The Kansas City Chiefs were on the losing end of the latest battle with the Buffalo Bills in Week 6. The crowd at Arrowhead Stadium was in full force, as usual, to support the Chiefs continuing to build on the famously loud reputation.
Bills TE Dawson Knox joined a special NFL-hosted Twitter space on Tuesday night in honor of National Tight End Day, which takes place on Sunday. Speaking with NFL Network hosts Rhett Lewis and Stacey Dales, Knox opened up about the team’s preparation going into last Sunday and the raucously loud crowd at Arrowhead Stadium.
“Especially in a place like Kansas City, that home-field advantage is pretty insane,” Knox said. “It’s something that kind of doesn’t get talked about enough having to go silent count having to have different signals at the line of scrimmage. I mean, even in the huddle, we’re having to read Josh’s (Allen) lips. That place gets so loud that you’re like, it’s hard to think. So it kind of gets us extra motivated to try to win those home-field advantage games for the playoffs. Because we’ve seen it in Kansas City the last couple of years how important that is to have that home-field advantage.”
Knox made one of the night’s most significant plays last Sunday, catching the game-winning touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter. The reception was his first touchdown catch of the season, momentarily quieting the crowd. The Bills’ tight end further described the team’s preparation before heading into the game.
“Going like during the week, there’ll be blasting music blasts and fan noise or blasting the Chiefs chant the whole week,” said Knox. “You know everything they can to get us used to that noise. But there’s nothing quite like being in that stadium with, you know, 70- or 80,000 fans screaming. But again, we know what it’s like to play in Buffalo, and our defense is out there, and we got a bunch of Bills fans yelling their heads off. So we’re gonna do everything we can to get as many home-field advantage games as we can.”
The Chiefs have hosted the last four AFC title games and know all too well the importance of crowd noise and home-field advantage.
