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Originally Posted by DRM08
Anyone trying to claim the Chiefs have always had an elite defense is full of shit. Mahomes has faced his fair share of adversity in that regard. Chiefs defense got torched twice by Tom Brady, arguably twice by Buffalo (180 yards rushing in the most recent game, 65% of the game clock), and torched by the Eagles for 35 points in the Super Bowl. They also gave up over 30 points to Houston in the game where the Chiefs were down 24-0 but ended up winning 51-31. As a side note, Josh Allen had a nice lead on that same Houston team and completely blew it. Sort of the exact opposite scenario of what happened with Mahomes against the 2019 Houston team.
I would say Joe Burrow is the one who has benefited the most from a great defense. He is the new Tom Brady when it comes to riding the coattails of a great defense. In 4 of Burrow's 5 Playoff wins, the Cincy defense held the opponent below 20 points. In one of those games, Burrow scored 17 and won the game 24-17 because the Cincy defense ran back a Ravens fumble 99 yards for a touchdown. Even in their losses, the Cincy defense only gave up 23 points to very explosive offenses led by Matt Stafford & Mahomes.
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Burrow's playoff stats are genuinely weaker than Alex Smith's. It's a joke that anyone was ever trying to put him on Mahomes' level. The Bengals' defense was easily the biggest factor in their little window of playoff success.