There is no place like home.Just ask Patrick Mahomes.
The Kansas City quarterback, who has five AFC titles and two Super Bowl rings, is scheduled to sit out a postseason game Sunday afternoon when the Chiefs play Buffalo.
All 15 previous playoff games have been played at Arrowhead Stadium, except for two Super Bowl games played at neutral sites. “We’re in a hostile environment right now and we’ve never played a game with fans in the stands,” said Mahomes, the only team to play at Highmark Stadium without fans during the 2020 COVID-19 season. . “But watching this game makes me want to do it when I grow up.”
The Chiefs-Bills will watch Tampa Bay play in Detroit to close out the divisional weekend that will decide the NFL’s version of the Final Four. The Chiefs won their fifth consecutive AFC Championship and advanced to this round after defeating Miami in a grueling wild-card game.
Meanwhile, the Bills defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild-card game that was postponed until Monday after a snowstorm hit Buffalo. Advancing to the divisional round is nothing new for the Bills, who have advanced to the divisional round in each of the past four seasons and won each of their home playoff games.
This is the first year since the AFC Championship Game in 1993. The Bills hosted the Chiefs in the postseason. The matchup between Mahomes and Buffalo’s Josh Allen drew a lot of attention and even led to NFL rule changes. Two years ago, their teams met in the divisional round in Kansas City, and Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 42-36 overtime victory. In that game, Kansas City won the coin toss to send it to overtime, and Mahomes threw a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce on the first drive. It ended so suddenly that the rules were changed. The NFL adjusted the postseason overtime rules to allow each team to have the ball.
Sunday’s opener features the Buccaneers and Lions, both led by a quarterback who was drafted first overall but currently plays for a different franchise than the one that drafted him. Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield was the No. 1 to Cleveland in 2018.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff was selected first overall by the Rams in 2016. The win against Philadelphia advanced the Buccaneers to the divisional round. That means Tampa Bay has won six of its last seven games. Earlier this season, the Buccaneers lost six of seven games.
“From the beginning to the middle to the end and now playing team football with confidence, it says a lot about the growth of our team,” Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said.With the win over the Rams, the Lions snapped their NFL postseason record nine-game losing streak.
It was just the second postseason win in the Super Bowl era.Detroit is one of four NFL teams, along with Cleveland, Jacksonville and Houston, that have never played in a Super Bowl. The Lions and Buccaneers played earlier this season, with Detroit winning 20-6 in Week 6 at Tampa Bay.
“Looking back at the Lions game, we weren’t at our best offensively. “Once we know the game plan, we’ll watch the tape again, but we’re a lot different than we were at the beginning of the year,” Mayfield told reporters this week. “It’s something to be proud of and we’ve continued to improve.
We did not reinvent the wheel. We stuck with it and got better at the little things.”Lions coach Dan Campbell is expecting a much different opponent than his side faced earlier this season. “They’re a better team than we played against. They’re playing good football,” Campbell told reporters. “But we’re fine too. It is. “We’re going to face better opponents all year in the divisional round, and so are we.”
