Winston: Jamaal Wasn’t 100% Until The Second Half Of The Season
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Kansas City Chiefs RT Eric Winston game an interview today on SportsTalk 790 in Houston. Winston spent his career with the Texans before coming to Kansas City.
Winston was asked about blocking for great running backs like Arian Foster and Jamaal Charles. While talking about Charles’ attributes as a runner, Winston revealed a pretty interesting piece of information.
"The scary thing is, I think even Jamaal would tell you he wasn’t 100 percent until the second half of the season. He wasn’t feeling really good until the last half of the season."
Wow.
We all knew Jamaal was coming back from a serious injury and that he would have to shake off some rust. But to hear Winston say that he wasn’t even feeling 100% until the second half of the year really puts into perspective what Jamaal accomplished in 2012.
Curious, I went back and looked at JC’s numbers.
Throughout he first eight games, Jamaal averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Through the last eight, he averaged 5.9, which is about what we are used to from Jamaal.
Can I just pause us here for a moment so we can admire that. 5.9 or 6.0 is what Jamaal’s average yards per carry should be. Staggering.
Jamaal Charles did all this while being the only legitimate threat on the offensive side of the ball. Teams played the Chiefs knowing that Jamaal Charles was the guy they had to stop.
And they couldn’t do it.
Here’s to a long career for #25.
And here’s hoping Andy Reid knows how to use him to win football games.