Kansas City Chiefs DVOA, Stats, & NFL Rankings

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes pushed all the right buttons as his team held on for a 27-24 road win over the Buffalo Bills, completing 17-of-23 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns with 16 additional yards on six carries in Sunday's Divisional Round. The Chiefs ran just 47 plays to Buffalo's 78 and possessed the ball for less than 24 minutes, but that was all Mahomes needed for an efficient performance. The 28-year-old superstar missed Kelce in the back of the end zone early, but he made no mistake finding his tight end wide open in the second quarter. Mahomes dumped one off to Kelce again for his second score in the third period. In terms of passer rating (131.6), Sunday was Mahomes' best game of the year. Mahomes now hits the road for the second playoff game of his career away from home next Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, and it will be the two-time MVP's sixth straight postseason competing for the AFC title.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco carried the rock a career-high 24 times in last Saturday's wild-card rout of the Miami Dolphins, ending with 88 total yards and a whopping nine red-zone touches. With no sign of Jerick McKinnon (groin) and Clyde Edwards-Helaire not a legitimate threat to his role, Pacheco's bell-cow usage is likely here to stay for however long the Chiefs survive in the postseason. The Buffalo Bills have been vulnerable on the ground by tying for the third-most opponent yards per carry (4.6) in the regular season. Pacheco missed these two sides' Week 14 date following shoulder surgery, but it's worth mentioning that CEH was able to generate an efficient 5.2 yards per touch as the Chiefs' lead back. Checking in at $6,400 on DraftKings for the Divisional Round and scoring in five straight games, Pacheco is locked into both base-level and scoring-area work as an affordable three-down workhorse against an injury-ravaged defense.

Undeterred by the elements of the fourth-coldest game in NFL history, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice(hamstring) tagged a beat-up Miami Dolphins defense for an 8/130/1 line on 12 targets in last Saturday's wild-card triumph. It was a special postseason debut for the rookie second-rounder, whose ability to rack up yards after the catch from the shorter areas of the field played well in the subzero temperatures. Rice has now passed or tied the scuffling Travis Kelce in targets in each of K.C.'s last seven games, perhaps starting to solidify himself as quarterback Patrick Mahomes' new favorite weapon after fully practicing and heading into Sunday without an injury designation against the Buffalo Bills. Matching up primarily with Rasul Douglas (knee) when these squads squared off in Week 14, Rice got the better of Buffalo's defense for a 7/72/1 output. Rice is the most expensive of K.C.'s skill positions while costing $6,800 on Sunday, but he's earned top-six WR1 treatment on the Divisional Round slate.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce caught seven passes for 71 yards in the wild-card win over the Miami Dolphins, but his late-season case of the drops dragged into the playoffs. Kelce committed the third-most drops (six) among TEs in 2023, tallying two more in his last time out. Closing the regular season with the fewest yards per catch (10.6) of his decorated career, the 34-year-old four-time All-Pro remains fantasy's PPR TE1 but has looked his age at times during the campaign's second half. Rookie Rashee Rice is perhaps the superior DFS play in the Divisional Round against the Buffalo Bills, but Kelce has utterly dominated Buffalo in their last six meetings all told. Piling up 46 catches, 527 yards, and six touchdowns, Kelce is averaging a whopping 7.7 catches and 87.8 yards over this period. With Kelce topping the prices at $6,000 on DraftKings, DFS players are searching for an encore if paying up for the slate's top choice.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes topped 300 total yards in last Saturday's win over the Miami Dolphins, but he placed just seventh at his position with 18.6 fantasy points. It was Mahomes' 10th straight outing outside of the top six for fantasy purposes -- despite the field narrowing to 12 wild-card starters -- last accomplishing this feat way back in Week 7. It's no secret that 2023 has been a statistical struggle for Mahomes, even with a pass-heavy approach, largely in part due to K.C.'s lack of downfield threats and reliability in their receiving corps. Mahomes has also struggled to an 85.1 passer rating and 7:5 TD:INT in four career regular-season games versus the Buffalo Bills, but he's kicked it up a notch for at least 325 passing yards and three touchdowns in each of these two teams' past two playoff matchups. Mahomes ranks third among DraftKings QB salaries at $6,800 for the Divisional Round and is a high-end QB1 against Buffalo's injury-plagued defense.