by Over the last two NFL seasons, there hasn’t been a team more feared than the Kansas City Chiefs, and for good reason. Patrick Mahomes is quite literally a never before seen talent and an unbreakable cheat code.
Bring extra pressure and the Texas Tech product with a bazooka for an arm would eat your defense alive – he was the highest rated QB against the blitz last season. Drop more players into coverage, while trying to keep him in the pocket, nice try, now Mahomes has too much time. His mere presence is a haunting nightmare that has kept defensive coaches up at night.
But on Feb. 7, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles finally cracked the code. His blueprint: rush the front four and drop everyone else into coverage. By games end, the Bucs were hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after sending extra pressure on just 11% of Mahomes’ dropbacks. For the first time in his career, Mahomes looked rattled.
So why did it work? The simple answer is talent. Two weeks earlier in the AFC title game, the Bills tried a similar strategy against Mahomes and missed badly. Buffalo simply couldn’t generate enough pressure with their front four to make Mahomes uncomfortable. Where as Tampa Bay with a 3-4 defense featuring: Ndamukong Suh, Vita Vea, Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett was tailor-made for that feat.
Now there’s context here too, Mahomes was obviously a little hobbled and missing multiple offensive lineman. Regardless, it’s a copycat league, and Tampa Bay provided the blueprint other teams will now attempt to replicate as they assemble their rosters, particularly in the AFC.
That brings us to the Browns. And sitting here on April 22, 2021, there’s not an AFC team better equipped to knock off Mahomes and company than the Cleveland Browns. I write that knowing Mahomes on any given day could just go absolutely bonkers and beat anyone. But all due respect to the 2019 MVP, on paper, the Browns have a better team.
Again, using the Buccaneers as a blueprint, look at how the Browns stack up.
Offensively, Cleveland finally has competent QB play from Baker Mayfield. They’ve got a better rotation of running backs than Tampa Bay does with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. A solid WR group of Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and even Rashard Higgins has his moments. Two talented tight ends in Austin Hooper and David NJoku. And an offensive line that some would argue was the best in football last season. That’s an offense that can keep up with the high octane group in Kansas City. In fact they already proved they can do it in that 22-17 divisional round playoff loss.
Again, context, I know Mahomes left in the third quarter of that game, but let’s not forget the Browns had a first half touchdown taken away thanks to the nonsensical fumble out of the end zone touchback rule – a score that could have made it a 16-10 Chiefs at halftime instead of 19-3.
That game is perhaps the biggest reason the Browns have nothing to fear in playing the Chiefs anymore. To channel my inner Marvel nerd, “if you could make God bleed, people will cease to believe in him.” The Browns made the once thought to be unstoppable Chiefs bleed. And then they eventually went on to get exploited even further by the Bucs. Now that they’ve been proven beatable, what is there to fear?
On defense, the Browns have one of the best pass rushers in the game in Myles Garrett and added a versatile athlete to go opposite of him in Jadeveon Clowney. There’s some work to do in the middle after the release of Sheldon Richardson and linebacker is still maybe the biggest need of all. But this remade secondary, the Browns biggest weakness in 2020 may be it’s biggest strength in 2021 with additions like safety John Johnson and nickel corner Troy Hill.
And the best part is, the Browns aren’t done. With the draft just a week away there is still a golden opportunity for general manager Andrew Berry to put the finishing touches on this defensive makeover.
The Browns are set up perfectly to take the AFC crown and dethrone the big, bad Kansas City Chiefs. Scratch that, they’re set up best to do it.
The Bills? Again, after failing to execute the same strategy of the Bucs, they haven’t done much to address their pass rush this offseason. Buffalo was near the top of the league in blitz-percentage (35.8%) but in the bottom third in QB hurry-percentage (7.8%) and QB pressure-percentage (22.2%). They were smack dab in the middle of the league for sacks (38).
The Colts have one of the best defenses in the NFL, granted they didn’t blow teams away in blitzing, pressures or hurries. Regardless, their offense is the bigger question mark at this point. Will they have 2017, MVP candidate Carson Wentz under center, or 2020, throw as many INTs as TDs Carson Wentz under center?
The Ravens? They are still the Vegas favorite to win the AFC North. But they led the league last year in blitz-percentage – bringing extra guys is a big no-no against Mahomes – no longer have DE Yannick Ngakoue and lost their sack leader in 2020, LB Matt Judon. On the other side of the ball, they’re solution for getting Lamar Jackson more weapons was…signing Sammy Watkins.
The Steelers? Please…did you see that offense with Ben Roethlisberger last year?
Only the Chiefs cause some pause over crowning the Browns the AFC’s top team, and that’s solely because of the Mahomes factor. But as the Bucs proved, Mahomes is human after all, and the Browns have assembled the talent to take him down.
