Eric Bieniemy: despite Isiah Pacheco’s success, Chiefs to play hot hand

Again earlier than the NFL Draft in April, Kansas City Chiefs common supervisor Brett Veach said that there could be a 1,000-yard rusher available in the seventh round or as an undrafted free agent. Certain sufficient, Veach expended certainly one of his three picks within the seventh to take Rutgers running back Isiah Pacheco.

The rookie not solely made the crew in September however has additionally performed in each certainly one of Kansas Metropolis’s 9 2022 video games — and beginning within the final three rather than former first-round choose Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who’s now in his third season with the crew.

Throughout Sunday’s 27-17 defeat of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Pacheco rushed for a season-high 82 yards on 16 carries, averaging 5.1 yards a carry. Edwards-Helaire had solely 4 snaps within the sport — with no carries, two targets and no receptions.

However he nonetheless had a job within the sport. After Pacheco fumbled the ball away on the finish of the Chiefs’ first drive, Edwards-Helaire was noticed on the sidelines, talking to the younger working again.

That wasn’t a shock to offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.

“We all the time need to get the perfect individuals who occur to be the perfect soccer gamers,” he advised reporters on Thursday. “Staff chemistry goes a great distance. Clyde is a kind of guys. Clearly, he hasn’t had many alternatives as of late. However he is nonetheless a part of this crew — and he understands how vital it’s that backs maintain their confidence degree up.”

In keeping with working backs coach Greg Lewis, the gamers in his room understood that they might be working as a crew all alongside.

“There’s solely going to be one man that is going on the market more often than not — and we’ll assist whoever that man is,” he stated on Thursday. “The blokes purchased in from Day 1 [on] that mindset and that method.”

So when the crew determined to make Pacheco the starter in opposition to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7, nobody needed to fear about having an uncomfortable dialog with Edwards-Helaire.

“It is probably not who begins the sport or who finishes the sport,” stated Lewis. “Everyone’s going to get a chance. So it isn’t a dialog that [needed] to be addressed; it was already [understood] from the start.”

“Clyde is the final word skilled,” noticed Bieniemy. “Clyde involves work each single day. Clyde would not run away from something. He is working his tail off. And on high of that, he is serving to coach guys up. That is the kind of chemistry that we’ve.”

All of this additionally implies that though Pacheco turned in an excellent efficiency final Sunday, Edwards-Helaire might simply play extra in opposition to the Los Angeles Chargers this Sunday evening. However even when that occurs, a unique working again might nonetheless find yourself getting a larger variety of snaps within the sport — identical to we have seen all season.

“All of these guys are going to play,” declared Bieniemy. “I assumed [Pacheco] did a heck of a job final week. I additionally thought Jerick McKinnon did a heck of a job. That simply goes to point out you the depth that we’ve at that place.”

Bieniemy as soon as once more confirmed that running-back-by-committee is taken into account to be the usual.

“Clearly, we’ll all the time go along with the recent hand,” he added. “I do know that is one thing that lots of people don’t love to listen to — however we all the time need to do what we really feel is finest in that exact second.”

Even when that scorching hand seems to be Pacheco, we should not essentially anticipate a repeat of what we noticed in opposition to the Jaguars: McKinnon getting the entire passing targets. Possibly Edwards-Helaire might get these targets — and even Pacheco himself.

“He has above-average arms,” stated Lewis of Pacheco, “identical to all people else within the room. All of them can catch the ball and do various things out of the backfield with the ball of their arms. It simply occurred to be the place [McKinnon] was getting the chance to catch passes and [Pacheco] was getting the chance to run the ball. That is simply the way in which it unfolded.

“There isn’t any doubt in my thoughts (or any of the opposite coaches’ minds) about Pacheco getting a chance to catch the ball — or [McKinnon] or Clyde working the ball. Everyone knows all of them can do all the identical issues — and do it at a excessive degree.”

Lewis went on to say that the rookie working again is not matching expectations for a first-year participant. As an alternative, he is matching the crew’s expectations for any working again.

“To me, I do not have a look at it as a rookie [or] as a 10-year vet,” he stated. “The expectation is the expectation; the usual is the usual. And whoever we put on the market must be at that commonplace. [Pacheco’s] completed an incredible job of coming in and greedy the issues that we’re educating him — and going out, taking part in soccer and letting his talents present.”

So within the coming weeks, we should always anticipate to see… effectively, the sudden.

As Bieniemy famous, not everybody exterior the constructing is snug with the crew’s multi-faceted method at working again. However that in all probability contains opposing defensive coordinators, too — which might be precisely what the Chiefs need.

Source link