Tag: Browns

Kareem Hunt to former Chiefs teammates: ‘Sorry but we’re enemies this week fellas’

Hunt spoke on his relationships with his former teammates following the Browns’ win over the Steelers.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns are officially set to face off in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Ex-Chiefs RB Kareem Hunt is slated to return to Arrowhead Stadium with the Browns. This will be the first time he’s faced his former team since his release back in the 2018 season. The last time these two teams met, Hunt was actually still a member of the Chiefs.

When Hunt spoke to the media following last night’s wild-card game, he revealed that he still receives a lot of support from his former teammates in Kansas City.

“Yeah, I definitely keep in touch with those guys,” Hunt told reporters following the wild-card game. “That’s where I started and they did a lot for me. I’ve got a lot of people on that team that look out for me and care for me as a person. I care for them too.”

Hunt is coming off of a big performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he had eight carries for 48 yards and two touchdowns. One of Hunt’s strongest advocates, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, gave him a shoutout on Twitter during the game.

Leading up to the game, don’t expect much more love between the two players, though.

“I probably won’t be doing too much talking to those guys, but maybe one or a few I’ll call and just chop it up, ask them how they’re doing and stuff,” Hunt said. “Other than that, you know, sorry but we’re enemies this week fellas.”

During the Browns’ postgame locker room celebration, Hunt was recorded on his Instagram live feed saying, “Next week’s personal, next week’s personal.” It could have simply been a heat-of-the-moment type thing as he only has himself to blame for the circumstances surrounding his release from Kansas City. Yet, when a Cleveland media member asked Hunt if he had something to prove to his former team, he didn’t answer directly.

“I don’t say too much about that,” Hunt said. “I’m just going to let my game go through.”

I take that to mean that Hunt intends to let his game do the talking. And after his big performance against the Steelers, you can rest assured that the Chiefs will be game-planning for his involvement too.

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Chiefs open as double-digit favorites over Browns

The Kansas City Chiefs are hosting the Cleveland Browns in the AFC’s divisional round.

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The Kansas City Chiefs (14-2) are double-digit favorites against the Cleveland Browns (11-5) at Arrowhead Stadium in the AFC’s divisional round of the playoffs.

Betting lines from BetMGM for the divisional round have been revealed and the Chiefs are 10-point favorites over the Browns. Kansas City, of course, is the AFC’s No. 1 seed, while Cleveland is the No. 6 seed. That likely plays a role in why K.C. is favored so heavily right out of the gate.

The current money line is at -500 for Chiefs and +300 for the Browns. The over/under point total is set at 55.5 points. Kansas City has an implied win probability of 83.3% in this matchup.

It’s hard to imagine that Kansas City is double-digit favorites over a team that jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter against their last opponent. The Chiefs scored their lowest point total of the season in the last game that their starters played back in Week 16.

These two teams didn’t play each other during the regular season and haven’t played since 2018. There’s a lack of familiarity going both ways, which should make for an interesting week of preparation for both teams.

This actually will mark the first time the two teams have ever met in the postseason. Part of that has to do with the playoff drought for Cleveland. The last time the Browns made it to the postseason was back in 2002 and they saw an exit in the wild-card round. You have to go back to 1994 to find the last time Cleveland played in the divisional round. That lack of postseason experience could really hurt them when they play the reigning Super Bowl champions on Sunday.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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NFL wild-card playoffs: How to watch, stream Sunday’s games

All the important details to know for Sunday’s NFL wild-card games.

Yesterday’s NFL wild-card games are in the books, but there are three more set to take place today. The Kansas City Chiefs won’t officially know their opponent in the divisional round until the conclusion of the final game this evening. They’ll play the lowest remaining seed from today’s AFC games.

Below are all of the important details about the three postseason matchups today, including how to watch and stream online. If you have questions about the games, reach out to us on Twitter @TheChiefsWire.

Anatomy of a wild-card win: Why the Browns need to watch ‘Varsity Blues’ before Sunday

Varsity Blues is a bit of a cult classic about high school football, but it might just hold some keys for Cleveland this weekend.

Bud Kilmer was the villian in Varsity Blues, of that there is no doubt.

Jon Voight’s portrayal of a hard-driven, old school high school football coach hit home for many washed-up high school athletes. In the film Voight portrays Bud Kilmer, the long-time head coach at West Canaan High School. He has a way of doing things that is his own, and when he is forced to turn to his backup quarterback, played by James Van Der Beek, the message is simple:

“Stick to the basics.”

With Cleveland Browns’ head coach Kevin Stefanski sidelined this weekend due to COVID, along with a number of starters, the path to a win Sunday night comes along similar lines.

There were many questions about Baker Mayfield entering 2020, but chief among them was just how well he would fit into Kevin Stefanski’s offense. Many – this author included – believed the play-action design elements off of outside and wide zone plays was ideal for Mayfield. After all, a season ago there was only really one area where the young QB excelled: Throwing off of play-action. Among qualified passers, Mayfield saw the biggest jump in completion percentage last season when using play-action, an increase of 10.1%. His NFL passer rating on play-action throws clocked in at 102.5, ranking him 11th in the league, and a far cry from the 68.8 NFL passer ration on plays without play-action.

