Chiefs’ offense, Browns’ defense best in red zone

? For statistical-minded football fans, Sunday’s Cleveland-Kansas City match offers an unusual showdown between two of the NFL’s best units in critical specialties.

The Browns (3-5) own the league’s No. 1 red-zone defense. Opponents have reached the scoring zone 20 times this season, but Cleveland’s defense has allowed points just 14 times — four touchdowns and 10 field goals.

Kansas City, meanwhile, has 16 touchdowns and five field goals to show for 21 trips to the red zone — the best in the NFL. Whether the Chiefs continue their winning ways and go to 9-0 may depend on their red-zone offense beating the scoring zone defense of the Browns.

“When you have a team like Cleveland, the hardest part is they put pressure on the quarterback only rushing four guys,” Kansas City quarterback Trent Green said.

“When you have only four guys rushing, that means you have seven guys in the secondary. What they tend to do is play a lot of cover two or cover eight, so generally they rush four, have five in the middle usually around the 5-yard line or so and then you have your other two in the end zone.”

The rest of the Browns’ defense is not so bad, either. Overall, they rank No. 7 in total defense, yielding just 290 yards per game.

“They present a lot of problems because of the quality of players they have in their front four,” Green said. “They don’t need to bring extra people, which leads to one-on-one matchups.”

Priest Holmes, who tied a franchise record with four touchdowns in Kansas City’s 40-39 victory at Cleveland last year, could be key to breaking the Browns’ red-zone defense.