Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo Playfully Tells Josh Allen to Retire After Beating Kansas City

Josh Allen threw a touchdown to Dalton Kincaid and rushed for a pair of rushing touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo Playfully Tells Josh Allen to Retire After Beating Kansas City

In bubble: Josh Allen and Steve Spagnuolo (Image via SI/Getty Images)

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The Buffalo Bills defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 28-21 in Week 9 Sunday afternoon, ending the winning momentum of the Chiefs. The Bills’ QB Josh Allen accounted for three touchdowns in a re-surging performance and extended the Bills’ regular season win streak against the AFC rivals to five games.

Allen looked on from the sideline as the Bills’ defense swatted away two of Patrick Mahomes’ final desperate throws into the end zone to clinch the victory. When the final whistle sounded, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo met Allen on the field, delivering a lighthearted message caught by Inside the NFL.

I don’t want you to play anymore. I want you to retire. Nice job.

Steve Spagnuolo said to Josh Allen

Allen was nearly flawless against the Chiefs, much to the chagrin of Dan Orlovsky, completing 23 of 26 passes for 273 yards, with a touchdown to tight end Dalton Kincaid and two rushing scores. He has surpassed Cam Newton (77) for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in NFL history, including playoffs, with 79.

Allen also became the first quarterback, and only the fourth player ever, to record at least six rushing touchdowns in each of his first eight seasons. He joined legends Jim Brown, Marshall Faulk, and LaDainian Tomlinson. Josh Allen’s 88.5% completion rate was also the highest single-game mark in Bills history (minimum 15 pass attempts).

Steve Spagnuolo employed a new “Triple Spy” system to trap Josh Allen

Despite a pair of rushing touchdowns, the Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen was held to 19 rushing yards on six carries, in large part due to a specialized defensive scheme devised by Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo to contain his mobility.

Steve Spagnuolo with his defense
Steve Spagnuolo with his defense (Image via Charles Goldman/X)

NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger noted an unusual defensive wrinkle from Spagnuolo’s Chiefs during a key fourth-and-2 play. Rather than relying on a single quarterback spy, Kansas City assigned three defenders: Leo Chenal, Drue Tranquill, and Chamarri Conner to simultaneously track Josh Allen, preventing him from scrambling for a first down. Baldinger tweeted:

Here’s something that you never see. Maybe it’s just a Josh Allen defense here on fourth-and-2, but it’s definitely only reserved for MVPs.

The Bills are one of the top teams in rushing statistics this year. The goal of the “triple spy” was to limit the rushing attack from James Cook, who was ranked second in rushing yards heading into Week 9. Baldinger added:

The triple spy, you never see this. And then Josh makes his throw over the middle (to Khalil) Shakir, and it’s perfectly timed by Bryan Cook, but the Chiefs employed the triple spy and tried to limit Josh Allen. I mean, that’s wild.

Even with the “triple spy” in place, Allen stayed composed. The creative tactic underscored Spagnuolo’s respect for Allen’s mobility and set the stage for the post-game exchange between the two.

The Buffalo Bills will hope to replicate the regular season success against the Kansas City Chiefs in playoffs

Buffalo has now won five consecutive regular-season matchups against the Kansas City Chiefs, during which the Chiefs have averaged just 19.8 points per game. In Sunday’s game, the Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes was limited to his lowest passer rating of the season as well as the worst single-game completion percentage (44.1%) of his career.

However, the regular season success of Bills against Chiefs hasn’t translated to the postseason. In the four postseason meetings between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, the dynamic shifts dramatically. Kansas City has averaged 34 points in those contests, compared to Buffalo’s 28.3.

Entering Sunday’s game, Allen had actually performed better statistically against the Chiefs in the playoffs than in the regular season, with higher completion and passer rating numbers.

It has been Buffalo’s defense that has consistently faltered in those postseason matchups. However, the question whether the two teams will meet in the playoffs for a fifth time in six years remains uncertain. After Week 9’s result, neither leads its division, and if the postseason were to start today, the Chiefs, sitting eighth in the AFC, would miss the playoffs for the first time in Mahomes’ career.

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