gotten a stop before that. Even though obviously earlier on it felt like they were just walking down the field at will.

[B]

The D line got dominated.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, they.

[B]

They didn't for. For a banged up defense. And we can talk all about the injuries and all those things. The D line was healthy. The D line was not physical.

[A]

I thought the Chiefs offensive line was the best unit on the field.

[B]

I agree.

[A]

They were great in this game.

[C]

And it's Chiefs and they've been great all year.

[A]

Yeah, but the same thing happened last year when it was the Bengals offensive line.

[B]

The Chiefs had eight plays of 20 plus yards, the Bills had zero.

[A]

Yeah, and I got to give Mahomes a ton of credit. You know, everybody talked about him coming on the road. Nothing seemed to faze him. Nope, it didn't. He did make two poor passes to give the Bills an opportunity when he missed twice in the end zone. But the rest of the time, just great movement of the ball. He did a lot of things well. But look, we. I've referenced this. Reasons, not excuses. I gotta say, man, that defense was playing very shorthanded in this one.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

You know, no, Benford, I mean, it turns to. The starters trail.

[C]

Bernard.

[A]

Bernard. They miss him a ton.

[C]

Taylor Rapp.

[A]

Taylor Rapp. You're playing with guys who have a tough time in general. You know, you're talking about AJ Klein on a couch and Tyrell Dodson, who's been a career basically special teams guy. And you're out there trying to guard Travis Kelce.

[C]

And Kelce looks like Kelce.

[A]

He did. He looked really good.

[C]

Stefan Diggs dropped.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, those are the other ones. Allen gets in the ball deep. Gotta hold on to it.

[C]

There are going to. There's just going to be a lot of questions, though, with why his productivity in the second half of the season.

[B]

The offense felt very vanilla in the second half. Yeah, it felt like they. Where I. Early on in this game, I thought the Bills offensive line was physical, the offense was balanced. It was mixing in quick pass games over the middle, the running game, all of those things. Offensive line kind of got pushed around in the second half. James Cook felt indecisive. They got behind the sticks on first down and we joke around about the running the ball. Right. I don't mind running the ball. When you put yourself in second and four and second and two, they got themselves in a lot of second and nine or second, 12, 13, 14. And then I'm just sitting there kicking myself going, that's a wasted. That's a wasted down.

[A]

Yeah, I thought Brady had just a rhythm going in that first half. Pace, energy. Allen was so engaged. And then the second half, of course, Chiefs took it right down the field and grabbed the lead on him. But then the Bills ended up getting the lead again and then they couldn't stop them. It didn't help. It did not help that the Chiefs maintained possession of the ball a lot. I mean, they were just moving down the field. The Bills couldn't get off the field. But with all that being said, Josh Allen gets the ball. Bill's offense get the ball. With a chance to drive down and win the game or at least take the lead, we end up not getting it done. Ball's in your quarterback's hands here. Not putting the blame on Josh. I'm saying is, you take that, It's Josh Allen 100%.

[C]

You take that.

[A]

Yeah. You take that.

[B]

Well, like I said, we can talk about all of the mistakes. You still had Josh Allen with it with. With your defense struggling to get stops and the injuries and all of those things. And Mike said it right. Josh, he did his job again because he drove down the field and he had a 44 yarder to extend the game. And you're right, Mike, you're right. Maybe he doesn't win him the game, but damn it, you give yourself another shot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You keep yourself in the fight.

[A]

Yeah. You never know what happens. Right. You never know what happens in this game. At least then, look, you gotta make it. I mean, that's the case. Special teams really, really let them down in this one. There was no question.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

On that.

[C]

So it hurts like Allen after the game. And that is a. A really hard spot. When the season's over and you're like, hey, how you do. Like, it's a really hard spot. But you could just see how dejected Allen was.

[B]

Groundhog Day, well, that was what I.

[A]

Was just gonna say.

[C]

Three out of the last four seasons.

[A]

And then last year was brutal because it was here again. Two straight years here at home. That's the thing, Janet, you're right. It's the Groundhog Day feel of like when Micah Hyde says, you know, we know how much it takes to get back here. They're right. This doesn't. You don't just snap your fingers in your back here. Look at the Bengals, right? And then they had injuries and then they're out. Right. I mean, it just. It just isn't easy. The Chiefs and unfortunately the Patriots before that made it look not easy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Six straight years in the AFC Championship game. I mean, give them credit.

