3 Takeaways from Bills' Week 14 Win vs. Chiefs

The Buffalo Bills entered Week 14 desperately needing a win to stay alive in the AFC wild-card race. To get it, they had to defeat Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on the road.

It wasn't always pretty, and the Chiefs threatened to spoil Buffalo's day several times. However, the Bills played from ahead for most of the game and did enough to put Kansas City away.

With the 20-17 victory, the Bills moved to 7-6 on the season. They would still be out of the playoffs if the season ended today, but a big victory like this should give them a ton of momentum entering the final month.

Here's what we learned during the Bills' Week 14 win over the Chiefs.

Bills Catch a Late Break, Finally Finish on Defense

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Bills DL sacks Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes

The Bills broke a 17-17 tie on a Tyler Bass 39-yard field goal with just under two minutes in regulation. The problem was that this meant the defense would have to hold for one final drive.

That was something the defense failed to do in its recent losses to the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles. This time, the Bills forced a fourth-down incompletion instead of yielding a game-tying or go-ahead score.

A Buffalo defense that ranked sixth overall a year ago has endured multiple injuries this season and hasn't quite been the same. It was great to see the unit finally finish, though it's worth noting that the Bills got a lot of help.

A few plays before Mahomes' final incompletion, he found Travis Kelce open over the middle, and the tight end pitched the ball back to Kadarius Toney, who raced into the end zone. Briefly, it appeared that Buffalo's defense had blown another late lead. However, the play was nullified because Toney had lined up in the neutral zone.

It was a massive break for the Bills defense, though it did go on to close out the game.

Offense Survives Rough Day from Stefon Diggs

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Chiefs CB L'Jarius Sneed breaks up a pass intended for Bills WR Stefon Diggs

While the Bills offense didn't exactly put on a show, it did enough to win against a Chiefs defense that came in ranked fourth overall and third in points allowed.

Quarterback Josh Allen finished 23-of-42 for 233 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and he made his fair share of highlight-reel plays. He also had to spend much of the game finding targets aside from No. 1 option Stefon Diggs.

The Chiefs had a game plan for stopping Buffalo's No. 1 receiver, and Diggs didn't do himself any favors either. A couple of Allen's passes to Diggs appeared to be unforced drops, and Diggs finished with only four catches for 24 yards on 11 targets.

Allen compensated by spreading the ball around to secondary targets like Dalton Kincaid (five catches, 21 yards), and Dawson Knox (three catches, 36 yards), who made his return from injured reserve (wrist) against Kansas City.

The Bills' offense is certainly better when Diggs is breaking free and hauling in clutch passes, but Buffalo appears to be developing a level of depth and variety in the passing game that was absent in recent years.

Nine different Bills players caught passes on Sunday.

James Cook Continues to Shine as a Pass-Catcher

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Bills RB James Cook

Allen deserves plenty of credit for engineering Buffalo's win on Sunday, but it wouldn't have been possible without running back James Cook.

The second-year Georgia product created plenty of problems for Kansas City's defense and finished with 141 scrimmage yards and a touchdown on 10 catches and five receptions.

Cook repeatedly caught the Chiefs off-guard as a receiver out of the backfield, and he averaged an impressive 5.8 yards per carry on the ground.

"Allen said that James Cook was 'awesome' today and thought that it was one of Cook's best weeks of practice this week," ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

While Cook has been a strong performer and a dual-threat for Buffalo all season, he seems to have become more of a passing threat under interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady.

Before Ken Dorsey was fired following the loss to Denver, Cook had just 24 receptions in 10 games. Over his last three outings, he has caught 14 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns.

Getting Cook more involved in the passing game has helped Buffalo be a little less predictable on offense, and it could go a long way toward the Bills making a late playoff push.