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Ivis AburtoESPN Digital
When no one expected it, perhaps not even himself, Chad Henne had to enter the field and give him a reason to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs fans who, at the same time, had the ai to the heart for the injury that left Patrick Mahomes out of the Divisional Round duel against the Cleveland Browns.
Henne, who has played as the alternate for most of his 11-year career in the NFL, did enough to secure Kansas City’s place in his third consecutive AFC Championship Game after winning 22-17. to the Browns.
Henne came into the game after Muhammad suffered a concussion after being tackled in a run in the third and one in midfield with 07:44 to play and with the Chiefs up 19-10 on the scoreboard.
Muhammad failed to get the first and 10 in the action in which he was injured and in the next play, fourth and first, Henne gave the ball to Darrell Williams, who got 12 yards in his career and kept alive the ‘offensive of the Chiefs.
Henne threw his first pass until his fourth offensive play, but it was incomplete and then connected a five-yard touchdown run with Travis Kelce to prepare for Harrison Butker’s 33-yard field goal that resulted in a key win. Kansas City as it took them five points away from Cleveland.
If the Chiefs didn’t get those three points, the Browns, who scored in their next offensive series and intercepted a Henne foul afterwards, might not have felt the need and pressure to score a touchdown in their last series, in which a field goal would have come to them to tie the board and force the Chiefs to play longer without Muhammad.
For his part, the Browns’ defense, which put pressure on Muhammad in just three of his 31 passing plays, did what it had to do when Henne entered the game and from the first moment was after the substitute passer. Chiefs.
Cleveland sent packs of blitz to Henne in four of his 10 designed pass plays and Henne took advantage of one of these actions to escape the pressure, get out of the protective bag and run 13 yards on the third conversion. and 14 that preceded the fourth-and-inch pass with which Henne secured Kansas City’s win with 1:14 to play.
Henne’s dirty work to preserve the Chiefs ’triumph was also reflected in the quarter-inch conversion that secured Kansas City’s victory.
The five-yard pass he threw at Tyreek Hill is just third in the last 15 years in a quarter-inch situation within two minutes of the fourth period, in Shotgun formation and with his team in the lead.
The other two times a quarterback made a good four-inch conversion in this context were starring DeShaun Watson, first in Week 6 of the current campaign against Tennessee and in Week 17 of the 2018 season, against Jacksonville.
When coach Andy Reid decided to give several starters a break in Week 17, including Muhammad, already with the first seed in the AFC assured, and appointed Henne as the starting quarterback for the final game of the season regular, the Chiefs created the hashtag #HenneThingISPossible, A play on words in English that in Spanish translates to “Anything Is Possible” (Anything Is Possible) and Henne made it a reality at the time of most tension for Kansas City.
ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.