This season both numbers have increased, but Mayfield remains a much better quarterback when using play-action. Again using numbers from Pro Football Focus, Mayfield has an NFL passer rating of 84.8 on traditional dropback passes, an increase of nearly 20 points from last season.

On play-action? Mayfield has a passer rating this year of 121.9, fifth-best in the league. He has also thrown 12 touchdowns passes – against just one interception – when using play-action.

For the Cleveland Browns, play-action passing is the basics. As Coach Kilmer would say, stick to them on Sunday night. This is something that shows up on film, even against the Steelers and even in that Week 6 meeting where Mayfield was hurt and the Browns were blown out. Take this second quarter completion from Mayfield to Odell Beckham Jr., with Mayfield working off of play-action:

Working off play-action, Mayfield scans the middle of the field before throwing to Beckham along the right sideline.

In fact, Cleveland’s most explosive play that afternoon came off, you guessed it, play-action:

Mayfield executes the run fake and retreats into the pocket as tight end Austin Hooper runs the wheel route to the left side of the field. Mayfield is forced to climb in the pocket due to pressure, but he finds his tight end for the big gain. This play comes out of 13 personnel – three tight ends – and as we have seen this season the Browns love to throw downfield out of heavy personnel.

Of course Bud Kilmer would hate this. He was all about running the football. What did he hate more than throwing it? Throwing it out of empty formations. In a scene from early in the film Kilmer clashes with Van Der Beek’s Jonathan Moxon when the backup QB tries to run a play in practice out of an empty set. Moxon’s points about the explosive Mississippi Valley State offense were not received well by his coach…

However, the Browns might want to pay attention to them this week. Because with the injuries mounting up front, spreading the Steelers out with empty formations and throwing quickly might make sense. And that was part of their game plan last week, with Mayfield attempting 20 passes against the Steelers out of empty formations. Mayfield completed 16 of those – an 80% completion percentage – for 170 yards. He had six different completions out of an empty formation that went for 14 yards, including this one to Jarvis Landry in the third quarter:

Throwing out of these empty formations allows Mayfield to get the ball out quickly – minimizing what the offensive line has to do – and might work to get T.J. Watt forced to play in space rather than off the edge. It also puts Kareem Hunt to the outside, where he can be a very effective weapon as a receiver.

Maybe Jonathan Moxon was on to something after all, Coach Kilmer.

Anatomy of a wild-card win: For Steelers, pressuring Baker Mayfield is the key to victory

Baker Mayfield has improved this season. If the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to win Sunday, they might already have the recipe.

Super Wild-Card Weekend comes to a close Sunday night when the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Cleveland Browns. This game is the third meeting between the teams (having split the season series) and is a rematch of a Week 17 game won by Cleveland.

Of course there are some storylines surrounding this game, most notably the fact that Browns head coach and potential Coach of the Year winner Kevin Stefanski, will be unable to be with the team due to COVID-19. That obviously poses challenges for the Browns.

For the Steelers, however, they’ll need to contend with a Cleveland offense that Stefanski rebuilt this season. A reason why the first-time head coach is in the running for such an award is the job that he has done with quarterback Baker Mayfield. Over this season Stefanski’s offense has catered to Mayfield’s strengths (using some designed rollouts, playing to his creativity) while implementing some play-action designs to put him in a position to be successful.

Both numbers and film bear that out. A season ago Mayfield was at his best using play-action, and that continued into this season. According to data from Pro Football Focus Mayfield has an NFL passer rating of 121.9 when using play-action this season, a jump from his 84.8 mark on plays without play-action. Mayfield also has a touchdown/interception split of 12/1 on play-action, a massive improvement from his 14/7 split on plays without play-action.

While that might have been expected, what perhaps was not was his improvement from a clean pocket. Doug Farrar outlined this over the summer, and here are some more numbers. When kept clean in 2019 Mayfield posted an Adjusted Completion Percentage of 71.5 according to PFF, ranking him last among qualified passers. His NFL passer rating of 84.2 when kept clean in 2019 ranked him, again, dead last.

This season? Perhaps the influence of Stefanski and the play-action designs can be seen in Mayfield’s numbers from a clean pocket. According to data from PFF Mayfield Adjusted Completion Percentage when kept clean checked in at 77.2, enough to place him 22nd in the league, and not dead last. His NFL passer rating when kept clean also rose, jumping to 108.9, placing him 11th.

Pressure, however, is more of a mixed bag for Mayfield in 2020. Mayfield’s Adjusted Completion Percentage of 70.4% according to PFF places him sixth among qualified passers, but some of the other numbers are bleak. Mayfield has an NFL passer rating of 47.7 when pressured this season, ranking him 25th in the league and behind players such as Daniel Jones, Sam Darnold, Teddy Bridgewater and Carson Wentz. Where Mayfield had a TD/INT split of 24/4 from clean pockets, that ratio dipped dramatically to 2/4 when pressured this season.

