With just 13 seconds to go, the Chiefs needed to get into field goal range to have a chance to send the game to overtime.
After a quick catch and run from Tyreek Hill, Kansas City called a timeout with 8 seconds left on the clock. They broke the huddle and lined up before Buffalo called a timeout. The ensuing play they had called didn’t require Travis Kelce to go up the seam and split the Bills’ defense, but after seeing how Buffalo had lined up, that’s exactly what Kelce decided to do.
“He wasn’t necessarily supposed to do that,” Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes said. “But after the (Bills) timeout, we got a look at what the defense was doing, and he actually said it to me, ‘If they do it again, I’m going to take it down the middle between both the guys guarding me.’ And he went up the field, I gave him the ball and he got into field goal range.”
With the enhanced sound bite, you can hear Mahomes giving Kelce the go-ahead to improvise his route just before the snap.
“Do it, Kels! Do it, do it, Kels!” Mahomes yelled. Kelce took it up the middle, got the reception and put the Chiefs in field goal range.
Listen below:
"DO IT": Isolated and enhanced pic.twitter.com/7MKfHa9BzD
— Kali Mahomes (@ClayWendler) January 24, 2022
“It was just a little backyard football,” Kelce said after the game.
That backyard football, that unmatched chemistry between Mahomes and Kelce, is what ultimately allowed the Chiefs to run away with a 42-36 divisional-round win over the Buffalo Bills. Mahomes trusted that chemistry to close the game in overtime, hitting Kelce for an eight-yard touchdown pass to seal it:
.@PatrickMahomes.@tkelce.
Ballgame. pic.twitter.com/mozhesbohD— KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) January 24, 2022
With the win, Kansas City will host its fourth-straight AFC championship game Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
