*After a slow start, the Kansas City Chiefs (6-5) absolutely took over Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills (5-6) on the way to a 30-22 victory. Here's what we learned: *
- The Chiefs trailed Buffalo late in the first half Sunday, 10-0. They had already lost their best player (Justin Houston) for the day and the Bills had out-gained Kansas City 202-29. And then a Chiefs offense led by Jeremy Maclinabsolutely took over. Maclin repeatedly torched Ronald Darby on the way to 160 yards and a score. Darby also gave up a touchdown to Travis Kelce.
Maclin and the Chiefs' running game were the difference on a day when Kansas City's offense needed to carry them. Now 6-5, we like the Chiefs' chances of winning a wild-card spot.
- The Chiefs' last seven possessions in a driving rainstorm: touchdown, touchdown, missed field goal, touchdown, field goal, field goal, run out the clock. There were a lot of injuries on both sides of the ball; three Chiefs offensive linemen were hurt Sunday, including Eric Fisher. But when push came to shove, Andy Reid's offense dominated Rex Ryan's defense. Spencer Ware ran hard for 115 yards and Alex Smith ran for 35, including some key first downs.
- Ryan and his coaches upstairs could not have botched their replay challenges more. They went 0 of 2, and chose not to challenge two massive plays that should have gone their way. Chris Hogan made an obvious catch that would have kept their final drive alive, but the officials made an awful call, ruling it an incompletion. Rex made it worse by not challenging.
- The Bills, now 5-6, listened to the pleas and got Sammy Watkins involved early and often. He had 158 yards receiving and two touchdowns in the first half. Sean Smith struggled to keep up with Watkins, although Ron Parker and Marcus Peters also took turns. Eric Berry was continually late when trying to help over the top. That's the good news for Buffalo. The bad news is he only had one target in the second half.
- Give Alex Smith credit for going deep all day. He was lucky that his streak without an interception continued -- three passes could have been picked off -- but his aggressiveness down the field was rewarded.
- Two Chiefs old-timers have keyed their five-game winning streak. Tamba Hali is having a great year after nearing getting cut in the offseason, adding a forced-fumble sack Sunday. Derrick Johnson made a number of huge plays, too.