As for what the Steelers did to him, over the two games against Pittsburgh Mayfield was pressured on a combined twenty passing plays. He completed five of nine attempts for 29 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. He was sacked eight times, and his NFL passer rating was just 22.2%.

To be fair, back in Week 6 Mayfield was dealing with injuries, so that context is critical, but the numbers – and the film – illustrate just how much the pressure from Pittsburgh impacted the Browns.

It started early back in Week 6. On Mayfield’s first passing attempt the Browns tried to run a mirrored “Hoss” (hitch/seam) concept against a Steelers’ Cover-2 scheme. Both of the seam routes are open, but pressure off the edge from T.J. Watt forced Mayfield to pull the football down, and his throwaway attempt was in danger of being intercepted:

Then there was this play from Week 17. The Browns face a 1st-and-goal at the Pittsburgh four-yard line. They run play-action, and Mayfield tries to hit David Njoku in the back of the end zone. Late pressure in the interior forces Mayfield to adjust his arm angle and his footwork on the throw, and Minkah Fitzpatrick steps in front of the pass to deflect it away, preventing the score:

One final example of the impact Pittsburgh’s pressure had on Mayfield is this missed opportunity for the Browns back in Week 6. Facing a second-and-3 early in the game, Mayfield executes a play-action fake and looks to strike downfield. Beckham runs a vertical route on the right while Jarvis Landry runs a deep crosser working left-to-right. Landry is open, but Mayfield feels the protection start to break down and rather than hitting the deep crosser, he tries to scramble and is sacked:

Mayfield has been a much-improved quarterback this season, and Stefanski deserves credit for the turnaround. But the young QB has still been susceptible to pressure, and the Steelers have two games of evidence to back that up. If Pittsburgh is going to slow down the Cleveland offense Sunday night, pressuring Mayfield is a must.

2020 NFL Playoffs: Potential opponents for Chiefs in AFC’s divisional round

The field is set, now the Kansas City Chiefs wait to find out who they’ll face.

The field is set and now the Kansas City Chiefs get to play the waiting game during their first-round playoff bye. They won’t know who their opponent is until the games that are played on Wild Card Weekend have been completed. While we don’t yet know who they’ll play yet, we do know a couple of important things. As the No. 1 seed, the Chiefs know they will face the lowest-remaining playoff seed. They also know that they’ll face that team at Arrowhead Stadium.

So who are the teams that the Chiefs could play in the divisional round? Here’s a quick look at the four possible opponents:

NFL playoffs 2020: Game schedule, matchups, TV info

Here are the times and matchups for all the wild-card playoff games, with schedules and television information.

Now that all the wild-card matchups are set, we know exactly how we’ll all be spending our time next Saturday and Sunday. With an additional playoff spot in each conference this season, we have three Saturday and three Sunday wild-card games, and here’s how it all shakes out.

Defensive heroics highlight 4 takeaways in Jets’ win over Cleveland

One more and it’s a winning streak.

For the second-consecutive week, the New York Jets vaulted out to an early lead and held on for dear life in the waning moments to garner a victory.

Courtesy of two takeaways and one last turnover on downs, Gang Green hurt the Cleveland Browns’ hope of clinching their first playoff berth since 2002 with a 23-16 victory at MetLife Stadium.

Here are four takeaways from the Jets’ triumph in their 2020 home finale.

Charles Barkley on Nick Chubb: ‘I’m going to punch him in the face’

NBA legend Charles Barkley said he wants to punch former UGA football and Cleveland Browns RB Nick Chubb in the face after Sunday.

A lot of people lost money last Sunday when former Georgia running back Nick Chubb, now of the Cleveland Browns, ran out of bounds at the one-yard line in the final seconds against the Houston Texans.

The touchdown would have allowed Cleveland to cover the 4.5 point spread, but stepping out at the one also enabled the Browns to take a knee and run out the clock without Houston getting to touch it again.

Among many of the bettors who are not thrilled with Chubb’s decision is NBA legend Charles Barkley, and he recently voiced his frustration while on ESPN Cleveland’s radio station.

“If you guys see Nick Chubb, please just punch him in his face for me,” Barkley said. “I had the Browns last week and let me tell you something — I don’t know Nick Chubb, he’s a nice kid, but if he runs out of bounds like that again I’m going to fly to Cleveland personally and beat the hell out of him. I’m jumping up and down thinking I’m going to get this cover, and when he ran out of bounds, I was like, ‘Wait. Did he just run out of bounds?’ So next time I see Nick Chubb, I’m going to punch him in the face.”

That’s a fight I would love to see.

 

Myles Garrett placed on reserve/COVID-19 list, out Sunday vs. Eagles

The Browns placed Myles Garrett on the reserve/COVID-19 list Friday.
As a result, he’ll miss Sunday’s game against the Eagles, which is a big loss for Cleveland.
Brown leads the NFL in sacks with 9.5 and has been one of the top edge defenders in football

The Browns placed Myles Garrett on the reserve/COVID-19 list Friday.
As a result, he’ll miss Sunday’s game against the Eagles, which is a big loss for Cleveland.
Brown leads the NFL in sacks with 9.5 and has been one of the top edge defenders in football