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Even though he started off Week 13 by logging full participation in practice, Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s game status against the Denver Broncos was up in the air due to him missing practice on Friday because of an illness.
But it looks like he’ll be good to go for Sunday Night Football.
Edwards-Helaire was present at Kansas City’s walk-through on Saturday, and “should” be available for Sunday night’s showdown against the division-rival Broncos, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.
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CEH Had Strong Showing off of IR
Week 11 marked Edwards-Helaire’s first game back since being placed on injured reserve on October 12. Although he was eased back into the lineup during Kansas City’s win over the Dallas Cowboys, it was still a strong showing for the second-year back.
During the 19-9 victory, Edwards-Helaire ran the football 12 times for 63 yards — 5.25 yards per carry — and one touchdown, and also caught two passes for 13 yards.
“Well, I’ve said that since he’s been here. He’s a valuable tool if you want to look at it that way because he can catch the ball so well,” head coach Andy Reid said during his press conference on Monday, November 29 when asked if getting the ball to CEH in the passing game will be a priority moving forward. “The last game was just a matter of getting him back in and getting him back rolling again. So, I thought he did a nice job there. He had a couple grabs and did good with that too. But he becomes a valuable piece in the offense.”
Chiefs Have Most Important Stretch of Games Coming
The Chiefs are entering the game against Denver with a 7-4 record and on a four-game win streak. However, they are facing a Broncos squad that is in desperation mode with five weeks of regular-season play left. Denver enters Week 13 with a 6-5 record, which is the same record as the Los Angeles Chargers — who they just beat in Week 12 — and the Las Vegas Raiders. But because the Broncos have played one less divisional game than the Chargers and therefore have a worse win percentage within the AFC West (1-1), they are sitting in third place in the division. But that could change drastically in Week 13.
Despite being in first place in the division with a chance of gaining the No. 1 seed in the AFC, there’s a lot on the line for Kansas City in Week 13 as well. Because the Chiefs still have four division games left to play this season, and one of the team’s four losses this season came at the hands of the Chargers — who are in second place in the AFC West — a loss to Denver in Week 13 and a win for Los Angeles could have the Chiefs sitting in third place entering Week 14.
That’s why Kansas City needs to come out of its bye week with a sense of urgency.
“They’ve got an experienced coordinator. Their head coach is one of the best defensive minds in the game, so he presents a real solid defense,” Reid said of Denver’s defense on Friday, December 3. “They’ve got a great red-zone defense, their pass defense is right up there with the top pass defenses, so that’s what he presents. He’s got enough blitz packages in there where he can bring the max zero blitzes, but at the same time he picks and chooses when he does that and picks and chooses when he brings an extra guy. He works to keep you off balance that way.”