At the point when Patrick Mahomes perceived how the Buffalo Bills were safeguarding him and the Kansas City Chiefs in Monday night’s 26-17 win, it made him streak back.
“It takes me back to my college days at Texas Tech when we’re getting [eight defenders in pass coverage] and the linebackers are 6, 7 yards deep,” Mahomes said. “If teams are going to do that, we’ve got to run the football until they come up, and when they come up, we’re going to throw the football again.
“Once we saw how deep their linebackers and safeties and corners were playing, we knew that we had the run game. So we really just stayed with it, and if teams are going to play us like this, you’re going to see us run the football, and we have the guys that can do it.”
The Chiefs (5-1) ran the ball more than they tossed it for just the second time in Mahomes’ 37 beginnings. They were remunerated for the system with a triumph.
Mahomes was as yet proficient as a passer, going 21-of-26 with two first-half score passes to Travis Kelce. Be that as it may, Mahomes tossed for just 225 yards against the Bills (4-2) on a blustery night in Buffalo.
Newbie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the running match-up were rather the hostile stars. The Chiefs scrambled for 245 yards, their most since 2012, with Edwards-Helaire getting 161. Kansas City’s 46 surges were tied for the most endeavors by any Andy Reid-trained group, standard season or postseason, as indicated by ESPN Stats and Information research. (Reid trained the Philadelphia Eagles for 14 seasons before turning into the Chiefs’ mentor in 2013.)
It was an emotional turnaround from even a week ago, when Mahomes dropped back multiple times in a misfortune to the Las Vegas Raiders, while Edwards-Helaire and different Chiefs backs joined for 11 conveys.
“I didn’t think I gave the guys enough of a chance last week with it, especially the second half,” Reid said. “We’re best when we have some kind of a balance going, when you can kind of go back and forth. It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the defense. And so we were able to do both, and we felt like we needed both in this game.”
The Chiefs obstructed so well that 197 of their surging yards preceded the ball transporter was moved by a protector.
“When you have days like this, things just seem to part like the Red Sea,” Edwards-Helaire said.
The Chiefs played the majority of the game without two beginning hostile linemen. Gatekeeper Kelechi Osemele tore a ligament in every one of his knees in a week ago’s down, and tackle Mitchell Schwartz left Monday’s down for acceptable in the principal half on account of a back physical issue.
The Chiefs ruled at any rate – to the point that Mahomes said he needed to battle the inclination to toss more passes.
“It was definitely different,” he said. “[The Chiefs had] a few of those [run-pass options] called, and I had to tell myself not to throw it, just keep handing that thing off.”