Tyrann Mathieu shows MVP form for Chiefs vs Browns

The Kansas City Chiefs are moving on! After a scare to Patrick Mahomes and some huge stones by Andy Reid, the Chiefs came out on top after making some great plays against a good Browns team.

Bolstered by some solid defense and a good running game, the Kansas City Chiefs ended the Cinderella story of the Browns and will face an extremely good Bills team in the AFC Championship game.

It is now time for the playoff edition of our player game grades and weekly Chiefs MVP!

Darrel Williams: A-

Let’s start off with Darrel the barrel as he rumbled his way to 78 yards on 13 carries, good enough for 6 yards per carry. He was extremely effective in this game running through decent-sized holes and churning out tough yards.

Williams also chipped in 4 receptions for 16 yards and one extremely good clapback tweet to Skip Bayless. He surprised a lot of people by basically being the featured back as Le’Veon Bell only had 2 carries. I think he eased a lot of concerns with CEH being out, if Helaire is forced to miss another game, Williams proved he is capable of handling that workload.

Patrick Mahomes & Chad Henne: B+

Never let Mahomes run again. Okay, that is obviously too far considering he is an extremely effective runner and had a nice touchdown run on a speed option, but you almost have to think the concerns from his freak injury on a QB sneak last season led to this call.

While I am not upset at the call—obviously it worked for a touchdown earlier in the game and I didn’t hear people complaining then—but a QB sneak seems safer even with the wild injury last season. How many sneaks have we watched Tom Brady and Drew Brees pull off without getting injured? At the end of the day, we all just hope Mahomes is okay.

As far as the performance, Mahomes was very solid and probably would have been even better if not for the turf toe that was clearly affecting a couple of his passes to the short left. Henne then came in and performed well outside of a clearly miserable interception. The fact that Henne was able to complete the pass on 4th down as well as a few others in the biggest performance of his career was incredible. He proved that Hennething is possible.

Travis Kelce & Tyreek Hill: A

I’ll throw Hill and Kelce in here because they were both wildly effective and proved to be huge mismatches the entire game against Cleveland. Kelce had 8 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown, while Hill had 8 catches for 110 yards and 3 carries for 9 yards on the ground.

Starting with Kelce, he was his usual dominant self throughout as a mismatch for anyone who dared try and cover him. His blocking really stood out early and is something that needs more recognition as he has vastly improved from the start of his career. He showed why he is easily the best tight end in football, no question.

Hill was the energizer bunny who would turn no-gains into chunk yardage by his stop and starts. He was going up to get contested catches, blew by opposing corners, and making dudes miss in the open field. He was clearly better than anyone the Browns could line up, and he made them pay especially when it mattered by getting open and hauling in the 4th-and-inches catch to ice the game.

Charvarius Ward: C-

I don’t want to dwell on this, because the defense played solid as a whole, and if you ever listen to my show, I am firmly on board the Ward train, but he really struggled here. It was so noticeable out that I felt like I wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t point it out.

He got beat multiple times and wasn’t in the receiver’s pocket as much as he usually is. I expect a full bounce back from him next game, but the thing I love about Ward is he is never afraid to tackle. He always shows great heart.

Andy Reid: A+

No more saying Reid is too conservative as he had one of the most aggressive play calls in NFL history by going for it after everyone thought it was just a ploy to get the Browns to jump offsides.

His ability to put Henne in a spot to succeed after Mahomes went down was a thing of beauty, and his trust in his players rang is evident. Reid is one of the few coaches who is able to evolve with the times, and he is at the forefront of the modern pass-first offense. Simply put, Andy Reid out-coached Kevin Stefanski and has some stones where maybe no other coach goes for it.

Tyrann Mathieu: MVP

Rent was due and Honey Badger collected. Dude was everywhere on the field and had one of his best games of the season on the biggest stage. He had 7 tackles, a tackle for loss, and a huge interception in this one.

He backed up everything and he was the most impactful player in this game. He is such a smart player and is going to make a helluva coordinator/coach when his playing career is over. When Mathieu plays like this, the defense responds and can shut down any offense.