KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Having waited 15 weeks to play, Chiefs receiver Marquise Brown kept bothering coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy during Saturday’s game against the Houston Texans.
“I definitely was trying to play more,” Brown said, smiling. “But I trust the plan.”
Reid planned to have Brown play a limited role in the Chiefs’ passing attack. Brown knew he would be capped at 20 snaps in his season debut. And that’s exactly how many snaps he played.
The best part for the Chiefs was that those 20 snaps were rather impactful in the team’s victory. Known for his elite speed and above-average route running ability, Brown was targeted on eight of the 14 routes he ran against the Texans. He produced five receptions for 45 yards.
“It felt good to get a few catches and make some plays,” Brown said after the game. “I feel I can be an asset to the team. That’s all I’m trying to do. Just the juice I got from my teammates, everything felt good.”
Brown’s first reception as a Chief was significant.
After an impressive 12-yard scramble by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who played well despite a high ankle sprain, Reid kept the Chiefs offense on the field for fourth-and-1 on the Chiefs’ opening drive. Reid called the next play for Brown, who was assigned to beat man-to-man converge on a shallow crossing route. When Mahomes released his short pass, Brown was open and took the reception for a 12-yard gain. The Chiefs finished the possession with a touchdown.
“Big picture, you could just feel his presence when he’s out there on the field, whether it’s the speed, the experience (or) the knowledge of the offense,” Nagy said Monday of Brown. “Everything that he did, I think the best word is exciting.”
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The best example came in the middle of the second quarter on third-and-7. The Chiefs’ best four pass catchers — Brown, tight end Travis Kelce and fellow receivers DeAndre Hopkins and rookie Xavier Worthy — were on one side of the formation. Once again, against man-to-man coverage, Brown used his quickness and speed to create plenty of separation for a 20-yard gain. Once again, Brown’s reception helped lead to a Chiefs touchdown.
The Chiefs continued to use variations of the formation throughout the game, which helped Mahomes complete at least one pass to eight teammates. Mahomes finished with 28 completions on 41 attempts for 260 yards and a touchdown pass to go with his rushing score.
“You’re starting to see what this offense was meant to be,” Mahomes said Monday of his first time playing with Brown. “Obviously, we don’t have (receiver) Rashee (Rice) out there, but having some of the other guys we’ve added to try to fill that role as best as we can, you can see where we thought we were going to be at the beginning of the year.
“We have to ramp it up fast, against some really good teams, but I thought it was a great start having Hollywood out there.”
In March, Brown was the Chiefs’ biggest free-agent acquisition. He signed a one-year deal worth up to $11 million to bolster Kansas City’s depth at receiver, projecting to be Mahomes’ No. 1 receiver. Throughout the offseason and training camp, Mahomes and Brown established a strong connection, especially on deep and intermediate passes.
But on the opening snap of the preseason in August, Brown suffered a dislocated collarbone when he was driven to the turf awkwardly on his left shoulder. The Chiefs learned a month later that they would play most of the regular season without Brown. He needed surgery to repair his SC joint, which connects the collarbone to the sternum.
“He was doing great in rehab, he had no pain and we were discussing return-to-play opportunities,” Rick Burkholder, the Chiefs’ vice president of sports medicine and performance, said of Brown in September. “But we had one last check, another image to do four weeks from the injury with an MRI and it looked like the bone had moved.”
In the modern NFL, Brown’s circumstances were so rare that no player in the league in the past decade needed such a surgery. After the Chiefs consulted several specialists, Brown had his surgery done in Vail, Colo., by surgeon Peter Millett, who had performed the procedure on professional skiers.
“I was definitely heartbroken,” Brown said Monday of his injury. “I felt like this was my best offseason, my best camp. When I found out I had to get surgery, that was tough. My family did a good job of supporting me and everyone here was showing up and it was like I was still a part of everything. That was great for me.
“Even the fans, how everybody embraced me. I hadn’t played a snap here and everyone showed me a lot of love.”
Brown initially planned to return to the lineup for Wednesday’s game, a marquee matchup on Christmas Day against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
His rehab went better than he and the team expected. Brown began sprinting to rebuild his conditioning in late October. A month later, while the Chiefs practiced outside, Brown posted a video on his Instagram account of him making one-handed catches off the JUGS machine on the indoor practice field.
“I wanted to attack (the rehab), showing up every day, trying to be there for the guys any way I can,” Brown said. “It was real important to me because these guys go through a whole season and you see a lot. They’ve been through a lot and I wanted to get out there and get into the flow of things before the playoffs.”
The Chiefs hope Wednesday’s game will serve as Brown’s last dress rehearsal before the team’s postseason run. With a victory over the Steelers, the Chiefs will sweep a three-game series in 11 days — and earn the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the postseason.
Reid plans to increase Brown’s snap count against the Steelers.
Brown was thrilled that his presence on the field helped Worthy have his best statistical performance of the season. Worthy led the Chiefs with seven receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown. Brown and Worthy hope to become two of the top receiving options for Mahomes in the playoffs.
“It’s amazing and I knew it since camp,” Brown said of playing with Worthy. “The more (snaps) he’s going to get, the better he’s going to get. He’s a hard one to stop.
“We’re competing with each other more than we’re competing with the dudes across from us. We know what we’ve got to do and we know what we’ve got to be for this team.”
