Right guard Trey Smith rolled over a defensive lineman. Running back Isiah Pacheco bulled past two other defenders.
And though this was only the final handoff of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 27-17 home victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, it sure encapsulated a lot of what went right for KC following a disastrous run-game performance a week ago.
The Chiefs faced third-and-4 on Sunday afternoon with an opportunity to run out the clock with a first down. Smith kept his legs moving, bowling over Jaguars’ 335-pound Corey Peters following a final push.
Pacheco, meanwhile, kept churning on his own after receiving the handoff. He saw left guard Joe Thuney ahead of him, putting a hand on his back before dragging two defenders ahead four yards on a five-yard gain — one that ended up just past the first-down marker.
“When you see a guy working their butt off and they’re working for that extra yard, it makes you want to block harder,” Smith said at his locker after the game. “ … It’s definitely something that inspires us.”
This was quite the flip from a week ago.
In a win over the Tennessee Titans seven days earlier, the Chiefs running backs had 13 combined carries for 14 yards. The lack of success forced coach Andy Reid into a one-sided game script, as quarterback Patrick Mahomes attempted 68 passes — two short of tying the NFL record.
Not surprisingly, the tape wasn’t pretty afterward. Smith and center Creed Humphrey — second-year players known as maulers in the Chiefs run-blocking game — both registered their worst career run-blocking grades according to analysis at Pro Football Focus.
Smith said team film sessions early last week weren’t fun either.
“I’ll speak for myself: It was frustrating, because there were a lot of things that I could have done to be a lot better, and a lot of things I could have done to pretty much get it going,” Smith said. “Like I said, we’re off by a little tick here, a little thing here. And it needs to be a lot cleaner, a lot more detail-oriented, to yield better results.”
KC saw what could happen Sunday after refocusing on that minutia.
Pacheco — serving as the lead back for the first time all season — had 16 carries for 82 yards with a 5.1-yard average.
Only two other running backs received single rushes: Jerick McKinnon and Michael Burton. Reid said afterward it wasn’t the original intention not to give Clyde Edwards-Helaire a carry, but that’s how things played out following Pacheco’s first drive.
“He was going, so we tried to get him into the flow, and he did a nice job with it,” Reid said. “We’re lucky that we have three guys that we feel that comfortable with putting them in.”
The Chiefs showed extra faith in Pacheco after an early mistake, too.
With KC in the red zone on its first possession, Pacheco fumbled on a run at the 9-yard line, which gave Jacksonville a substantial turnover. The blunder was worth negative-5.8 expected points and was the most significant momentum shift of the game, according to the advanced box score at rbsdm.com.
Reid still decided to put Pacheco back in for the first play of the ensuing drive, and the rookie started that one off with a 13-yard run.
“He’s a young guy, man. You’ve got to get back on the horse,” Reid said. “He was upset that he fumbled. He learned from it, and now you gotta go.”
Pacheco said guys in his running back group worked to pick him up after his early-game gaffe.
“The guys were on me: ‘Keep your head up, 10. There’s a lot more game left,’” Pacheco said. “There’s ups and downs, but the guy that comes out physical, striving and an angry mindset … you’ve just got to keep working. At practice, work hard, so in the game, it shows up.”
Pacheco’s downhill style only fueled aggression from the Chiefs’ offensive line. The Chiefs finished with 155 rushing yards, which was their second-best mark behind a road win at Tampa Bay (189).
“He’s tough, man. The kid’s resilient. He’s extremely tough. I love playing with ‘Pac,’” Smith said of Pacheco. “The energy he brings on a daily basis, it’s infectious.”
Smith also took personal satisfaction in how the final drive went.
He said just after being drafted by the Chiefs last year, he and Humphrey watched tape and marveled at how the Chiefs ended games with physicality. In particular, they took note of successful four-minute offense — when a team gains first downs via runs to finish off the clock — while wanting to be a part of those types of victories.
“You want to close that game out,” Smith said. “It’s what you take pride in.”
Sunday’s last possession fell perfectly into that mold. KC had 11 plays for 61 yards on that drive, and six of the last seven snaps were handoffs before the game-clinching kneel-down.
Meanwhile, Pacheco’s outing will likely be a talking point around the NFL and in fantasy football circles.
Before Sunday, the seventh-round pick’s previous high for carries was 12 in the season opener against Arizona, and 10 of those came in the fourth quarter.
Against Jacksonville, Pacheco had the 16 rushes and also played 57% of KC’s offensive snaps. His previous best before that was 30% against Buffalo.
Mahomes said it was natural for a Chiefs rookie to potentially need extra time to feel comfortable at the running back position.
“You have to do all the protections. You have to do all the routes. You have to run the ball, and we have different types of run schemes,” Mahomes said. “For him, he has all the talent in the world, so now he’s just going to continue to get better and better as he learns those little tricks of the trade to go out there and make stuff happen.”
It all culminated with a bruising run late in the fourth quarter, as Pacheco helped the Chiefs achieve run-game results that were elusive a week ago.
“I’m just waiting for my number to get called. When it gets called, I’m ready to go. And when my teammates’ numbers get called, and others back in the backfield, I’m cheering them on,” Pacheco said. “We’ve got a strong unit, and we’re ready to keep rolling.”