Are the Kansas City Chiefs too dependent on Patrick Mahomes?

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OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 15: LeSean McCoy #25 of the Kansas City Chiefs carries the ball against the Oakland Raiders during the second quarter of an NFL football game at RingCentral Coliseum on September 15, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

The Rushing Attack Has Struggled

So we’ve established that the Chiefs passing attack has been historically good through two games. The same cannot be said for the running game.

Through two games the Chiefs have gained 144 total yards rushing on 48 carries. That’s good for 3.0 yards per carry and have scored 1 rushing touchdown. If we’re going to look at what the amazing passing attack is on pace for its only fair to do the same for the run game. Those numbers would be:

384 carries
1,152 yards rushing
3.0 yards per carry
8 rushing touchdowns

If you compare those totals to the totals teams put up last season (2018), the Chiefs would rank dead last in both rushing yards and rushing yards per carry in the NFL and would be 28th in rushing touchdowns. In other words, the Chiefs are on pace to have the worst rushing attack in the NFL. In fact, the 72.0 rushing yards per game they are on pace for is almost 12 yards per game less than last season’s worst team the Arizona Cardinals that averaged 83.9 yards per game and 3.8 yards per carry.

For comparison, last season the Chiefs averaged 115.9 yards per game which was 16th best in the NFL, 4.8 yards per carry which was tied for 5th best, and had 16 rushing touchdowns which was 7th best in the NFL. So through two games the rushing numbers are way down from last season.

Damien Williams (who has made big plays in the passing game) has been especially terrible running the ball through two games. He has a combined 22 carries for 34 yards. That’s just 1.5 yards per carry. Now, the offensive line has to own a good chunk of that failure too, but that’s inexcusably bad. I don’t care how small the sample size is.

Again, maybe we shouldn’t care. Maybe it doesn’t matter at all. The Chiefs are 2-0. They are averaging 34 points per game and have the best passing attack in the NFL. I hope it doesn’t matter. I hope .K.C can prove that in today’s NFL, the run game is becoming less and less important. It just makes me nervous for it to be this bad and with a really strong Baltimore Ravens defense waiting for them next week, I don’t see the running numbers getting better any time soon.

Now let’s take a quick look at the defense.

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