KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Buffalo Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins did his best Sunday to end the Chiefs four-game winning streak by himself.
Watkins had had his way with the Chiefs secondary in the first half, totaling six catches for 158 yards receiving and two touchdowns on nine targets. The second-year wide receiver averaged an eye-popping 26.3 yards per catch.
Nov. 29, 2015; Kansas City, MO; Chiefs rookie cornerback Marcus Peters (22) breaks up a pass intended for Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins (14) at Arrowhead Stadium. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
“Sammy Watkins made some tremendous plays out there,” said cornerback Sean Smith, who was on the defensive end of Watkins’ touchdowns. “He’s an amazing athlete with great talent, and he showed why he is one of the top tier receivers he is today.”
Unfortunately for Watkins and the Bills, that production woke up a sleeping defensive secondary at halftime.
And it all started with a simple message among a proud group of defensive backs, all of whom didn’t like being shown up.
“We just came in and tightened up,” safety Ron Parker said. “With this group of secondary, we got a group of dogs and don’t nobody like to see anybody go out there and get dogged.”
“We went out there all mad and wanted to stop the problem because we knew there was a little leak and it came from the secondary in the first half. We wanted to slow that leak down in the second half, keep the deep balls off us.”
The Chiefs defensive secondary did more than slow the leak.
Kansas City’s defensive backs plugged it by limiting Watkins to one target the rest of the game en route a 30-22 win.
“Everybody had a talk,” safety Eric Berry said. “We had to do our part regardless of what the coverage was called or whatever we did. Everybody just had to play good football and just focus on our technique and get the job done.”
Rookie cornerback Marcus Peters agreed.
“It was just us getting our minds back focused,” Peters said. “Foot wasn’t all the way on the gas yet, we were just kind of playing with the throttle a little bit. We just needed to turn it up a little bit and all forward.”
With Watkins neutralized, the Chiefs outscored the Bills 16-6 in the second half and extended the winning streak to five games.
For his part, Watkins told Buffalo reporters after the game he wasn’t frustrated by his decline of production in the second half.
And what the Chiefs did with defensive adjustment in the second half to take away Watkins from the Bills offense had a lot to do with the lack of targets.
“They were giving us different looks,” Watkins said. “Those guys get paid, too.”
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Herbie Teope is the lead Chiefs beat writer for ChiefsDigest.com and The Topeka Capital-Journal. Use the contact page to reach him or find him on Twitter: @HerbieTeope.
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