Mahomes’ arm to Philly’s line: why each remaining team can win the Super Bowl
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As we approach this weekend’s championship games, we look at how the Chiefs, Eagles, Commanders and Bills can go all the way. The Bills offense is a machine, with Josh Allen playing the best all-around ball of his career. But the Bills will only go as deep as McDermott, their head coach and defensive architect, can take them.
![[Patrick Mahomes: predictably crucial.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5a2a4bd5fe94ae6c96e90edef4a5f9705039b43a/0_342_7624_4577/master/7624.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Who knows what happened to McDermott? Maybe it was an ayahuasca trip, therapy, or the after-effects of the 13-second defeat to the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC title game. But he has overhauled his entire approach over the last couple of years. From the leader of a fairly passive, predictable (yet excellent) defense, he has turned the Bills into a slick, attacking group. They roll at as many wonky disguises as any group in the league. Even more importantly, he has become an aggressive head coach in attacking fourth downs, allowing the ball to be placed in the hands of Allen in must-have-it situations rather than being conservative.
On the other hand, Buffalo’s pass-rush has dwindled this season. They mustered only nine pressures against a flaky Baltimore Ravens offensive line last week. Across the season, they notched just a 30% pressure rate with four pass-rushers, putting them 24th in the NFL. Winning with four rushers is key to deep postseason success, and the Bills’ four-down-and-go group has collapsed this year; their pressure and sack rates finished in the bottom third of the league in the regular season, and were falling further away as they entered the playoffs. How McDermott schemes up pressure without his go-to pass-rushers winning one-on-one will be key to giving his team a shot to win it all.
