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During the Kansas City Chiefs‘ 17-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2 of the preseason, it was odd to see that second-year running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire had very limited game action before the likes of Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson and Jerick McKinnon split reps with the first-team offense. So, one has to ask the question: Why did that happen?
Head coach Andy Reid said it was because Edwards-Helaire suffered an injury.
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‘Clyde Hurt His Ankle Early’
“Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) hurt his ankle early,” Reid explained during the opening statement of his press conference following Friday night’s game.
“He’s got a slight sprain on the inside of his ankle,” Reid said later in the press conference when asked more about Edwards-Helaire’s injury. “We’ll just see. They got to check it tomorrow, do what they do there. It’s tender now. It doesn’t look like a high-ankle sprain. That’s always a good thing. They’ll double-check it.”
As Reid mentioned, it’s always good news if the ankle sprain isn’t a high-ankle sprain, because that would mean it’s a multi-week healing process. However, if it is just a normal ankle sprain, then Edwards-Helaire should be practicing with ease prior to the team’s season opener against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 12.
How CEH, Other RBs Performed
Prior to being injured, Edwards-Helaire did get to carry the rock a few times behind the first-team offensive line. He rushed a total of three times for 13 yards, with his longest rush going for seven yards.
The top performer among the running backs that got the opportunity to rush with the first-team unit was Darwin Thompson. With the starters, he rushed five times for 28 yards. Over the course of the entire game, he totaled 49 yards on the ground on eight carries.
The starting offensive line, which included left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., left guard Joe Thuney, rookie center Creed Humphrey, rookie right guard Trey Smith, and right tackle Lucas Niang played a large part in the success of the run game during the first half of Friday night’s preseason game.
They consistently created open running lanes for the backs, allowing the offense to march down the field, which was prevalent on Patrick Mahomes’ last drive of the game — a 15-play, 71-yard drive that ended with an ugly interception in the end zone. On that drive is when Thompson accumulated all five rushes for 28 yards with the starting offensive line in front of him.
“I thought that we had some good drives going, a few long drives where we kind of got to run the ball, throw the ball,” Mahomes told the media after the game on the offense’s performance when he was in the game. “We’ve got to find a way to get into the end zone at the end of those. It was definitely a good showing for the offensive line. I thought they protected well. We ran the ball well, and you can always learn from the things we did.”
Overall, it was a decent showing for the starting offense, which surprisingly looked more stagnant in the passing game as opposed to the run game, which was consistent and effective. That’s a complete 180 from what we saw last season. Mahomes completed 10-of-18 passes for 78 yards and the one interception. It’s also worth noting that wideout Tyreek Hill — who Reid mentioned postgame had some hamstring tightness during pregame warmups — was sidelined for the preseason game.
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