KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When a team earns a “W” in the standings, there is no value for style points. But the Kansas City Chiefs hope they showed the right style in edging the Buffalo Bills 17-13 and that it will carry over to Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.

That fourth consecutive win pushed the Chiefs to 6-3 to set up the big inter-conference game between two teams who spent 23 years as rivals in the AFC West.

“You are not going to play games where you always have success and things are always going well,” said quarterback Alex Smith. “These wins are different, that’s for sure and I think it’s a different type of confidence you get when you win games like this and you keep that momentum going.”

It was not the Chiefs’ best performance of the season, but they came away with a victory and solidified their status as a contender.

“There are going to be games like this where everything is not pretty and you have to play through it,” said head coach Andy Reid. “There’s a certain toughness it takes.”

Part of the toughness equation was physical, but in this case it had more to do with mental and emotional toughness. Pretenders will see a fourth-quarter situation like what the Chiefs faced at Ralph Wilson Stadium — 10 points down, on the road, poor weather conditions — and find reasons to fail. The Chiefs saw a chance to reframe the game and pulled it off in all three phases of the game in the final 15 minutes.

“They showed real grit there in that second half,” Reid said. “Nobody hung their heads. Nobody was pointing fingers. They were all positive; you just had this feeling like good things were going to happen. We were just hoping we had enough time on the clock.”

Winning in the manner they did against Buffalo is the kind of performance that leaves a memory on a group of players. In a sport where rosters must be re-formed each season, so too must their collective memory be re-calibrated. Coming back from a double-digit deficient, on the road is just the type of important moment any team needs on its resume.

“This I think just kind of reaffirms the way we have been doing things,” Smith said.

It’s just one more factor to carry into the final seven games of the regular season, where they face Seattle, Denver, San Diego, Arizona and Pittsburgh, along with two games against Oakland.

“Every week a team adds more bricks to the foundation when they win,” said veteran defensive end Kevin Vickerson. “Last week was a big one for us. Now, we have to get another one against Seattle.”

The Chiefs offense continues to operate with great efficiency in the red zone. Over nine games, they’ve scored touchdowns on 69 percent of their forays inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. That’s 20 touchdowns in 29 visits, and 27 total scoring plays.

“I think it comes down to executing,” said Smith. “I think another reason is our balance; we’ve had such good balance all over the field, especially down there where it kind of gets magnified. That makes it tough on defenses to really zero in on what you’re doing. And then just executing, all of those things get magnified down there.”

Reid agreed with his quarterback’s assessment.

“I think the coaches have done a nice job of scheming and the players have done a nice job of executing the plays that were called,” said the Chiefs head coach. “Things are quite a bit faster down there, particularly the red zone. So you’ve got to make sure that you keep your eyes open. You can’t blink.”

As efficient as the Chiefs offense has been, they are still the only team in the league where the wide receivers have yet to catch a touchdown pass. Given the club’s 6-3 record and solid offensive performance, head coach Andy Reid has decided not to worry about the lack of receivers’ visits to the end zone.

“I think (Alex Smith) is doing a nice job of spreading it around and taking advantage of what’s there,” said Reid. “I get caught up in that and I don’t think any of the guys really get caught up in that. I know that’s been a topic, I got it, I understand. But I don’t think the guys are worried about it.”

So far Smith has thrown 11 touchdown passes, with six to the tight ends, five to running backs and none for the wide receivers.

“This is a unique group; they just go play,” said Reid of his wide receivers. “The ball comes to them then it comes. If it doesn’t come to them then they are blocking. They are very unselfish guys.”

NOTES: TE Anthony Fasano (knee) sat out Wednesday’s practice. … CB Jamell Fleming (hamstring) did not practice.