INDIANAPOLIS — If Sean McDermott had the same success against the Kansas City Chiefs that he has had against the Miami Dolphins, who knows how many Vince Lombardis they’d have in Buffalo.
The number would almost certainly be more than zero. During the Buffalo Bills‘ four-year run as AFC East champions, they’re 0-3 in the playoffs against the Chiefs and 5-1 against everyone else.
This past postseason, the Bills lost to the Chiefs — again.
And Kansas City used that win to springboard to a world championship — again.
Miami Dolphins Nemesis Sean McDermott Talks AFC East, Super Bowl
McDermott took the bitter medicine two weeks back and watched the Chiefs rally past the San Francisco 49ers in the longest game in Super Bowl history.
“As hard as it is to watch it, I think it’s a necessary evil because you can learn from it,” McDermott said at the NFL Scouting Combine here Monday. “Listen, as much as we want to be there, I want to be there, our fans want us to be there, you have to respect what they’ve been able to accomplish and how they’ve been able to do it.
“High level of play, high-level leadership, high level of execution.”
And when Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs the length of the field for the game-winning drive on the game’s final possession of Super Bowl 58, the déjà vu had to have been strong for McDermott.
The Bills lost to the Chiefs the very same way in the Divisional Round two years ago.
“I think everyone around the league now knows that, right? We’ve experienced that. We’ve also been on the winning side of that too. So he’s as tough as there is out there. Whether it is overtime or the start of the game. He’s as good as there is, and that’s why he’s winning the Super Bowl.”
What has to be frustrating for McDermott is that the Chiefs are probably the only Bills opponent with an advantage at quarterback.
What Mahomes does to the Bills is almost a carbon copy of what Josh Allen has done to the Miami Dolphins these last few years.
Allen is 10-2 all-time against the Dolphins with a 110.1 passer rating, a run of dominance that included a Week 18 come-from-behind win in Miami to win the 2023 AFC East.
If nothing else, the Dolphins closed the gap in the division last year, which should be even more competitive in 2024 with the Jets’ Aaron Rodgers back healthy.
“It’s high-level competition, right?” McDermott said. “It’s high-level football, and I think that’s exciting for the NFL, it’s exciting for fans.”
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“We’ve been able to win it the last four seasons, and I think that says a lot as well,” he added. “This season came down to the last game, which was, I think a great game to watch if you were a fan, from an exciting standpoint.
“The league continues to evolve and grow. The AFC East, the AFC overall. We know what Kansas City has done; we know what Cincinnati and some of the other teams are capable of doing as well. So again, extremely proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish to this point — with more work to be done.”
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