CEH

[xen 1,010,220]

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2020/9/11/21431850/clyde-edwards-helaire-chiefs-debut-win-texans-patrick-mahomes

Clyde Edwards-Helaire Is Exactly What Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs Needed

Entering this offseason, the defending champs didn’t seem like they had any holes to fill on offense. But in Thursday’s win against the Texans, their rookie running back made them realize just what they’d been missing.

By Danny Heifetz  Sep 11, 2020, 12:45am EDT

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Getty Images/Ringer illustration

Before the start of April’s NFL draft, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach texted Patrick Mahomes and asked who he wanted the team to select. Mahomes texted back six characters: “Clyde.”

You know it’s serious when there is a period for emphasis. Either Kansas City listened to Mahomes or Veach already had the same thought as his franchise quarterback, because the team drafted LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire with the last pick of the first round. One game into his NFL career, it’s clear why Mahomes wanted the running back in Kansas City.

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The Chiefs toyed with the Texans in Thursday’s season opener, earning a 34-20 win in a game that was 31-7 early in the fourth quarter. Kansas City’s offense did not seem to need much help after last season, when Mahomes led one of the best passing attacks in NFL history and the franchise won its first Super Bowl in 50 years. But the Chiefs looked dominant on Thursday night in an unfamiliar way: running the ball.

Kansas City ran 34 times for 166 yards (averaging 4.9 yards per carry), and Edwards-Helaire had 25 of those carries for 138 yards (5.5 yards per carry). He also scored a touchdown by juking out Texans rising star safety Justin Reid and running for pay dirt, though he easily could have added a second or third with a number of almost there goal-line carries that made fantasy managers jump out of their chairs.

This kind of rushing performance was out of character for the Chiefs. Kansas City ran the ball 16 times in the first half, which was more rushes than the team had in any first half in 2019, according to ESPN Stats & Info. And last season, the Chiefs became the first team to win the Super Bowl while averaging less than 25 rushes per game—the same figure CEH recorded on Thursday night.

 

Edwards-Helaire was the do-it-all running back at LSU on a record-breaking offense that scored more points than any other team in college football history. He was the first running back in SEC history to record 50 catches and 1,000 rushing yards in the same season. It’s a charmed football life to go from playing with LSU’s Joe Burrow to Mahomes, but Edwards-Helaire also has a game that reminded Chiefs head coach Andy Reid of his former back, Brian Westbrook. He’s not the fastest guy on the field, but he has elite balance, and ultimately football is a game of staying on your feet.

“The guy is a star,” Mahomes told NBC’s Michele Tafoya after the game. “He works hard, he works his tail off, his vision is incredible, and I thought the offensive line did a great job giving him those holes for him to run, too.”

Mahomes did a great job on Thursday night, too. He finished with 24 completions on 32 throws for 211 yards (6.6 yards per attempt). But like Edwards-Helaire, his night was more impressive than his stat line. Mahomes had a few passes that looked routine for him but would have been stunning from any other player. For instance: While falling backward in the first quarter, he flicked a pass so hard it hit his receiver in the face, or, rather, IN THE FACEEE.

Not only did the Chiefs run more often than usual, but each team seemed like they were dinking and dunking in the passing game at a much higher rate than you’d normally see in the regular season. Both offenses possess a lot of speed, with Kansas City’s Legion of Zoom receiving corps being the fastest in the league and Houston having Will Fuller V, Brandin Cooks, and Kenny Stills. But they largely seemed to avoid the downfield passing game. Deshaun Watson started the game 0-for-5 on passes of 15 yards or more downfield, according to ESPN Stats & Info, and the Chiefs focused on getting the ball out fast. Mahomes released his passes on average at 2.3 seconds in the first half, which would be the fastest of his career across a full game, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Chiefs are known for throwing the ball downfield and scoring fast enough that you can’t go to the bathroom when they have the ball. In this game, you could have grown a quarantine mustache during their scoring drives.

 

That isn’t necessarily a style adjustment either team wants to adopt long term, but one they needed to make on Thursday. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the NFL to eliminate the preseason and has drastically limited practice time. As a result, basic football skills like timing on passing routes and tackling have been hard to nail down. The short routes Kansas City and Houston used were likely deployed in an effort to avoid costly mistakes like interceptions. Those routes also allowed them to test the other teams’ tackling, and the Texans failed the test more often than they passed.

But the Chiefs are just better at every aspect of the game. Reid is a far better play-caller than Houston’s Bill O’Brien, and the Chiefs’ players are far more elusive in the open field than the Texans’.

The game was a flat disappointment for the Texans. They seemed to sorely miss receiver DeAndre Hopkins, whom the team traded to Arizona for running back David Johnson and bare bones in March. Johnson finished with 11 carries for 77 yards and a 19-yard touchdown that was his longest touchdown run since 2016, but did not make an impact in the second half when Houston needed one.

The Chiefs, on the other hand, look like a juggernaut. The defending Super Bowl champions didn’t need to make their offense better. Yet they have. With Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Demarcus Robinson, Mecole Hardman, and now Edwards-Helaire, the Chiefs have six players who can break multiple tackles in open space. The outing wasn’t perfect. When the space truncated near the goal line, the Chiefs (including CEH) stalled on multiple drives. But it was a hell of a debut given the shortened offseason.

This isn’t the first time a Chiefs rookie running back has made a splashy debut. Kareem Hunt broke records with a nearly 250-total-yard debut just three years ago. But Edwards-Helaire’s abilities might take Kansas City to even higher heights given that he joined a team that has fully blossomed.

