The Kansas City Chiefs had the seventh best rush defense coming into Sunday’s game against Cleveland. They let Johnny Manziel run for 108 and the Browns for 232 yards on the ground.
Good thing Cleveland ran out of time, as the Chiefs held on for a 17-13 win.
Failing to put the game away, the Chiefs defense let Cleveland drive from their own 30 with 1:52 left and no timeouts. After gaining three first downs, Manziel hit Darius Jennings on fourth-and-10 from the Kansas City 32, but time expired before Manziel could get off another snap.
The Chiefs set this game up for cruise control after the half. They scored on their opening drive, Alex Smith hit Jeremy Maclin for a touchdown. That catch put J-Mac over 1,000 yards.
He’s the first receiver on the Chiefs to gain 1,000 receiving yards since Dwayne Bowe’s 1,159 in 2011.
Cairo Santo added a field goal for a 10-0 lead. Kansas City took a 17-3 lead into halftime when Smith hit Travis Kelce on a slant from 13 yards out with 32 seconds left.
Marcus Peters picked off Manziel in the first half for his eighth of the season.
The Chiefs also blocked two Cleveland field goal attempts.
The ninth straight win clinched a playoff spot for the 10-5 Chiefs after Pittsburgh lost to Baltimore. The Chiefs can still win the AFC West with a victory in their finale against Oakland and a loss by Denver in one of their final two games.
