Happy Holidays Browns fans welcome to week 15. Sunday the 3-10 Browns welcome the reigning Super Bowl champion 12-1 Kansas City Chiefs to Cleveland’s Huntington Bank Field. Game time is 12:00 noon CST and the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will be gathering at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to enjoy all the game action. The Browns have been kind of cryptic all week about whether TE David Njoku, who played the second half of last week’s game with a hamstring injury, will play on Sunday. He’s officially listed as questionable for the game but has announced his desire to play. WR Cedric Tillman will not be in the line-up after not completing the concussion protocol. Rookie DT Mike Hall is expected to play after being activated from injured reserve on Friday. One other major question for the Browns is who will handle the kicking duties on Sunday. Veteran kicker Dustin Hopkins who’s 64% field goal success rate is last in the league competed all week during practice with former Browns kicker Riley Patterson who replaced Hopkins at the end of last season after Hopkins injured his hamstring. Browns coaches reported that Hopkins changed his kicking approach during the week and hit all of his field goals attempts in practice. The Browns, however, elevated Patterson from the practice squad for Sunday’s game so if Hopkins does play it looks like he will be on a short leash if he continues to miss field goals. Before I get into discussing the Kansas City Chiefs I want to offer some thoughts about the Browns QB situation. Now that the Browns have been mathematically eliminated from the play-offs (yes I know they’ve been practically eliminated for several weeks) IMHO there’s no way the Browns can go into next season with either Deshaun Watson or Jameis Winston as their starting quarterback. Watson’s problems at QB have been well documented. Despite Winston throwing for a ton of yards in his starts, his accuracy issues and habit of throwing costly interceptions (3 pick sixes in his last 2 games) are just not compatible with a team that wants to consistently make the playoffs. To have either one as the starter next season I feel would be coaching/general manager malpractice. I don’t believe Dorian Thompson-Robinson is anywhere near ready to start for a playoff contending team. I believe the Browns need to either sign a veteran free agent QB or draft a rookie they feel is capable of starting and use the pre-season to develop him much like the Broncos have done with Bo Nix. If the Browns are forced to keep Watson on the team for financial reasons, he’s got to agree to be the back-up. It’s time for the Browns to admit their mistake in relying on Watson and move on. There that’s off my chest now on to the Chiefs. Kansas City comes into Sunday with the best record in the NFL at 12-1. However, they have not been the same dominant team this season, 10 of their 12 victories have been in 1 possession games with QB Patrick Mahomes leading 5 fourth quarter comebacks and executing 7 game winning drives. In the last 2 weeks KC has won 1 game with a last second field goal that hit the upright and bounced in and won a second game 19-17 because the San Diego center unexpectedly snaped the ball causing a last second fumble that cost the Chargers the game. The Chiefs beat the playoff bound Ravens 27-20 and then struggled to beat the 3-10 Panthers 30-27 on a last second field goal that bounced off the upright. The Chief’s offense is led by 6-time Pro Bowl and 2022 league MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes who’s 3rd in pass completions, 9th in passing yards (3,189), 8th in TD passes (20) and 10th in completion percentage (68%). Mahomes is averaging 6.8 yards per pass despite being sacked 35 times, 6th most in the NFL. Mahomes is at his best when he’s outside the pocket where his ability to scramble, survey the field and accurately throw from all angles makes him one of the most dangerous QB’s in the league. To beat the Chiefs the Browns defense will need to relentlessly pressure Mahomes while mixing coverages to control the middle of the field. When Mahomes is pressured his completion rate drops to 47.6%, his QB rating drops to 70.4, he’s thrown 4 interceptions and his time to throw increases from 2.8 seconds to 3.8 seconds. Mahomes favorite target especially when he needs a first down is 9-time Pro Bowl TE and Cleveland native Travis Kelce who has 80 receptions on 106 targets averaging 8.5 yards per catch with 2 TD’s and 3 drops. Kelce averages 3.4 yards after the catch and over 81% of his receptions cover 10 yards or less. Kelce has the unique ability to find and settle into opening in zone defenses which makes him a prime target when Mahomes is scrambling. Mahomes’ other primary receivers are WR Xavier Worthy, 38 receptions, WR DeAndre Hopkins, 30 receptions and TE Noah Gray, 41 receptions. All three average over 11 yards per catch and each has 4 TD receptions. Former Brown RB Kareem Hunt will be making his first return to Cleveland since being released by the Browns and signed by Kansas City. Hunt has rushed for 608 yards, averaging 3.6 yards per rush with 5 TD’s and no fumbles. The change of pace RB is speedy Isaih Pacheco who averages 4.3 yards per rush. The Chiefs offensive line is strong in the middle however their 2 offensive tackles Wanya Morris and Jawaan Taylor have given up 12 sacks and 64 QB pressures combined. It appears Myles Garrett has a decent chance of getting his 100th career sack against Mahomes. Overall Kansas City’s offense is 11th in scoring at 23.7 points per game and 15th in total offense averaging 338 yards per game and 5.1 yards per play. Their 52% third down conversion rate leads the NFL. Kansas City’s defensive line is exceptionally strong on the left side with 5-time Pro Bowl DT Chris Jones joining with DT George Karlaftis. Jones is ranked by Pro Football Focus (PFF) as the third best defensive tackle and #1 pass rushing DT in the NFL. Jones and Karlaftis have 5 sacks each while KC’s other starters on the D-line have a combined 4 sacks. Eleven KC defenders have at least 1 sack. The Chiefs’ defense is second against the run with opponents averaging only 3.8 yards per rush. However, KC is 21st in pass defense giving up 222 yards per game which leaves an opening for the Jameis Winston – Jerry Jeudy connection to do some real damage in the passing game. Lastly the Chiefs have one of the better kickers in Harrison Butker who’s connected on 18 of 20 field goal attempts this season.
SEE YOU SUNDAY GO BROWNS…..GO CAVS