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| Photo courtesy of Eric Drost via flickr.com |
By Lou Roesch
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved
HOUSTON, TXEAS (January 12, 2021) The Kansas City Chiefs will welcome the Cleveland Browns to Arrowhead Stadium for the premier game of the divisional round on Sunday afternoon. A game that will be more then just the rematch of Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield. Of course, you remember that classic collegiate gridiron battle when they combined for 1700 plus yards of offense and 125 points. Although, they will be key to their team's success or lack thereof there are three more important points may create another improbable Browns win.
Cleveland Browns
1.Chip on their shoulder
Let's make one thing perfectly clear, this is not a Cinderella team. This is a team that went 11-5 in the regular season and came from a division that sent three teams to the playoffs, This is a team that came into Pittsburgh having not won there in forever and a day and no one really giving them much of a chance to break that streak except for maybe the guy that bet a half million on them to win. Instead everything broke in their favor early on and like a good team they took advantage of those moments. The mindset will undoubtedly be that no on takes us seriously just like against Pittsburgh, Even after Cleveland had put up 35 first half points, people were still on social media saying remember this is Cleveland referring more likely then not back to "The Drive" which was incidentally back in 1987 before many Cleveland fans today and their whole team were even born but such is the status o long memories of heartache and disappointment. Regardless of the outcome this weekend, this is not the same Cleveland playoff teams of yesteryear. This team has playmakers on both sides of the ball and they come to play with a chip on their shoulder.
2. Health of the Cleveland "O" line
The Cleveland offensive line even banged up against the Pittsburgh Steelers was able to protect Baker Mayfield just enough. Now though they get a whole new challenge and they get back possibly the most important piece of the line ---2nd Team All Pro Joel Botinio. Along with Jack Conklin who left Sunday's game with a hamstring injury, the duo has anchored a line that finished third in rushing yards, tied for fifth in rushing yards per carry, fifth in rushing touchdowns, second in runs of 20-plus yards, and allowing just 26 sacks. It was a banged up line coming into Pittsburgh that it had to pluck a New York Jets practice squad player in Blake Hance to plug the gap filled by injuries and COVID-19.
3. Browns coaching staff
Underrated is the best way to describe the Cleveland Browns coaching staff. Head coach Kevin Stefanski sidelined by COVID turned over the duties to his acting head coach Matt Priefer and play calling to Pittsburgh native Alex Van Pelt. Neither let him down. The mark of a good leader is what the rest will do without him around. The Cleveland coaching staff epitomized their leader.
"I trust my team. I trust my guys. I trust the players. I trust the coaches. The goal was to find a win any which way we had to. You saw guys stepping up and making plays and people in different roles, doing a great job. I'm so very, very proud of the effort," Stefanski said after the win. "I thought they played with a ton of physicality and enthusiasm, which was readily apparent to me.
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