Key takeaways from first half of Chiefs vs. Browns

The Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns are in a battle for the right to play in the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs seem to have an answer for everything in this game, while the Browns are struggling to slow them down. It has resulted in a 19-3 score in favor of Kansas City at the half, though, Cleveland will get the ball first when they return to the field.

Here’s a look at some of the things we’ve taken away from the first half of play:

Keep breaking tendencies on offense

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From the opening drive of the game, the Chiefs have thrown a number of tendency-breakers at the Browns and they've all worked. You'd expect the Chiefs to come out throwing the ball all around the field, but six of their first ten plays were running plays. With RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire ruled out, everyone was expecting Le'Veon Bell in the backfield and outside zone runs. Well, here's a heavy dose of Darrel Williams, running between the tackles on the opening drive. Demarcus Robinson is the player who often is tasked to step up in the absence of Sammy Watkins. So far the Chiefs have used Mecole Hardman and Byron Pringle, while Robinson hasn't even seen a single target. Andy Reid has done an excellent job keeping the Browns off-balance. They genuinely don't know what to expect from this offense. If the Chiefs can keep that up today and they'll keep finding success in the second half.

Keep up the pressure on defense

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Some of the biggest stars for the Browns have been playing tentatively in the first half. There have been numerous drops from Jarvis Landry and Nick Chubb. The heralded offensive line for Cleveland hasn't been able to establish the run and they've really struggled to protect Baker Mayfield compared to their wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Chiefs defense hasn't been letting anything come easy for the Browns. They're rallying to the football, playing tight coverage, and attacking downhill. They're getting pressure on Mayfield at times and really they're forcing him to play a perfect game. This group still managed to hold Cleveland to just three points in the first half. They need to keep the pressure up in the second half. Remember, one of the knocks on Kansas City heading into the playoffs has been their ability to close out games in a dominant fashion. Slam the door shut in the next two quarters and that narrative goes away too.

Minimize penalties

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The only thing remotely keeping the Browns in this game right now has been penalty issues on both sides of the ball for the Chiefs. Just ahead of the half the defense had a number of penalties on downfield throws by Baker Mayfield. That gave Cleveland a ton of field position and set them up for points, but thankfully Daniel Sorensen came up with a big play to force a fumble and a touchback The offense had some penalty issues too. There were a number of holding penalties, keeping the team behind the sticks while Mahomes was dealing with a toe injury in the second quarter. The Browns have some tough defensive linemen, but the offensive line needs to do a better job here or it could prove problematic for the success of the offense in the second half.