Cleveland Browns make a statement in the first half against Kansas City

After a year of wondering what might have been, an impressive first have has Cleveland Browns fans wondering about what could be.

The last time these two teams squared off, the Cleveland Browns went into Arrowhead Stadium and almost pulled off an upset of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Less than a year later, the Browns are making a similar statement.

Nick Chubb darted into the end zone to give the Browns their third touchdown of the first half, and the visitors have an early 22-10 lead with the second quarter drawing to a close.

The Browns scored on their opening drive, with Chubb plunging into the end zone on this short touchdown run:

The scoring play capped off a 13-play drive that covered 75 yards and over seven minutes. When the Chiefs jumped offsides on the extra point try, the Browns elected to try for the two-point conversion which was successful.

Later in the first quarter, Baker Mayfield found rookie Anthony Schwartz behind the defense for a 44-yard gain, getting the Browns into Kansas City territory:

This play is the kind of schemed-up explosive design that the Browns and head coach Kevin Stefanski relied upon a season ago. Cleveland shows run here out of a heavy personnel package, but they get Schwartz open on the deep corner route. Mayfield does a great job with his eyes, helping sell the route to the inside before flipping his field of vision to the outside to deliver the corner route.

Cleveland would get into the end zone again on this fourth-down play with Jarvis Landry as the ball-carrier:

This play was reviewed, but ultimately ruled a touchdown.

Then with the first half winding down the Browns notched a touchdown on a third-consecutive drive. This time the work was done by the boys upfront, opening up a massive hole for Chubb to exploit:

The key blocks here come from the pair of guards. First there is the pull from right guard Wyatt Teller, who loops to the left and creates a massive crease for Chubb. But the other critical block comes from left guard Joel Bitino, who gets to the second level to seal off the linebacker. That makes life easy for the RB, who scampers into the end zone with the touchdown.

Not all the news is good for the Browns, as second-year offensive tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. was carted off with an injury. But after an off-season wondering about what might have been, Browns fans are thinking right now about what can be.