But this is not the same old Browns. They won a playoff game in 2021. They came into Arrowhead in the playoffs and were a hair away from winning. This is a team with serious expectations. And they hit the ground running.
Their first three drives on Sunday:
Touchdown
Touchdown
Touchdown
They were up 22-10 at the half. An encroachment penalty on the first PAT let the Browns go for two. They were up 8-0. Huge momentum boost.
In the first half it seemed like the Chiefs defense was back to the 2018 vintage. You know the 54-51 game vs the Rams. The Browns were averaging 10 yards a snap and seeing huge holes that you don't usually exist at the NFL level.
But the game turned into more of a 2019 playoff game. When the Chiefs are trailing by 10, their superpowers get activated.
Chiefs score a touchdown, force a fumble and add a field goal to make it 22-20.
But the Browns respond, scoring a touchdown to make it 29-20 with 10:24 to go in the game. Romo says "they're in a great position to possibly win on the road." He was right. But just when you think you can start to count out this team, Mahomes is ready to make you seem foolish.
Deep pass to Hill, 75 yard touchdown. 14 seconds later it's back to a two-point game.
The Chiefs D forces a three and out, and on the first Cleveland punt of the game, they drop the snap.
Three plays later, the Chiefs are up 33-29. What seemed like a safe lead was gone in 3 minutes.
The Chiefs defense would come up with two more stops to secure the victory.
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You can never count out Mahomes. It's one of the best feelings as a sports fan, to believe that your guy can come back, and then he does.
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Arrowhead is back and it's legit now. For a good stretch in the Damon Huard/Brodie Croyle/Matt Cassel/Tyler Palko/Kyle Orton era, the Arrowhead advantage was a joke. Teams came in to KC and beat us up. Announcers would say things like "Arrowhead is a tough place to play" and it's 34-10 Titans before you know it.
But now, Arrowhead is an advantage. 99% of that is Mahomes and Reid and a great roster, but KC is a tough place to win for other teams.
In the playoffs with Mahomes, Chiefs are 5-1 at home. The loss was the Dee Ford game that went to overtime and Mahomes didn't get the ball in overtime. The AFC runs through Arrowhead and that's a problem for everyone else.
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There are lots of things that happen in week 1, that will look strange later in the season. I don't expect the Bills and Titans to be bad all year. I don't think the Texans will win too many more games.
The Browns and Baker Mayfield did in fact wake up dangerous today. Not a team that you're excited to face in the playoffs.
BUT the Chiefs won without Frank Clark and Tyrann Mathieu. Hopefully they got some of the rust off and won't need a huge comeback every week. And when you look at the AFC, the Patriots, Bills and Titans all lost. The Chiefs now own the tiebreaker over the Browns. If you're another team and you don't want to come to Kansas City in January, you're not feeling great after that comeback.
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Oh yeah, and Mahomes passes Marino for most TDs in first 50 games, passes Warner for most yards in first 50 games. Except Mahomes only needed 47. These next three games are just putting it out of reach for the next guy that comes along.
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