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The arrangement between Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles in the Kansas City Chiefs is making less sense for me as we finish up with the second week of the season. Logically speaking, you want the guys who gain the most yards per play to be touching the ball. That's not the case with the Chiefs.
In week one, both Jones and Charles had 11 carries. Jones had 39 yards while Charles racked up 92 plus a touchdown. That was early evidence that Charles should be the one getting most of the carries because he is doing more with each carry.
The difference in play wasn't as striking in game two against the Cleveland Browns but you still ended up with a situation where Jones had more than twice the carries Charles did.
Jones: 24 carries, 81 yards
Charles: 11 carries, 49 yards
Jones' sub-four yards per carry is OK but nothing to write home about while Charles is once again nearing five yards per carry.
Asked after the game why Charles didn't get the ball earlier, Todd Haley said he couldn't quite answer that. "I'm proud of both those guys," he said. "They protected the football and got important yards for us. We have to be a little smarter in a few situations, down and distance situations, without looking at the tape, I know we have to get up field. Those guys have the potential to be a good combination. Today was a grind it out type of day."
This isn't making very much sense to me. Jones is the older veteran whose legs may not be as fresh as Charles. Jones is also averaging less yards per carry than Charles. Then there's Charles, who does more with each carry and has demonstrated he's capable of scoring from anywhere.
Do you think it's a coincidence that his 20-yard rush and 27-yard reception were the two longest plays of the game?
Here's the thing, though: Last year Haley rode Larry Johnson for seven weeks despite a lack of production. Jones is clearly better than LJ was with the Chiefs but it's the same idea in that there's potentially a better option to be putting out there. Maybe Haley just loves power runners.