We were wondering when the Kansas City Chiefs lack of a running game would come back to bite them. It did on Sunday a couple of times. The Chiefs needed one yard on third or fourth down to score and extend their lead but they couldn’t get it. They needed one first down to run out the clock at the end of the game but they couldn’t get it.
This has been going on long enough that we were talking about it a couple weeks ago when Andy Reid was asked if the Chiefs need a better running game in the playoffs.
“I don’t know about all of that,” Reid said. “You’ve seen the Patriots, they’ve done pretty good without much of a run game. You can take it for whatever you want to take it. There are all kinds of ways. The main thing is that you win. I don’t really care how it gets done and that’s what you need to do.”
(We’ll just ignore that LeGarrette Blount is having a huge year for the Pats)
I don’t care how hit gets done either but you NEED the run game - to some extent. The Chiefs don’t need to rush the ball 40 times a game but they do need to be able to extend a drive on the ground if they need to, at least every once in a while. There is some evidence that Spencer Ware is wearing down or simply not as productive as he once was His yards per carry is down almost two yards from September. Maybe it’s the offensive line, maybe Parker Ehinger was a bigger loss than I realized.
Like Andy Reid said, nobody really cares how the Chiefs get it done. It’s that they do get it done. And right now the running game isn’t getting it done when the Chiefs need it to.