Some observations from Buffalo’s 26-17 loss to the Chiefs on Monday night at Bills Stadium, their second straight defeat by members of the AFC elite:

— After last Tuesday’s embarrassing 42-16 beatdown by the Titans at Nashville, the focus of blame fell upon Buffalo’s defensive line which was soft against the run and generated virtually no pass rush.

And while it’s not like coach Sean McDermott and his staff to toss players beneath the motorcoach, you sensed there was frustration with the ‘D,’ especially the front seven.

Sure enough, when the Bills announced their inactives late yesterday afternoon, defensive end Trent Murphy and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, neither of whom were on the injury report, were inactive against Kansas City.

If there was any doubt it was a message move, end Bryan Cox Jr. and tackle Justin Zimmer were promoted from the practice squad to the active roster.

Of course it didn’t make much difference as KC stampeded Buffalo for 245 yards on 46 carries, the highest rushing numbers under Andy Reid as coach of the Chiefs.

“They’re an explosive offense, mainly through the air, so you’ve got to pick your poison of what you’re trying to take away and how you go about attacking it and you’re gambling a little bit,” McDermott said of the Bills’ defensive approach. “I’m not saying I liked what we gave up in the run game, but at the end we were in the game as opposed to some people who are getting blown out because the ball’s flying over their head.

“We needed one stop on defense. I thought we had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter which is what you want against that type of offense.”

When asked about Murphy and Phillips being deactivated, he maintained, “Those two are good players, I just wanted to take a look at some other guys from the practice squad seeing if we could change things up a little bit. Those guys (Murphy and Phillips) will be coming right back again next week.”

Maybe so, but you don’t sideline two players coming off a good game.

This was also clearly a message to the rest of the defensive line: Mario Addison, Jerry Hughes, A.J. Epenesa, Darryl Johnson, Ed Oliver, Quinton Jefferson, Vernon Butler, Cox and Zimmer.

But apparently, it didn’t get through.

The Chiefs ran 73 plays (to Buffalo’s 50), 46 of them runs and those nine members of Buffalo’s DL combined for a mere 26 tackles … half of them assists.

Clearly the Bills’ defense hasn’t gotten the message, having given up an average of 30 points the last five games and after Buffalo relinquished 466 yards to Kansas City, opponents are averaging 434 yards over that span. That’s hardly winning football.

MEANWHILE, what’s happened to quarterback Josh Allen?

After putting up NFL MVP numbers the first four games of the season, it’s become Josh deja vu circa 2018, ‘19.

Last week, against Tennessee, he struggled, going 26-of-41 passing for 263 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Then, against the Chiefs, Allen was 14-of-27 with two touchdown passes and a pick.

After the first four games, he was completing 71 percent of his throws with 12 touchdown tosses, an interception, an average of 333 yards through the air and a passer rating of 124.0.

The last two games, he’s completed 59 percent of his attempts for an average of 192 yards per game with four TDs, three interceptions and a passer rating of 75.0.

The Bills need Josh to rediscover the magic of his first four games … and fast, especially with this defense.

FINALLY, and equally troubling, was this.

On the same second-half drive by the Chiefs, Pro Bowl cornerback Tre’ Devious White and safety Jordan Poyer were called for unnecessary roughness on tackles out of bounds.

It might have been frustration over the defense’s lousy performance, but it’s also the last thing one would expect from two team leaders.

Even McDermott didn’t duck a question about it, noting, “There’s no room for that on a run out of bounds, that’s not how we play and that’s not how we teach.”

But on Buffalo’s final possession, there was an equally disturbing scenario.

With the Bills down nine and under two minutes to play, they didn’t display any particular offensive urgency. After an Allen scramble, veteran wide receiver Stefon Diggs dawdled his way back to the line of scrimmage and was so nonchalant he wasn’t set for the next snap, being flagged for illegal motion which became a false start. After a 10-second clock runoff, Allen threw the game-ending interception.

Maybe Diggs was winded, but more likely he was pouting.

In either case, it was a terrible optic for a player on whom the Bills gave up so much to acquire in a trade.

(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)