[B]

That was the most efficient Chiefs offense I have seen this year. And it sucks because I didn't think they had that in them.

[C]

They flipped the switch and we didn't think they hadn't flipped the switch really, all this year.

[B]

I've seen them have four 20 yard plays in the last four games. I've watched them and they have eight today.

[A]

Yeah, Valdez Scantling made an incredible catch on the first drive of the second half. He had 70 plus yards. I said rice was better. He had like four catches. Couple nice catches, but Kelce's the one that hurt him. Pacheco just runs so hard. He's just a very good player. And again, if you want to talk about individual efforts, the Bills had some of those too. And it was a 27, 24 game. I mean, that's.

[B]

We're not sitting here like this is a 30 to 10 blowout, like, where it's like they didn't check. That's the thing, that's what sucks was that we can list all of these reasons, Mike, not excuses, reasons to why they lost. And we still had a kick.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

Still had a chance.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

We're going to be in Orchard park tomorrow, locker clean out. We will talk to a lot more of the guys to hear what they make of this season, what happened against the Chiefs here today and where the team is at moving forward. Because that's. That's another big thing though is the questions that come with all of those. What do you look for in the draft now? What. How do you rebuild this team? They are massively over the salary cap, which I know is not real, but that is something that you have to finagle to push down the line.

[A]

Yeah, you do have to make moves. There is some age on this team that is going to be addressed. I think you're going to see some name players not be back next year.

[B]

I agree.

[A]

I don't think there's any question that's going to happen. And if I'm Brandon Bean, I become a little aggressive in the off season. And aggressive doesn't always mean bringing in. It might be going out and bringing in deals on the table. Like again, you don't need to blow the whole thing up. But it's the NFL. There's already, oh, there's this. But they can be aggressive to change things a little bit. Something's got to change. We can talk coaching staff. We know that Sean McDermott's not going anywhere. I don't think Joe Brady is going anywhere. I don't think any of that is changing. You may think otherwise, but I don't think any of that is happening with this team.

[B]

And I know people are probably screaming if you've made it this far in the video. The defense didn't get stops, all these things. Sean McDermott took all the responsibility. Said the defense didn't impact the game enough. He thought 2/3 of this team played. 2/3 of his team played well, he said. Or 2/3 of the team didn't play well enough. Said the offense did enough. Special team's not good enough. Defense not good enough. And he's right. They got pushed around in the running game which allowed them to be two dimensional, the Chiefs. And that's the one thing that Sean always says, you got to take away something. You got to make teams one dimensional. And the Chiefs were so balanced today because to me it didn't feel like Mahomes killed them. In other games where you're just like, Mahomes was just so good, all these things. Mahomes was good, but he wasn't. Wow.

[C]

He had, I think he had some moments and then those chunk plays like he talked about, but they were very, they were, they were balanced.

[A]

But there was. The old saying is you wouldn't have known what cologne he was wearing. They were so far away from him like they, they got a couple times. Like Russo had his hands on him the one time and he got away.

[B]

I didn't notice that.

[A]

But I gotta tell you, I thought he just played a really good road playoff game. He did. Got to give him credit.

[B]

Look, it was.

[A]

We picked the Bills. We thought this was going to be here. We thought we'd be going to Baltimore. We wanted all of you to come with us. Right?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

It felt. It felt very Brady. Like, the way that he just.

[A]

He did.

[C]

It felt very big brother. Little brother. Like, oh, that's cute.

[B]

No, but it also felt. We've talked about how the chiefs, a dynasty evolves. This felt like a evolution. Like what New England would do.

[A]

It's a way New England would win even when they weren't at.

[B]

I hate that. Yeah, so do I.

[A]

God.

[C]

All right.

[B]

Wish I had the bleep button.

[C]

All right, For Dan and Mike, I'm Jenna. Please be sure to, like, comment and subscribe. We'll have plenty more coverage. The coverage never stops.

[A]

Never stops.

[C]

Thank you for watching.

[B]

This is the Buffalo plus podcast, brought to you by Connors and Ferris.