Maiorana: Bills overcome adversity but know much more work remains to make playoffs

KANSAS CITY – There was a cautious response inside the Buffalo Bills locker room regarding what transpired Sunday afternoon in the nation’s unseasonably warm heartland.

Never get too high, never get too low. That’s the approach the Bills tried to adhere to during their mind-numbingly awful three-game losing streak — that would be the "too low" end of the emotional spectrum. And to their credit, they didn’t get too high following their somewhat surprising 16-10 conquest of the death-spiraling Kansas City Chiefs.

“It feels like one win,” said defensive tackle Kyle Williams, who wasn’t trying to be a wise guy. “There’s ups and downs to the season, and we were up against a mountain of adversity and had to correct a whole lot of things. To come out and do it, that’s a good catalyst moving forward.”

Report card: It's your turn to grade the Bills

Adversity and November typically go hand in hand for the Bills. Throughout their 17-year playoff drought, it has usually been a month on the NFL schedule where hope goes to die, and hope was certainly on its death bed after the losses to the Jets, Saints and Chargers.

But hope has been reborn with this victory because it moves the Bills to 6-5 and keeps them ensconced in the jumbled AFC playoff picture with what could be a key tiebreaker over the Chiefs should Kansas City tumble out of first place in the AFC West and be surpassed by the rising Chargers. That, by the way, is the scenario the Bills need because the Chargers have the tiebreaker on Buffalo, so winning the West takes them out of the wild-card race.

Of course, it’s a bit premature to call the Bills all healed. Let’s wait to see what happens this week when the world champion Patriots come to Orchard Park for the first in a three-game homestand. But for now, this was a day to rejoice because, as the Bills made mention of in some of their postgame comments and tweets, not many people gave them a chance to win, and they enjoyed doling out some crow.

“In the grand scheme of things we didn’t want to be 5-6,” said linebacker Lorenzo Alexander. “We’re still in the thick of things in the wild card, so it was a key win, an AFC win. That’s a team that’s going to be fighting for a playoff spot. But like we can't allow losses to define who we are, we have to have the same work ethic we had last week moving forward. We haven’t done anything yet.”

A defensive revival

I’m not sure what happened, but this was an entirely different defense than the one that took the field during the losing streak. The Bills were outstanding in coverage, they were stout against the run, they put pressure on Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, and they were the reason the Bills won the game.

“You’ve got to give it up to the whole defense today,” said safety Micah Hyde. “We did an awesome job getting to the rock and tackling. Those tackles we were missing in the past didn’t happen today.”

It was shocking to watch the Chiefs, with so many dynamic weapons, continually sputter. They finished with just 236 total yards and were 2-for-13 on third down. Travis Kelce had just three catches for 37 yards, Kareem Hunt was held to 17 rushing yards, and Tyreek Hill had nine touches totaling 54 yards.

I’m still rubbing my eyes.

Tyrod Taylor is still, well …

This victory had almost nothing to do with Taylor’s play at quarterback. He was re-inserted into the starting lineup, as he should have been, but nothing changed. He remains almost incapable of pushing the envelope on offense and he put forth another classic game-manager performance. If not for the Chiefs absolutely stinking on offense, the Bills would have lost.

Taylor threw for 183 yards and completed only two passes of more than 20 yards. He was given credit by some of the offensive players who were more comfortable with him back on the field, and that’s understandable, but he produced four first downs and 69 net yards after halftime.

Alex Smith is still, well …

What happened to the guy who torched the Patriots on opening night in Foxborough? The guy who had 18 touchdown passes and no interceptions at one point this year? The guy who had got the Chiefs off to a 5-0 start and looked like an NFL MVP candidate?

Sorry, but Smith is back to being the mediocrity he’s almost always been. As I watched this game unfold, I felt like I was watching Tyrod Taylor in a red jersey because he plays the game almost the same way the Buffalo quarterback does — cautiously and maddeningly inconsistently.

This was a Buffalo defense that had been shredded the last three weeks, and Smith managed one first down in the first half and was being booed off the field from about the second three-and-out of the day on. Chiefs fans are clamoring for first-round draft pick Patrick Mahomes. I wonder if Andy Reid will pull a Sean McDermott and make the switch. Of course, what’s different is he’d be turning to a first-rounder as opposed to a fifth-rounder.

Special teams were special

I generally pay very little attention to the kicking teams, but they had an impact in this game. Of course, Stephen Hauschka’s three field goals proved critical because they were the points that determined the outcome. But there were other vital contributions.

Punter Colton Schmidt had four punts downed inside the 20, and the kickoff coverage team bottled up the Chiefs' dangerous returners. Kansas City’s average drive start was its own 22, and it was the 20 following kickoffs. With the Chiefs' offense struggling so much, that poor field position was a killer for them because they couldn’t sustain any drives. They marched 85 yards for their lone touchdown, and gained a total of 171 yards on their other 11 possessions.

“I thought our special teams did a great job in terms of creating field position for our offense and not giving their offense favorable field position,” said McDermott.

Extra points

► Play of the game: There weren’t many to choose from, so let’s go with the Bills’ lone touchdown, the Taylor to Zay Jones 11-yarder. Taylor rolled to his left, and what was impressive is that he said Jones was actually the third option on the play. Taylor stuck with it, and Jones finished his route the way he needs to and came free in the end zone for the score.

► Player of the game: Man, this was a chore because almost no one stood out. Let’s give it to CB Tre’Davious White because he saved the day with his late interception, and he also played a role in limiting the effectiveness of the Kansas City passing game.

► Unsung hero: RB Travaris Cadet may have solved the Bills’ pressing need for a functional backup to LeSean McCoy. Mike Tolbert has been out for two games, and Cadet has filled in nicely. He had 28 rushing yards and 21 receiving yards in this game.

► Key stat: Nine. That’s how many possessions where the Chiefs managed one or no first downs. They were simply pathetic on offense, which is inexcusable when you have the weapons they do.

► Injuries: WR Kelvin Benjamin was ruled out of the game on Saturday due to his knee injury. … LT Cordy Glenn was again inactive with foot/ankle problems. … RB Mike Tolbert was inactive due to a hamstring injury. … RG John Miller sat out due to an ankle injury.

MAIORANA@Gannett.com

COMPLETE GAME COVERAGE:

Maiorana: Bills overcome adversity but keep it real following victory

Report card: Dominant defense chief reason for Bills' upset

Game story: Tyrod Taylor returns and so does victory

Recap: Buffalo Bills 16, Kansas City Chiefs 10