AFC East: Bills edge Chiefs; Jets stun Packers, Miami falls
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, front, is tackled by Buffalo Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam during the first half of Sunday's game in Kansas City. (AP photo)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Von Miller had just finished talking about the importance of the Buffalo Bills beating the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium when he stopped in the hallway outside the visiting locker room and grabbed Josh Allen in a hug.
The Bills quarterback was masterful again on Sunday.
This time, it was in a winning effort.
Allen threw for 329 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead toss to Dawson Knox with 1:04 left, and the Bills held on for a 24-20 victory to exact a measure of revenge for their epic overtime loss to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in last year’s playoffs.
“I’ve come to this stadium a whole bunch of times. Been at this same podium. But I ain’t have many smiles,” Miller said. “It just feels so good to go out there with my teammates, to work toward something like this and come out on top.”
Stefon Diggs had 10 catches for 148 yards and a touchdown, and Gabe Davis also had a TD catch after torching Kansas City for four of them in January, as the Bills (5-1) won in the same place their season had ended the past two seasons.
It was the divisional round in January. It was the AFC championship game the year before that.
“Nothing we did last year translates to what we’re doing this year,” Allen said with a shrug. “What happened in the past, that’s where it is. All we can do is focus on the next one. Today was the next one.”
For a moment, it looked as if it could be the next heartbreak.
The Chiefs got the ball back after Knox’s touchdown with plenty of time left. But after Mahomes misfired on first down, Buffalo cornerback Taron Johnson jumped his pass to Skyy Moore and picked him off with 51 seconds left.
The Bills ran out the clock from there.
“It was a great battle. You love these games,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “You just don’t want to be sitting on this end of it. But you love the competition and the way the guys get after it.”
Mahomes finished with 338 yards passing to go with two touchdowns and two interceptions, including one in the end zone early in the game. JuJu Smith-Schuster had five catches for 113 yards and a touchdown.
The down-to-the-wire nail-biter was a fitting follow-up to their playoff game, when the teams combined to score 25 points in the final two minutes of regulation, and the Chiefs (4-2) won it on the first possession of overtime.
After a 10-10 first half, the back-and-forth continued in the second half: Buffalo took the lead after Butker’s 51-yard miss when Diggs hauled in a long TD catch, then Kansas City drove 83 yards and Mecole Hardman tied it with his short reception.
When the Bills failed on another fourth-down attempt, Butker added a 44-yarder to give Kansas City a 20-17 lead.
But unlike January, the Bills made the plays down the stretch.
Allen’s scrambling, hurdling run on their go-ahead drive got them in scoring position, and his throw to Knox — a pinpoint dime along the sideline — gave the Bills the lead. And when Johnson came up with his interception a few minutes later, the Bills had their long-awaited revenge in Kansas City.
JETS 27, PACKERS 10
Breece Hall ran for 116 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown, and New York sacked Aaron Rodgers four times at Lambeau Field to win its fourth straight.
The Jets (4-2) are off to their best six-game start since 2015, when they also were 4-2 before finishing 10-6. New York hasn’t reached the playoffs since the 2010 season, the NFL’s longest active drought.
Green Bay (3-3) lost consecutive regular-season games within the same season for the first time since coach Matt LaFleur’s arrival in 2019.
The Jets outrushed Green Bay 179-60 while Zach Wilson was just 10 of 18 for 110 yards. New York broke a 3-all tie and pulled ahead for good by scoring two touchdowns in a span of less than 2 1/2 minutes in the third quarter.
Braxton Berrios gave the Jets the lead by scoring on a 20-yard end-around. After New York stopped Green Bay on its next possession, Michael Clemons blocked a punt and Will Parks got the ball and raced 20 yards into the end zone.
Rodgers, who injured a thumb last week, hardly resembled himself. He went 26 of 41 for 241 yards and nearly committed turnovers on each of Green Bay’s first two possessions.
VIKINGS 24, DOLPHINS 16
Dalvin Cook rushed for a 53-yard insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter and Minnesota held on to beat injury-riddled Miami.
The host Dolphins (3-3) had rallied behind Teddy Bridgewater, who returned from the concussion protocol and entered the game when third-stringer Skylar Thompson injured his thumb in the second quarter.
Cook’s score with 3:25 left restored a two-touchdown lead for the Vikings (5-1). It followed a fumble by Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle on a drive when Miami was swiftly moving the ball down the field, trailing 16-10.
NFL receiving leader Justin Jefferson had a 47-yard catch-and-run at the end of the third quarter — part of a six-catch, 107-yard performance. That set up a 2-yard touchdown catch by Adam Thielen to put the Vikings ahead 16-3.
The Dolphins’ defense put together one of its best performances in a while — three sacks, seven quarterback hurries, four tackles for loss — but didn’t get enough help from an offense that could not turn drives into points.
Bridgewater threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns to Mike Gesicki. Tyreek Hill had 12 receptions for 177 yards and Waddle caught six passes for 129 yards.


