Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles shows he’s tough as well as fast

Over and over again by now, you’ll have seen the replays of Jamaal Charles prancing through vast prairie for a 39-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-1 misdirection pitch early in the fourth quarter Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

“You get him in open space like that,” quarterback Alex Smith said, “and he does the rest.”

It was that flash and sizzle that instantly transformed a game the Chiefs were losing by 10 points to one you suddenly sensed they’d win … and did, 17-13, for their sixth victory in seven games since starting the season 0-2.

But the substance of Charles’ day, and, in fact, the Chiefs victory, wasn’t so much that run as what preceded it and was overcome.

Paralleling the Chiefs’ first double-digit comeback for a win under Andy Reid, Charles churned through it all on a day his overall stats (15 carries for 98 yards) don’t account for how it started.

The first three times Charles ran the ball, he was a human chew-toy for the Bills and their harsh defensive line.

They swarmed, smothered and otherwise slobber-knocked him for 9 yards in losses. After five carries, he had labored his way back up to 0 yards.

When Charles did shake loose for a 4-yard gain a quarter later, officials detected tight end Anthony Fasano holding … but were oblivious to Charles getting smashed several yards out of bounds.

At one point, he’d leave the game because of a stinger.

“But then everything started feeling better,” Reid said, “so he came out and got it tweaked again.”

Amid all this pesky mayhem and ultimately leaving the game on the Chiefs’ final series after a collision of helmets with Buffalo’s Brandon Spikes, Charles reiterated the rare blend he is.

And why he’s so essential to the Chiefs.

He is as much world-class sprinter as a grinder, as much a blue-blood elite athlete as a blue-collar mucker, as much a solo standout as the consummate team player, as much about soul and heart as he is a bloodless Terminator.

“One of the toughest, toughest guys I’ve ever been around,” guard Mike McGlynn said. “Usually when you get a back of his stature, as fast as he is, you don’t get the toughness.

“Jamaal is as tough as nails and brings a lot of grit to our offense.”

Fuse all that together, and it accounts for how he felt early in the game with waves of Bills crashing over him.

“That doesn’t define you. … At the end of the day, it’s about how you finish,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how fast you start.

“It’s ‘can you continue to do that that the whole game?’ ”

So Charles kept doing what he does, which is never retreat.

Even in certain pain, even when he was running less to daylight than into a bleak sky, Charles’ pistons never stopped whirring.

“Nothing wrong with my lower body,” he said, smiling. “I can fix my upper body; I can’t do much if my lower body is hurt.

“So I’m just happy that my lower body is fine.”

All of which has an impact before it manifests itself in, say, a 39-yard touchdown run that changes the game.

As much as Charles admired the Bills’ defense — “a beast,” he called it — no doubt he was draining it every time he barged into it or made them chase him.

And as much by necessity as anything, with the Chiefs unable to fend off a rampaging pass rush, they kept chipping and chopping away with Charles.

That gradually started to soften, or at least offset, the defense some: By halftime, Charles had gone from less than zero to eight carries for 29 yards, including a 17-yard run.

Meanwhile, his ceaseless style also had a compound impact of inspiration to his own team.

“He kept those linemen going; he kept them feeling a part of that thing,” Reid said, later adding, “The run game wasn’t going very good at the beginning, and all I heard (from Charles) was, ‘Let just keep working, working, working. … We’re going to be fine. Let’s just keep pounding.’ ”

Some combination of the cumulative effect and deception actually made it anything but pounding on his pivotal touchdown, his eighth of the season and NFL-leading 27th in the last two.

The Bills’ frothing defense chomped on a reverse pivot from Smith, who pitched it outside to Charles rather than hand off to Anthony Sherman.

“Once I saw the defensive end crash, and I saw the O-line in front of me and saw one free safety, all I had to do was make a move and I saw the end zone,” Charles said. “Coach coached it all well, and it worked.”

And that’s where the highlight reel will fade on Charles’ day.

But he still had to tend to the nitty-gritty.

Three times after that, the Chiefs took over inside their own 20-yard line.

First, they had to get traction, then the go-ahead touchdown (scored by Smith when the defense keyed on Charles) and then kill the clock.

And this, too, came enabled by Charles.

“He’s such a tough runner, especially for the style that kind of gets labeled on him,” Smith said. “He finds ways to get hidden yards; he seems like he never takes the big hit.

“He’s always slipping those tackles and falling forward. And he finds ways to get those tough yards.”

So here was Charles, crunching for three distinctly unglamorous yards for some breathing room.

There he was a drive later, twisting for 3, then whirling for 4 more as he took a helmet in the back moving the pile backward.

Afterward, he beamed at the mention of the play, seemingly as proud of that as the touchdown.

“I’m getting older and I’m getting wiser, and I’m learning the game more,” he said. “And I learn from other running backs as well, how to just fight for 5 yards and keep their feet moving

“Sometimes I used to get hit and just fall down.”

Now, it takes a village.

And even then, they couldn’t fasten him down or keep him from returning after absorbing blows that would have knocked out many.

“You never count me out,” he said, smiling.

This story was originally published November 9, 2014 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles shows he’s tough as well as fast."