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The Chiefs don't exactly scare the rest of the league at this point. Before last year, they went 4-12, 2-14, and 4-12 their 3 previous seasons. Last year, they played only three games against teams with winning records in the regular season, going 1-2 against them...the victory came in the opener against the Chargers, who turned around and shut the Chiefs out 0-31 later in the year. Then they were spanked by the Ravens in the playoffs. Easy-ass schedule last year.
Until the Chiefs start beating the better teams, the perception won't be that they have turned some kind of corner because of what happened last year. Hey, the Seahawks were a playoff team too...the Chiefs played that sorry NFC West division last year. Let's see how they match up against the likes of Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and New England this year. Don't expect San Diego's special teams to lock them out of the playoffs this year again, either.
This may sound like smack talk, and it partly is because I'm obviously a Bills fan and we're playing this week, but I'm just talking about how a lot of people perceive your team right now. I have nothing against the Chiefs personally and wish you the best (apart from the opener, of course).
This game could go either way against the Bills, who actually won the Bills/Chiefs game last year...OK, maybe not, but the Bills kicked a 53-yard winning fieldgoal in overtime only to find out that the Chiefs had called a timeout in the last split second. I always hated the rules that allow that to happen and like when it backfires. Anyway, the Bills missed the re-kick. They were also on the verge of fieldgoal range at the end of regulation when Fitzpatrick threw that awful pick.
The point is that the Bills/Chiefs game was tight last year. The Bills also played some other good teams tight last year, had a tough schedule (again), and so were better than their record would indicate. To me, the biggest key in this game will be how effectively the Bills can stop the run. Last year, they were dead last in that category by quite a bit...but our d-line actually looks pretty good now, and generating a pass rush wouldn't hurt either, which also seems possible. Our secondary is decent. If the Bills can minimize mistakes on offense and make a few plays, they'll win the game if the defense shows up. If not, they'll lose. That's how I see it.
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