Wild Card Takeaways: Chiefs' Rice answers call, Texans' Stroud steals show

Through 18 weeks of the regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs looked vulnerable. Sure, they still finished the 2023 campaign atop the AFC West — their eighth straight division title, and sixth with Patrick Mahomes at the helm — but there’s no denying the offence we’ve seen from the Chiefs this season hasn’t been up to their usual standards.

Dropped passes, missed connections, and a lack of a true No. 1 receiver for Mahomes have been talking points all seasons while it was their defence, not the signature offence, that was winning them games.

And yet, on a freezing cold Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium, things started to heat up for the Chiefs. And with the star-studded Miami Dolphins in town, it was Mahomes & Co. who put on a show, their 26-7 victory never really in doubt while Miami’s offence froze up when it mattered most.

And so begins the reigning champions’ path back to the Super Bowl stage.

At this point, everyone expects playoff success from the Chiefs. The Houston Texans, on the other hand… well, that’s another story. Just one year ago, the Texans were fresh off another losing season, their 3-13-1 campaign earning them a lottery ticket that would turn out to hold the winning numbers.

Earlier on Saturday, Houston erased any doubts about their readiness to contend as rookie C.J. Stroud put on a performance worthy of the MVP chants shouted his way at NRG Stadium as the upstart club dominated the Cleveland Browns 45-14.

Here are our top takeaways from Saturday’s AFC Wild Card action, headlined by some impressive rookie performances.

DOLPHINS 7, CHIEFS 26

Rashee Rice answers the call in Chiefs’ victory over Miami

All season long, the Chiefs have been waiting for a top wide receiver to emerge from the team’s corps of pass-catchers.

Enter Rashee Rice. The 23-year-old rookie has quietly been building up momentum as the regular season rolled, bringing a few bursts of production, but rarely posting stand-out stats worthy of a true WR1.

Maybe he was just waiting for a bigger stage. Saturday night against Miami, Rice turned 12 targets — more than any other Chief, including Mahomes’ favourite playmaker, Travis Kelce — into eight receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown. That yardage is more than any other Chiefs rookie in a single playoff game.

Looks like the Chiefs finally have their WR1, just in time for a trip to the Divisional Round.

Chiefs outrun Dolphins thanks to Pacheco’s dominant effort

Rice was the hero through the air, but it was running back Isiah Pacheco who carried the load in this victory. The phrase “Angry Run”, coined by Kyle Brandt of Good Morning Football and embraced by fans and commentators everywhere, pretty much encompasses Pacheco’s approach to every attempt Saturday night — all 24 of them. He fought for all 89 of his yards, finally being rewarded with a score in the fourth quarter.

Considering the frigid temperatures, it was expected that the run game would take over in this one, and Pacheco more than understood the assignment. The same can’t be said for Miami, however. The Dolphins boasted the league’s most productive rushing attack all season but couldn’t get much going on the ground Saturday in Kansas City. Leading rusher Raheem Mostert tallied just 33 yards on eight carries — just eight more than quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s 25 in three attempts — while breakout star De’Von Achane registered just nine yards on six touches.

Miami’s stars left out in the cold

Unlike the Chiefs, the Dolphins never really looked comfortable on offence. Tagovailoa connected on just over half of his 39 passes, throwing one touchdown pass and one interception. Tyreek Hill led the way in receptions (five) and yards (62) while getting the Dolphins’ lone score of the game against his former club in his first trip back to his old stompin’ grounds while Jaylen Waddle was a near non-factor. Waddle, who’s been dealing with an ankle injury but was cleared to play, had just two catches for 31 yards on Saturday.

Credit due to Chiefs’ cornerback L'Jarius Sneed here — he played a key role the last time these clubs met, and again made life difficult for Miami’s top targets.

Dolphins’ drought continues

You have to scroll back to 2000 to find the last time the Dolphins won a playoff game.

BROWNS 14, TEXANS 45

Stroud puts up near-perfect numbers in historic performance

C.J. Stroud has been electric all season as he’s led the Texans to the top of the AFC South, and under the bright lights of the NFL playoffs, it didn’t take him long to hit another gear.

With just 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Stroud connected with receiver Nico Collins on a 15-yard touchdown pass. And from that point on, he was flying. By the end of the first half, Stroud had completed 11 of 16 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns — that’s the best first-half rookie QB performance we’ve ever seen.

He stayed clean in the second half, finishing the game with an impressive stat line: 16-of-21, 274 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. (With the game out of reach for Cleveland in the fourth quarter, Stroud was taken out of the game with Davis Mills replacing him.)

At just 22 years old, Stroud is the youngest starting quarterback to win a playoff game since 1950. And he’s just getting started.

Stingley shuts down Cooper in pass coverage masterclass

Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper was the story of the game when Cleveland and Houston met in Week 16 for a Christmas Eve clash, the wide receiver racking up a career-high 265 yards and cashing in a pair of touchdowns on 11 receptions en route to a 36-22 Browns victory.

The matchup didn’t exactly give us an accurate read on how Houston’s offence might fare against Cleveland’s defence in a rematch, as Stroud was out with a concussion. But it did give Houston a heavy dose of the Browns’ passing attack with Flacco at the helm, and they clearly applied every single lesson from that regular-season loss to Saturday’s defensive playbook.

Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. put on a masterclass in pass coverage, and Cooper paid the price more than most. Unlike his Week 16 outing, the Browns wide receiver was a near non-factor Saturday afternoon in Houston, seeing just five targets all game and turning them into four catches worth 59 yards. According to Next Gen Stats, Stingley lined up opposite Cooper on 83.3 per cent of routes, with Cooper targeted just once while shadowed by the second-year defensive back (an incomplete pass).

It wasn’t just Houston’s pass coverage that excelled against Cleveland — the run defence was excellent, too. After three straight seasons with a rushing defence ranking in the league’s basement, DeMeco Ryans has transformed the unit into a group that’s allowed the second-fewest yards per carry this season. While both of Cleveland’s scores came on the ground, with Kareem Hunt bulldozing his way into the end zone on short-yardage plays, Houston allowed just 56 rushing yards in total. (Its offence tallied just 76 itself; this was a game won through the air, to say the least.)

Flacco uncomfortable under pressure as Houston’s defence takes over

The story of Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns has felt like something from a movie, but unfortunately for the Browns, the team won’t be getting its Hollywood ending.

What began as a barnburner in the first half suddenly became a blowout in the second as the Texans took control and piled up the points, making Cleveland’s elite defence look pedestrian by the end of the first half. And while the strength of the Browns’ defence was one of the most well-established storylines of the regular season, it was the Texans’ defence that stole the show on Saturday with a pair of pick-sixes just two minutes apart. Midway through the third quarter of a 24-14 game favouring the Texans, cornerback Steven Nelson picked a failed pass from Flacco and ran it back 82 yards to score.

Then, Christian Harris interrupted a toss intended for tight end Harrison Bryant and ran it home for a 36-yard score.

The game was over after that.

Flacco’s interception rate has been an under-the-radar storyline in Cleveland — he threw eight through the month of December at the helm of the Browns but his strong connection with his receiving corps more than made up for the gaffes. There was no hiding in this one, though. Flacco was sacked four times. The Browns’ elite pass rush, meanwhile, came away with zero.

Salt, meet wound

Texans fans were belting out Mr. Brightside as the game wound down, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a team with a brighter future than Houston. As for Cleveland? Well…