Let Isiah Pacheco Help Carry The Load
We all know the Kansas City Chiefs are a passing team. Their offense is built around quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Andy Reid is a pass-first coach. They have arguably the greatest pass-catching tight end of all time in Travis Kelce. They are going to pass the ball even with Mahomes hobbling around on one leg. However, it doesn’t mean that the run game can’t have an important part of the game plan.
Mahomes injured his ankle early in the game on Saturday and Pacheco still only had 12 carries. He turned those 12 carries into 95 yards. That’s significantly better than Jerick McKinnon’s 11 carries for 25 yards. Don’t get me wrong, McKinnon has been a vital part of KC’s offense. His pass-catching and pass-blocking skills are an essential part of KC’s passing game. I have zero issues with McKinnon being on the field on clear passing downs and when they’re in their hurry-up offense, but on Sunday the rest of the “neutral” downs need to be Pacheco.
I get that Pacheco is a 7th round rookie and the Chiefs may be tempted to want to use more, not less, McKinnon to help block for a wounded Mahomes, but the Chiefs must run the ball effectively on Sunday and that means Pacheco. At this point, I have no hesitation in saying that Pacheco is far and away the best pure runner that KC has had since Kareem Hunt was let go. In the regular season and playoffs combined, he’s averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Despite that, he’s only topped 15 carries twice this season and has averaged just 9.7 carries per game over KC’s last three games.
The Chiefs need to be able to take some pressure off of Mahomes by establishing the run and that has to be Pacheco in this game. He’s done nothing but prove he can handle it so far. So Andy Reid needs to turn the rookie loose on Sunday both to take the pressure off of Mahomes and to force Cincinnati’s defense to adjust their plan to stop the run. That will make things easier for Mahomes when he does pass and keep the Bengals’ edge rushers from pinning their ears back and attacking down after down.
That having been said, when the Chiefs do pass there are a few things that need to happen.