Success in the playoffs hinges in many respects on the ability to crack another team’s code. And on the ability to keep its own code from getting cracked.
Chiefs safety Nazeeh Johnson has spilled the beans about the code the Kansas City defense cracked as to the Buffalo offense.
Appearing Thursday on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio, Johnson said the Chiefs expected Bills quarterback Josh Allen to always sneak to the left side of the center — toward the right side of the defense.”
“I mean, from our defensive side, he always QB sneaks to our right,” Johnson said. “So every time we see him in QB sneak formation, we know he’s coming to the right side every time. It’s a hundred percent, 10 for 10, he’s going to that side.”
That might change in 2025.
“If he would’ve did something different, then we wouldn’t have been prepared because we’re selling he was coming to that right side every time,” Johnson said. “And if they would’ve, you know, I think self-scouted a little bit, then they would’ve went to the opposite side and they probably would’ve had a little more chance. But, no, we sell the farm on what they like to do on film.”
The selling of the farm — along with a questionable spot — helped the Chiefs stop an Allen sneak on the most important fourth-down play of the season.
“I mean, if you think about it, if it worked for them all season why get away from it in a critical moment like that, you know what I’m saying?” Johnson said. “They probably never really practiced it much going to the opposite side. And they had major success during the season going to the right side every time. . . . You gonna go to what you know, but we was already hip to it.”
The Bills need to get hip to their tendencies next year, if they face the Chiefs in the playoffs again. If Allen had gone right instead of left, the Bills might be going straight to New Orleans.
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