The defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs came up short against their arch-rivals, the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Highmark Stadium, falling by a 28-21 margin to drop their record to a mediocre 5-4. With the NFL season now more than half over, the Chiefs sit in the AFC’s No. 8 seed â out of playoff position completely.
The Chiefs never really got into an offensive groove in the game, and one of the main reasons was their porous offensive line play, allowing future Hall of Fame quarterback Patrick Mahomes to suffer three sacks and brutal 15 quarterback hits.
According to NextGen Stats, “the Bills pressured Mahomes on 52.6 percent of his dropbacks, 14.3 percent higher than their pressure rate in any of their other nine matchups against the Chiefs since 2020.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Mahomes completed only three of 16 passes when under pressure from Bills pass rushers, per NextGen.
The offensive line debacle had Chiefs fans online pouring out their frustration at one player who wasn’t even there on Sunday â rookie first-round pick offensive lineman Josh Simmons. The 22-year old suddenly departed the team on October 12, just hours before the Chiefs’ Sunday night game against the Detroit Lions.
Offensive Line Suffers in Simmons’ Absence
The offensive line play continued to suffer from the declining performance of five-year veteran Jaylon Moore, who was little match for Bills All-Pro edge rusher Joey Bosa as he filled in for the fourth week in a row for the absent Simmons.
On a second down play early in the fourth quarter, Moore allowed Bosa to blow past him and get to Mahomes for a nine-yard loss, and in the chaos right tackle Jawaan Taylor suffered an ankle injury and was forced to exit the game, quickly being ruled out.
The seriousness of the injury to Taylor was not immediately known, and Moore clearly remains a concern while Simmons missed his fourth consecutive game, and week of practice, as he tends to some sort of family issue, the details of which have not been made public, according to statements by coach Andy Reid.
Patience With Simmons Absence Getting Thin
The Chiefs organization has been publicly supportive of Simmons as he deals with his family issue, but the first sign that coaches may be running out of patience with his absence came this week when offensive coordinator Matt Nagy declined to say whether the former Ohio State standout would be placed back into his starting job when he returns to the team, whenever that ends up being.
But Chiefs fans online during and after Sunday’s game made their feelings on Simmons’ absence absolutely clear. They want him back with the team â now.
“Unpopular Opinion: Josh Simmons needs to get his ass back,” wrote one fan on social media Sunday. “What family needs a 22 year old to leave his new job for a month?! You got a $7.3M signing bonus, hire a babysitter. I canât leave my job for over a month with full pay either.”
“Sorry but this Josh Simmons situation,” wrote another, “it needs to end the man has a job to do.”
“Sorry to Josh Simmons and his personal issues,” wrote yet another fan, “but we all have those and still have to do our jobs so see you after the bye week.”
Simmons Speculated to Return in Bye Week
According to recent media speculation, Simmons could return during the Chiefs bye week, which is the upcoming Week 10, and get back on the field when the Chiefs face the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos. But the team has not commented, and there has been no confirmation that Simmons is planning to end his absence during the bye week, or any time.
“Did it ever occur to you that Mahomes looked like f****** dog s*** because Josh Simmons canât show up for work!” another fan opined on the platform X, which is formerly called Twitter.
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