Chiefs turned to a new source to get right: Edwards-Helaire. A sign of things to come?

The Chiefs’ running game won them a football game Monday, and read that sentence again because you won’t read it often. Not in the Era of Patrick Mahomes.

Four days ago, the front office felt the need to address the backfield depth chart, bringing in veteran Le’Veon Bell after his release in New York. Bell has never been a backup.

But on Monday, the starter here in Kansas City, the rookie trying to cement the job anyway, delivered a resounding message.

The job is still his.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire had his most accomplished game as an NFL player, rushing for 161 yards as the Chiefs turned to their ground game for a 26-17 win in Buffalo.

“When you have days like this, things just seem to part like the Red Sea,” Edwards-Helaire said. “That’s what the O-line did. Ultimately, I just put my head down and ran. When it’s time to make a guy miss or time to run through a guy, I do my job.”

As he evaluated last week’s loss, Chiefs coach Andy Reid didn’t think he gave the running game a chance to develop rhythm, particularly in a stagnant second half. He made a point to become more balanced.

As is so happened Monday, the source of the game plan eventually turned away from its star, Patrick Mahomes, and to the origin of angst over the last month.

Early in the game, the Chiefs spotted the depth of the Bills’ safeties, cornerbacks and linebackers. As their predecessors have tried, the Bills wanted to take away the deep shots. Mahomes remarked that the defensive looks reminded him of his college days at Texas Tech, playing in the Air Raid offense.

With an obvious exception: Mahomes didn’t need to force the issue. The Chiefs played from in front. And the rushes kept working. They ran the ball 46 times, including 10 quarterback scrambles or keepers, for 245 yards, an average of 5.3 yards per tote. The passing game generated 221 yards, with Mahomes attempting only 26 passes.

A backwards night.

For now?

“If teams are going to play us like this, you’re going to see us running the football, and we have the guys who can do it,” Mahomes said.

Teams have played them like this. It’s quickly becoming the preferred option for defensive coordinators who feel as though they are presented with so few options against the Chiefs.

But never has it quite worked with such success, at least not yet in 2020. Edwards-Helaire, Mahomes and Reid pointed toward a culprit — the offensive line.

A week ago, the unit struggled in both pass protection and creating avenues for the running backs. Mahomes said he derived from practice that “they took it personally,” and on Monday, the delivered a turnaround performance.

Even as positions became turnstiles. The Chiefs made one in-game change last week after a season-ending injury to Kelechi Osemele. They made another before the game Monday, opting for veteran Daniel Kilgore in favor of Austin Reiter at center. And then they made another change in-game, after right tackle Mitchell Schwartz’s back tightened up.

A Band-Aid unit played with unusual cohesion. It created running lanes. Mahomes absorbed just one sack. The offensive line was flagged for holding once. Both of those were at three a week ago.

In fact, Mahomes became so confident in the line and ground game’s domination that on run-pass option plays, he began reminding himself to hand the ball off.

No need to throw it.

No need for the quarterback who has amassed pass yards more quickly than anyone in NFL history to throw the football Monday.

And isn’t that a different thought?

“Clyde was running well. O-line was blocking well,” Mahomes explained. “I just want to win. I don’t care how it’s done — pass, run, defense, whatever that is. We found a way to do that.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 8:35 PM.

Sam McDowell

The Kansas City Star

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Sam McDowell is a columnist for The Star who has covered Kansas City sports for more than a decade. He has won national awards for columns, features and enterprise work. The Headliner Awards named him the 2024 national sports columnist of the year.