KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Marquez Valdes-Scantling hadn’t had a 30-yard catch since a Week 7 win against the Los Angeles Chargers on Oct. 22.
In fact, the veteran Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver, who is supposed to be the team’s speedy deep threat, only had one catch longer than 20 yards in his previous 10 games, including the Super Wild Card win against Miami.
During that span, he’d had two games without a catch and another where he caught one pass for minus-1 yard, never catching more than two balls and never totaling more than 27 yards.
In other words, the 2023 season had been a slog for Valdes-Scantling, who only finished with 21 catches on 42 targets for 315 yards with one touchdown in his second season with Kansas City. All were career-low marks.
But when it mattered most, Valdes-Scantling came through with a pair of big plays in the second half as the Chiefs rallied past the Buffalo Bills for a 27-24 win Sunday in the AFC Divisional playoffs.
“I’ve got trust in 11, man,” Patrick Mahomes said. “He comes to work every single day and, even though he’s gotten some hate from outside the building, we trust him and love him here. We know he’s going to make big plays whenever his number’s called, and he did that today in a big game.”
Valdes-Scantling finished with two catches for 62 yards, second only to tight end Travis Kelce in Sunday’s win.
“We’ve seen MVS in playoff games make a lot of big plays happen,” Mahomes said. “No matter what’s happened all year long, he’s kept the mindset, the mentality that he’s going to keep working and working for moments like this.”
Mahomes hit Valdes-Scantling deep down the right sideline for a 30-yard gain on the first play of the third quarter, kicking off a go-ahead touchdown drive.
After Buffalo retook the lead, Mahomes trusted Valdes-Scantling with a 32-yard shot over the middle between two defenders late in the third quarter.
It was the biggest play on what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown drive, which sent the Chiefs to their sixth straight AFC Championship Game.
“It was great to see Marquez have a game like he did,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid said. “He’s taken a lot of heat. He kept hanging in there and came up with some big catches.”
The crescendo of criticism for Valdes-Scantling peaked this season when he dropped the potential game-winning touchdown on a deep post late in a loss to Philadelphia on Monday Night Football.
As most teams do, Buffalo eventually focused its pass defense on Kelce and rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice, who finished with four catches for 47 yards.
“They played a lot of man coverage and, when you play man coverage in playoff football and they put that much attention on Travis and a little attention on Rashee as well, others guys have got to make plays,” Mahomes said.
In Buffalo with the season on the line, Valdes-Scantling did just that — and he’ll need to again as Kansas City prepares to face top-seeded Baltimore next Sunday in the AFC Championship Game.
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