Football is a game of inches, so the cliche goes. And it was mere inches that separated the Cleveland Browns from beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional round.
In a game with several swinging storylines, several plays that were a matter of mere inches were what lifted the Chiefs to the win. Each inch mattered more than the last too, in the Browns’ 22-17 loss in Kansas City.
The three plays that stood out for the critical inches all went in favor of Kansas City.
In the second half and with the Browns gaining momentum, wide receiver Tyreek Hill made a crazy catch over Denzel Ward on a jump ball from Chiefs backup QB Chad Henne. The ball slid down Hill’s leg and was inches from touching the ground, but Hill somehow managed to pin the ball to his thigh and secure the completion. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski challenged the call, but the officials got it right that time. The lost timeout proved critical.
One Chiefs possession later, Browns LB B.J. Goodson just missed stopping Darrell Williams on a critical swing pass on a late third-down. If Goodson can get there one step faster, it’s fourth down with just over three minutes to play.
But no inches were more critical to determining the game than the razor-thin margin that separated a Rashard Higgins touchdown reception from a Chiefs touchback on a fumble out of the end zone. The officials badly whiffed on the helmet-to-helmet contact by Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen that directly created the fumble, but that’s an argument for a different time. Higgins missed the TD by less than a foot.
That is the difference between the Browns heading to Buffalo to play for the AFC championship next week and Cleveland’s season ending in Arrowhead Stadium.