The Buffalo Bills are set to face the Kansas City Chiefs in what appears to be their permanent postseason date. This season is much different than last year, including the defense the Chiefs will see on Sunday.
Buffalo and KC met last January for a divisional round playoff game in Orchard Park, New York. This time, they gather in Missouri for the AFC Championship Game, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. That alone is enough to change the talking points and narrative about Sunday’s game, but the biggest difference may be who fits at linebacker for the Bills.
Last January, in a three-point loss, the Bills had to rely on reserve linebackers AJ Klein and Baylon Specter. This time around, they have both starting linebackers in Matt Milano and Terrell Bernard.
Last year, general manager Brandon Beane had to call Klein and ask him to forgo his family vacation and head to Buffalo because the Bills ran out of linebackers. Matt Milano was on injured reserve with a broken leg, and Terrell Bernard was out after suffering an ankle subluxation the week before. Sure, Buffalo had linebacker Dorian Williams. This season, he led the team through the first 11 weeks of submission for Milano, who was injured again, but last year he was a rookie and still figuring things out.
In fact, the Chiefs offense has never faced the starting linebacker duo of Bernard and Milano. The last time Milano played for the Chiefs, it was his field buddy Tremaine Edmunds. It was October 2022, and it was a game the Bills won. That season, Milano earned All-Pro honors as well.
The Bills forced Edmunds to leave that free agency in the offseason, with plans to hold a competition between Terrell Bernard and Bayron Specter to take his place. Whether it was Specter getting injured during training camp or Bernard just being that good, the Bills began the 2023 season with the intention of unleashing Bernard and Milano on the football world.
Five weeks later, Milano suffered a season-ending injury, and when the Bills and Chiefs played during the regular season, it was a rotation of Specter and Williams, each with one tackle, and Bernard (who had eight tackles). I took his place beside me.
In his career, Bernard has 20 tackles, one sack, and an interception in a game played against Patrick Mahomes. Milan has 23, including 11 in one playoff game he played against the Chiefs.
Buffalo’s game plan on how to neutralize its linebackers may have more work to do this week than in previous matchups between the AFC’s top two teams.
