Hoard Toeing Goal Line : AFC: He scores two more touchdowns and leads Cleveland past Kansas City, 20-15.

The Cleveland Browns were patient with Leroy Hoard, and he’s paying them back six points at a time.

Hoard scored two touchdowns Sunday, giving him nine for the season, and the Browns knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-15.

“I was a screw-up, I’m not denying that,” said Hoard, who was labeled a great talent with terrible work habits by Bo Schembechler at Michigan.

Hard work is paying off for Hoard, who scored his first rushing touchdown on a one-yard run and turned a short pass from Bernie Kosar into a 71-yard score, Hoard’s eighth touchdown reception.

Hoard was an easy target for critics during his rookie year, when the Browns were stumbling to a 3-13 record. He loafed in practice, fell asleep in team meetings and would chuckle about it when confronted by reporters.

When Bill Belichick became coach this year, Hoard knew it was time to buckle down, but a stomach virus kept him out of training camp for several weeks.

“You don’t usually look forward to training camp,” Hoard said. “In my situation, I had to look forward to it, because I had to prove myself. But for like three or four weeks, all I could do was run.”

Kansas City was inside the Cleveland 15-yard line six times but converted those possessions into only 13 points. Christian Okoye fumbled inside the Cleveland five twice in the first quarter, ruining two chances to give the Chiefs an early lead.

“I don’t know if it was our worst game, but for me, it probably is because of the fumbles,” said Okoye, who averages one fumble every 47 carries. “Those fumbles came at a bad location on the field. We were moving the ball downfield, playing well against their defense. I think those two fumbles stopped us.”

The Chiefs had five turnovers, giving them nine in the past two weeks, after they turned the ball over nine times in their first 10 games.

Kansas City also had a touchdown pass to Tim Barnett erased by a false-start penalty in the third quarter, and a delay of game against Cleveland wiped out another Kansas City touchdown on a blocked punt in the fourth quarter.

The loss dropped the Chiefs (7-5) into third place in the AFC West. Cleveland (5-7) ended a three-game losing streak.

Cleveland, which blew leads the last two weeks in losses to Philadelphia and Houston, nearly lost a 17-point lead this time. Alfred Jackson intercepted Steve DeBerg’s pass at the Cleveland 13 to clinch it with 11 seconds left.

Hoard’s touchdowns and a 34-yard field goal by Matt Stover gave Cleveland a 17-0 lead early in the third quarter. Stover and Nick Lowery traded field goals to make it 20-3, and Lowery hit a 22-yarder in the fourth quarter.

Kansas City missed yet another chance for a touchdown when Kevin Mack mishandled Kosar’s handoff at the Cleveland goal line, but Kosar recovered the ball in the end zone for a safety to make it 20-8 with six minutes left.

DeBerg, who completed 30 of 50 passes for 319 yards, threw a five-yard scoring pass to Emile Harry with 2:52 left.

Kosar completed 13 of 20 passes for 170 yards and had two passes intercepted, doubling his interception total for the season.