The 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs are heading to Buffalo on Sunday to face the 8-2 Bills in a contest that may decide which club earns the top-seed in the AFC at the season’s end. For Andy Reid’s Chiefs, this duel comes one week after a miraculous last-second victory against their AFC West rivals from Denver at the hands of a walk-off field goal block. The Buffalo Bills are coming off of a victory themselves, taking down the Colts in Indianapolis this past week.
After throwing at least one interception in each of his first seven contests this season, Patrick Mahomes has gone the rest of his ’24 campaign totaling zero passes to opposing teams. Josh Allen has a similar story, but in the exact opposite fashion—despite not throwing any interceptions through his first seven games of the year, Allen has tossed at least one ball into the hands of defenders each game since.
Things will get even more difficult for Allen in Week 11, who will face Kansas City’s defense without star tight end Dalton Kincaid and rookie wideout Keon Coleman; a duo that’s responsible for 773 of Allen’s 2,281 passing yards, and five of his 17 passing touchdowns.
For Coleman, this marks the second consecutive week where the rookie won’t be suiting up. Kincaid is set to miss his first contest of the season, though.
Kincaid, the 25th-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has totaled 1,029 yards and four scores through 26 games. The 25-year-old has wasted little time becoming Allen’s favorite target, totaling five more passes his way than any other pass-catcher on the roster.
Being without both Kincaid and Coleman will be quite the challenge. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Josh Allen is, well, Josh Allen; the Chiefs’ defense cannot forget that.
AFC West juggernauts Kansas City Chiefs down a player of their own
Kansas City heads into their week 11 contest without kicker Harrison Butker, who sits tied for the sixth-most field goals made league-wide with 18. Butker has gone his ’24 campaign missing just two field goals, both coming on 50+ yard attempts.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, their 29-year-old kicker will be missing more than Week 11’s game; thanks to a knee injury, Butker will miss at least four contests as he lands on the injured reserves list.
Another key player hits the IR list for the AFC West juggernauts.
There is good news, however. The veteran kicker has undergone surgery in the meantime, emphasizing everything went well in that department.
The Chiefs have since added placekicker Spencer Shrader off of the New York Jets’ practice squad to fill their void at the position. Shrader, 25 years old, has attempted two field goals and three extra points this season. He’s yet to come up short on any.
*Top Photo: Harry How/ Getty Images
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