KC Chiefs’ Clyde Edwards-Helaire says he was driven by inner ‘fire’ in win over Bills
For the second straight year, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire missed the Chiefs’ final two regular-season games and their opening playoff contest.
But Edwards-Helaire wasn’t discouraged after leaving the regular-season game against the Steelers on Dec. 26 because of a shoulder injury. This, after he also missed five games earlier in the year after hurting his knee.
“Some people would say it was frustrated, but I would say this is one of those things that comes with the game,” Edwards-Helaire said Wednesday in a video call with reporters. ”It was obviously, I wouldn’t say a freak accident, but one that I really wasn’t expecting to happen at the time. And how it did happen was just one of those injuries that I really didn’t know what was going on at the time.
“But once we were able to kind of diagnose what was going on, it was the last few games of the season. So we handled it how we needed to handle it and were able to get me back for the second round of the playoffs.”
Edwards-Helaire made an impact upon his return for last Sunday’s 42-36 overtime win against Buffalo in an AFC Divisional playoff game. He rushed for 60 yards in seven carries, and his 8.6 yards per attempt was a season-high.
After not having a carry of at least 20 yards in 10 regular-season games, Edwards-Helaire had two against the Bills, including a 21-yard burst on his first carry Sunday.
Edwards-Helaire said he was motivated after missing the previous three games.
“I wouldn’t say (anybody’s) 100%,” Edwards-Helaire said. “But I would say just having that fire of really not playing. You know, everybody will say ‘fresh,’ and when I came back from a knee injury that was that was the first thing everybody was saying.
“But I come in day in and day out and still do the cardio, still doing all the work that I needed to those weeks in order to be on the field and look, I would say, ‘fresh,’ that everybody was saying. ... So it was a lot of hard work that went into I would say looking as good as I did.”
One of the regular-season games that Edwards-Helaire missed was the Chiefs’ 34-31 loss at Cincinnati earlier this month. While he didn’t travel with the team to Paul Brown Stadium, Edwards-Helaire was tuned in that day and watch it all play out.
Edwards-Helaire doesn’t believe he missed any knowledge of the Bengals’ defense by being a TV viewer.
“Every game is different and watching the film is literally my job,” he said. “So even the time that I didn’t travel for the Bengals game I watched everything on TV, and just seeing a TV copy and then being able to go watch the film, as far as how we watch it, you can see different things and see how you want to attack certain things.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 3:56 PM.
