The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and the Buffalo Payments competed in a divisional playoff sport on Sunday, January 21, to find out who will proceed to the AFC Championship Sport.
The Chiefs in the end received the sport, with a remaining rating of 27-24. Sunday’s divisional sport marked the primary time that the Payments have performed a house playoff sport towards the Chiefs at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, because the rivalry between their quarterback, Josh Allen, and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes started.
The Chiefs will subsequent tackle the Baltimore Ravens within the AFC Championship Sport at M&T Financial institution Stadium in Maryland on Sunday, January 28. The winners will go on to play both the Detroit Lions or the San Francisco 49ers — relying on the outcomes of the NFC Championship Sport — in Tremendous Bowl LVII in Las Vegas on February 11.
The Chiefs and the Payments had been due for a rematch after their controversial common season sport in December 2023. Whereas the Chiefs had been poised to win after Kadarius Toney scored a landing from a lateral move thrown by Travis Kelce, the referees referred to as a penalty for offensive offsides, reversing the factors. The Payments went on to defeat the Chiefs, with Mahomes, 28, getting visibly upset on the sidelines, yelling on the officers and throwing his helmet.
Mahomes later took out his frustration on Allen, 27, telling him after the sport, “Wildest f—king name I’ve ever seen. Offensive offsides on that play, man, f—king horrible.”
Quickly after his outburst, Mahomes apologized for his interplay with Allen and his habits on the sidelines. “I remorse performing like that,” he mentioned on Kansas Metropolis’s 610 Sports activities Radio in December 2023. “However greater than something, I regretted the best way I acted towards Josh after the sport as a result of he had nothing to do with it.”
He added: “I used to be nonetheless sizzling and emotional, however you possibly can’t try this, man. It’s not an awesome instance for teenagers watching the sport, so I used to be extra upset about that than I used to be about me on the sidelines.”
Mahomes acknowledged that his ardour for the sport bought the higher of him within the warmth of the second. “I care, man,” he defined. “I find it irresistible. I like this sport, I like my teammates, I wish to go on the market and put all the pieces on the road to win. However clearly, can’t try this. Can’t be that means towards officers or actually anyone in life.”
Mahomes famous that he had realized his lesson within the aftermath of the ordeal. “It’s powerful if you play a hard-fought sport and the sport comes all the way down to stuff like that,” he mentioned. “But it surely’s a part of it, man. It’s a part of the sport. You’ve bought to simply be taught from it and attempt to be higher from it, be higher as an individual and be higher as a participant. It’s one thing that I’ll be taught from in my profession and attempt to be higher the subsequent time the state of affairs arises.”
As for Allen, he had no exhausting emotions about his post-game dialog with Mahomes. “He reached out to me, and I used to be identical to, ‘It’s soccer, it’s a sport of emotion.’ I do know he didn’t imply something by it,” Allen instructed reporters in December 2023. “I do know the cameras form of caught the previous few seconds of what we had been speaking about. However he’s an final competitor. He desires to win and that’s why he’s who he’s.”
The Chiefs have received two Tremendous Bowls in 2020 and 2023 since Mahomes grew to become their quarterback, whereas the Payments have but to make it to the Tremendous Bowl with Allen.