After an impressive 11-week run, the Kansas City Chiefs finally faced their first defeat of the season, which came at the hands of one of the hottest teams in the league—the Buffalo Bills. On Sunday night, the Chiefs went into Orchard Park, home of the Bills, who were riding high on a five-game winning streak, and got the belt put to their a**. The margin was only a nine-point victory, but since we’re talking about the Chiefs, who had previously won 15 straight dating back to Dec. 17, 2023, their 30-21 loss was a BTA moment.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who has won the last four regular-season games but lost the previous four playoff games against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, downplayed the significance of the matchup, calling it just another game on the calendar. However, if you tuned in, you could see in his intensity and drive that this game held more value than his previous games. Allen was locked in, and you could see it during their game-clinching drive. On fourth-and-2 with 2:17 left, Allen sealed Buffalo’s 30-21 victory by completing a 26-yard run where he had to run through two Chiefs defenders to score their final touchdown. Allen’s play was so remarkable that it left Bills receiver Khalil Shakir in awe.
“When Josh takes off, I find myself just watching, like, ‘Wow, he’s different,’” Shakir said. “When he took off today, I just started yelling. I couldn’t stop yelling. I was blanking in the head.”
Josh Allen had an impressive performance. In addition to his 26-yard touchdown run, he completed 27 of 40 passes for 262 yards with TDs coming in passing and rushing. He also had one interception. Allen’s recent rushing touchdown marked the 58th of his career, placing him second on the Buffalo Bills’ all-time list. This achievement puts him one touchdown ahead of O.J. Simpson and just seven behind the record held by Thurman Thomas. Additionally, with his two-touchdown performance in the game, Allen has now tied Jim Kelly for the most total touchdowns in team history, bringing his overall count to 244.
“I appreciated the coach for trusting us,” said Allen, who didn’t even celebrate after his 26-yard rushing touchdown because he knew Mahomes had a chance to score again with 2:17 remaining on the clock.
“Any time you give the ball back to Pat (Mahomes), that offense, down six with the game on the line, I like their odds in that situation,” Allen added. “So wanting six or seven (points) to try to make it a two-score game.”
Fortunately for the Bills, Mahomes threw his 11th interception of the year on their final drive, and the Bills clinched their sixth straight win and improved to 9-2 while giving the Chiefs their first loss of the season and dropping to 9-1.
Another BTA game happened in Dallas at AT&T Stadium, where the Houston Texans faced off against the Cowboys. The Texans decisively defeated the Cowboys. Honestly, though, I didn’t spotlight this game initially because the results felt almost predictable. Let’s face it—home-field advantage hasn’t done much for the Cowboys lately, and it was hard to imagine anyone giving the Cowboys a shot at winning this game against a fired-up Texans squad.
The Texans got Nico Collins back, and the Cowboys got Cooper Rushing starting at quarterback. How did it turn out? The Texans won the game 34-10. Collins’ first touch was a screen pass that he ran for 77 yards into the end zone on the very first play. However, the touchdown was called back due to an ineligible receiver downfield. Despite the reverse call, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans loved what he saw.
“I really love that first play because it showed what we could do in this game,” Ryans said on Collins, who ended up with four catches for 54 yards on his first game back. “Even though it got called back, I just told all our guys, ‘We can go score on these guys again. Just get it in your mind we’re going to score again.’”
Rush didn’t play that bad, as he finished completing 32 of 55 for 354 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His lone TD pass came on a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin. But what took the hearts out of Cowboy fans was when the Texans’ Derek Barnett returned the second fumble of the game for a scoop-and-score touchdown on the definitive defensive play of the game for the Houston Texans.
Texans quarterback CJ Stroud didn’t play awesome. He completed 23 of 34 passes without any touchdowns and one interception. However, running back Joe Mixon was the star of the show. He rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns. This impressive performance marked the continuation of his touchdown streak, which has now reached six games since returning from an ankle injury. After the win, the Texans improved to 7-4 and the Cowboys, who’ve lost every home game this season, dropped their fifth straight game and dropped to 3-7.
We can’t forget about the Detroit Lions, who always put on a BTA performance against their opponents. This week, their matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars wasn’t even close. After delivering a subpar performance last week against the Texans, the Lions showed everybody why they’re the favorites to win this year’s Super Bowl. They beat the breaks off of the Jag 52-6.
The Detroit Lions achieved a franchise record by winning a game by 46 points, marking the largest victory in the team’s history. They also gave the Jacksonville Jaguars the largest defeat in their franchise history. The Lions’ 645 total yards gained also a franchise record and the third highest in the NFL over the past two decades. They only allowed 170 to the Jag, a 475-yard margin that was the third largest in league history. Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff felt like the team could do no wrong.
“We felt like we could call anything,” Goff said as he finished 24 of 29 for 412 yards and four touchdowns with a perfect passer rating just a week after his career-high five interceptions. The Lions are currently leading the NFC and tied with the Chiefs with the best record in the league at 9-1. They have now won eight straight, and this is the first time since 1934 when they have won nine of their first 10 games in a season.
The most surprising BTA game happened at the Empower Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos. Who would’ve thought that the rookie quarterback Bo Nix would lead the charge in the Broncos crushing the high-flying Atlanta Falcons 38-6? Nix finished the game with the best games of his young career. He finished with career bests, completing 85% of his passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns.
Nix finished completing 28 of 33 passes, which made history as one of only two rookie quarterbacks in NFL history, alongside Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, to achieve over 200 passing yards and throw for two or more touchdowns in four consecutive home games. Additionally, he joins Dak Prescott, who accomplished this feat in 2016, as the only rookies to achieve four games with a completion rate of 70% or higher, multiple touchdowns, and no interceptions.
As impressive as Nix has been, Broncos coach Sean Payton wants people to pump the breaks on praising his young quarterback.
“Let’s not send this kid to Canton quite yet,” Payton said on his Monday teleconference call with local media. “We’re sitting here in the middle of the season. He’s playing well. I’m excited. The film showed that he’s playing well. The film showed a few things though that I wanted to scream at him about. We’ll keep correcting those things. I like the way he prepares. I love the way he comes to work. I love his enthusiasm. I think it’s naturally contagious. I think he’s a winner.”
The Broncos improved to 6-5 and snapped a two-game losing streak while the Falcons dropped to 6-5, but still led their NFC south division.
