Over the past three weeks, the NFL's final undefeated squad, the Kansas City Chiefs, have gotten the best of quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick, Terrelle Pryor and Case Keenum.
They added Jason Campbell to that list on Sunday, but Cleveland's backup-turned-starter made the Chiefs sweat in Kansas City's 23-17 win over the Browns.
Campbell overcame an ugly start -- K.C. piled up 13 first downs before Cleveland earned its first -- to carve up a normally reliable Chiefs secondary for 293 yards. That came with no interceptions and a distinct absence of the wacky (sometimes underhanded) off-target passes we saw from Brandon Weeden in recent weeks.
Campbell did more than enough to keep Weeden on the bench, but it wasn't enough to stamp out a Chiefs team that finds new ways to win on a weekly basis.
Here's what else we learned:
- Browns receiver Davone Bess struggled through a disastrous outing. Coming into the game with a league-leading seven drops, Bess killed Campbell early with two passes that bounced off his hands. The weirdest coaching decision of the day might have been Cleveland's choice to insert Bess as a punt returner in place of the injured Travis Benjamin. Predictably, Bess -- with the Browns trailing 20-17 -- fumbled a punt that would have given Cleveland the ball in Chiefs territory with under eight minutes left in the game.
- It's amazing how much the Chiefs have accomplished without getting much from Eric Fisher. The draft's top overall pick was scorched by Paul Kruger for a first-quarter sack on Alex Smith, but it wasn't just Fisher on Sunday. The Browns chalked up six sacks and put the heat on Smith all day. Meanwhile, Kansas City's typically terrorizing pass rush was held to just one.
- Jamaal Charles made another strong case for MVP consideration: Despite missing part of the game with a knee injury, he rumbled for 74 yards on 18 carries and hauled in five passes for another 46 yards from Smith, who also made good use of fullback Anthony Sherman through the air.
- Meanwhile, in a post-Trent Richardson world, Cleveland's ground game is a disaster. Willis McGahee has no burst and there's nothing resembling a workhorse on the roster.
- Amid ongoing whispers that receiver Josh Gordon is available in a trade, Cleveland's best player scorched the Chiefs for 132 yards and a touchdown on five catches. He's more than a deep threat and deserves credit for staying productive no matter who is the quarterback.
- Dexter McCluster remains a mystery, but the Chiefs receiver had his best game of the year, hauling in seven passes for 67 yards and a big touchdown.
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