Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs second-half open thread✌️

 Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs second-half open thread

The Buffalo Bills trail the Kansas City Chiefs 21-16 at halftime, in what was a frenzied and frustrating first half of football for Bills Mafia. As has been the case so often with quarterback Josh Allen, the offense found its way to a late-half touchdown to head into the locker room on a positive note.

Things couldn’t have started much worse for the Bills, where the offense failed to get anything going out of the gate, somehow fortunate enough that Josh Allen didn’t throw an interception on two different passes. Allen was later lucky to not lose a fumble that left his grasp.

Allen eventually settled down a bit, but he’s still playing a brand of football foreign to his 2024 campaign. The defense hasn’t been tremendous in the crunch, either. There’s no doubt the team feels for cornerback Christian Benford, who suffered his second concussion in a seven-day span.

There’s one half left to get things right for the opportunity to play a meaningful game on Super Bowl Sunday. Will the Bills figure things out? Can Kaiir Elam put it all together and rise above the doubts? Will Sean McDermott stop throwing useless challenge flags?

If we’re being honest with ourselves, Buffalo needs to settle down, play its brand of football and stop getting outclassed by a vulnerable opponent. The moment isn’t bigger than it is, and right now the Bills are playing as though the fate of the world is at stake.

It’s just football. Right? They can do this. They want this in the worst way, but they need to play their best football these next 30 minutes. Continuing to involves wide receivers Amari Cooper and Keon Coleman in the shorter passing game would be a good idea, as would getting Mack Hollins more looks.

It would be great to see more designed runs called for Josh Allen this half, as well. Now is the time for offensive coordinator Joe Brady and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich to call their best stuff.

Here’s your open thread for the remainder of tonight’s AFC Championship Game. As always, be kind to each other — no matter what team you root for — and in all things, Go Bills!