October 17, 2020

By Fred Liggett
FredL@lstribune.net

A one-time Thursday night primetime matchup is now set for a Monday early evening meeting for the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. The additional four days before the two teams take the field will not lessen the interest for many NFL followers to see this big AFC contest.

It’s amazing what just a few days will do to impact thoughts on an upcoming game. The Chiefs were originally set to visit the Bills just four days after a hard fought home game against their division rival Las Vegas Raiders. The thought was the Chiefs would be tired from such a tough game and the long flight to Buffalo to perform as needed to get a road win. Leading up to week five slate of games both the Chiefs and Bills were as expected at 4-0. The Chiefs failed to get the home win many expected by giving up 40 points in a 40-32 loss to the Raiders.

The Bills waited til Tuesday night to play their week five game against Tennessee where the Bills were expected to easily win over the Titans. The Bills got torched in giving up 42 points in a 42-16 loss. Suddenly the pairing of two undefeated teams is now a meeting between two 4-1 teams looking to return to the victory column.

Now the Chiefs defense will try to recover by going up against the number two offense in the AFC going into week five. The defense regained the services of DB Bashaud Breeland and extended play from CB Juan Thornhill to aid the team’s effort last week. The challenge this week is Bills QB Josh Allen and WR Stefon Diggs as the Chiefs look to slow them down much like the Titans did this past Tuesday. Offensively the Chiefs will have to overcome the loss of starting OL Kelechi Osemele who was lost for the season in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders. On Wednesday of this week the Chiefs placed starting FB Anthony Sherman on the team’s COVID-19 list. Sherman will miss the Bills game if he fails any test over a five-day period leading up to Monday’s game.

The national media would love to showcase a battle between two 5-0 teams but this meeting between two 4-1 teams expected to contend for the AFC title still warrants a lot of attention. Fox Sports is covering this game with their number one on-air crew consisting of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and sideline reporter Erin Andrews. The kick off time of 4 p.m. on Monday may affect some ratings points but not much as the defending Super Bowl Champions face a critical road test coming off from a loss.

The postponement of this once booked for primetime match up in Buffalo will help the Chiefs find the answers they need to return to the win column. Chiefs players talked all week about their disappointment of their first loss in 2020. Head Coach Andy Reid talked about finding the tweaks needed to get the outcome they all hope for in upper New York. Expect a different Chiefs team this week to take the field and earn a win playing in a rare Monday afternoon game. That’s What I REID Into It for this week.

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