The mantra has been the same from the Bills players and coaches all week.

To a man, those who were around last season maintain they aren’t reflecting back to last January’s 42-36 overtime loss to the Chiefs at Kansas City in the divisional playoffs.

But the ignominious sting of the “13 seconds” end to regulation has been on the minds of Buffalo fans for nine months.

And, their contention to the contrary, it has to be stuck in the minds of the team which thought it had advanced to the AFC Championship Game, for the second straight year, until it didn’t.

The details of that collapse have been repeated ad nauseum since the night it happened. After Buffalo scored to take a 36-33 lead came the ill-considered deep kickoff that used up no time, followed by two blown coverages against the Chiefs best receivers — tight end Travis Kelce and wideout Tyreek Hill — and finally the game-tying 49-yard field goal as time expired.

Then it got worse in overtime.

Kansas City won the toss, drove for a touchdown and, by the NFL rules in effect at that time, the game was over without Buffalo ever getting a possession.

HENCE, the buzz about tomorrow afternoon’s rematch (4:25, CBS-TV, 95.7 FM, 100.1 FM, 550 AM) back at Arrowhead Stadium in, with apologies to the Cowboys and Eagles, this week’s top NFL game. It’s a pair of 4-1 teams boasting two of pro football’s top quarterbacks, meeting with the AFC’s top record at stake.

The Bills come in with wins over the Rams, Tennessee, Baltimore and Pittsburgh with a tough loss to Miami.

Kansas City has beaten Las Vegas, Arizona, Tampa Bay and the Chargers and fallen to Indianapolis.

Buffalo’s Josh Allen, through five games, has 14 touchdown passes with four interceptions and 1,651 yards through the air with a pair of rushing scores.

The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes has 15 TD throws, two interceptions and 1,398 passing yards.

Both are completing 67% of their attempts and each has been sacked eight times.

IN LAST year’s playoff game, Kansas City was favored by 1.5 points, tomorrow the Bills get the nod by three.

And while Buffalo’s staff and players maintain last January’s game isn’t on their minds, some do admit to wisdom gained.

“You learn a lot through your experience whether it’s positive or negative and you use it as you go forward,” coach Sean McDermott said. “When you’re in those games it’s a great educator for us as coaches, players and our football team.”

To which Allen added, “I think there are a lot of things that you can take away from that game that can help you … situational football, understanding the flow of games, knowing the importance of home playoff games. We can take a lot from that and try to apply it to when we play.

“(But) we’ve moved on, we’re focusing on this week. Everybody in the media is going to make a big deal out of it but as players it’s really just the next game on our schedule and nothing that we did last year carries over to this year. We’ve just got to go out there again, to a hostile environment — we know how their crowd is — it’s a fantastic place to play in … one of the special places in the league.”

As for Mahomes, who has become a good friend, Allen added, “When I’m watching games, I love watching him play. He can do everything you want. His teammates love him, how he carries himself … he’s got a good grasp on the locker room over there. He’s a special football player and a special guy. Anytime he’s playing, I think people are watching.”

Of course they’re watching Allen too.

OF PREPARATION for the Chiefs, McDermott admitted, there are multiple options.

“To not look at what they’ve done this season probably wouldn’t be doing a full evaluation like we should and not using what we’ve done against them or what they’ve done against us would be about the same,” he said. “But you’ve got to spread the canvas out a little further.”

Meanwhile, the Bills gave Kansas City something to think about in last Sunday’s win over Pittsburgh as Allen hit wide receiver Gabriel Davis for touchdowns of 98 and 62 yards, the former tying a franchise record.

“Any time you can do that, I think teams have to game plan for it because they have in the back of their mind that they can do it,” Buffalo offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey said.

But he stuck with the position his team has taken that this is just the next game.

“I don’t know if it’s any more or less important than if we were going to play any other team,” he said. “We’re just focused on this week no matter who we’re playing. If you start looking ahead or looking back you’re doing yourself and your team a disservice.

“You’ve got to qualify for the playoffs and to get there you have to focus on where you are right now. If you start worrying that ‘this team is more important than that team’ … that can’t be the case in this league, there’s too much parity and too much opportunity to get beat if you’re overlooking them for another team.”