Somehow, this Chiefs team is still getting better. There will be a lot of reasons we use to explain why Kansas City looks like it’ll return to the Super Bowl this season, but to boil it down to one word: Clyde.  

[Joe_Chief 1,092]

CEH had 138 yards, and 132 were after contact.  That is nothing short of amazing.  It may be premature, but the Chiefs may have found the next record breaking offensive player.

[Lamardirts 2,114]

57 minutes ago, Joe_Chief said:

CEH had 138 yards, and 132 were after contact.  That is nothing short of amazing.  It may be premature, but the Chiefs may have found the next record breaking offensive player.

While that is very possible, he also benefits greatly from running against a light box.  I still think most defenses have to focus on stopping Hill, Kelce and the ability to strike deep and quick, which will provide CEH incredible opportunities.   With that said, you are 100% right that Thursday night was incredible and amazing!   I believe he is going to have opportunities to break records if Andy keeps utilizing him like he did last night.   

[xen 1,010,220]

1 hour ago, Lamardirts said:

While that is very possible, he also benefits greatly from running against a light box.  I still think most defenses have to focus on stopping Hill, Kelce and the ability to strike deep and quick, which will provide CEH incredible opportunities.   With that said, you are 100% right that Thursday night was incredible and amazing!   I believe he is going to have opportunities to break records if Andy keeps utilizing him like he did last night.   

he is likely never to see a stacked box except in specific situational football.  That is amazing in and of itself.  Barring health issues, CEH is gonna kill it.

[sith13 1,746]

Teams will start stacking the box against him, which is when Mahomes will thrive but I'm guessing we'll see a few more of these performances as early as this season. 

[xen 1,010,220]

2 minutes ago, sith13 said:

Teams will start stacking the box against him, which is when Mahomes will thrive but I'm guessing we'll see a few more of these performances as early as this season. 

lol no.  They won't.  Not consistently anyway outside of short yardage situations.  Stacking the box means single coverage for kelce and/or tyreek.  I guess if kc is banged up at receiver and those guys aren't playing maybe?

No matter how badass CEH is, teams will always be more scared of Tyreek and kelce because of how fast they and mahomes can make a game go out of control for them.

[sith13 1,746]

7 minutes ago, xen said:

lol no.  They won't.  Not consistently anyway outside of short yardage situations.  Stacking the box means single coverage for kelce and/or tyreek.  I guess if kc is banged up at receiver and those guys aren't playing maybe?

No matter how badass CEH is, teams will always be more scared of Tyreek and kelce because of how fast they and mahomes can make a game go out of control for them.

Defense will simply get to pick their poison, I'm guessing we'll see a few more long bombs this year than 2019. 

[kkuenn 3,597]

54 minutes ago, sith13 said:

Teams will start stacking the box against him, which is when Mahomes will thrive but I'm guessing we'll see a few more of these performances as early as this season. 

Teams will start playing more traditionally on D for the run and pass plays. Play 2 safeties deep we will run it just like Houston. Adjust it to 1 safety and then we can play action or burn you over the top. Pick your poison as you said.

[xen 1,010,220]

Teams will run base nickel at most at almost all times except where situational football demands.  Teams will pick their poison all right, but the choice will almost always be CEH.  No matter how badass a RB is, runs will remain much less efficient than passing the ball, and teams know what mahomes can do to them.  They'll take their chances with CEH.

[Thegoatee 1,780]

I think the only way you slow KC down is by having 3 or 4 man rushes that are effective 33% of the time. Have a LB spy the RB/QB. Lot of bodies covering people, double teams with first level press coverage to slow them down.

Texans were a team I always worry about slowing us down. Same with Bills, Titans, and teams with a Bosa.

Realistically, injuries or penalties are the only things that will stop the offense. If the defense is anywhere close to how it ended last season, I don’t see how we not finish 12-4 or better.

[Calichief 3,016]

4 hours ago, xen said:

Teams will run base nickel at most at almost all times except where situational football demands.  Teams will pick their poison all right, but the choice will almost always be CEH.  No matter how badass a RB is, runs will remain much less efficient than passing the ball, and teams know what mahomes can do to them.  They'll take their chances with CEH.

Yea, that is going to be the strategy all year again. It is the ONLY way to beat KC. Make us run it, and run it on offense effectively. Which may work in some games with our LB play.  The Indy blueprint is perfect. Detroit played a good game for 3 quarters. Chiefs were pretty injured in that game. And of course SF Played it well on defense but Ultimately made some mistakes on the back end.

[Burpo The Mad Clown 5,554]

17 hours ago, xen said:

Teams will run base nickel at most at almost all times except where situational football demands.  Teams will pick their poison all right, but the choice will almost always be CEH.  No matter how badass a RB is, runs will remain much less efficient than passing the ball, and teams know what mahomes can do to them.  They'll take their chances with CEH.

Exactly. 

No matter how much of a stud the RB is, defenses have no choice but to play the pass on almost every down. Mahomes and that insanely talented receiving corps give them no other option. That will let CEH run against a broken field more often than not. 

[West 6,713]

Osemele is a beast....Love this pick up.

[Palangi 788]

37 minutes ago, West said:

Osemele is a beast....Love this pick up.

With that said center and RG are still weak. 

But yes I like the Osemele signing too.

[West 6,713]

I think we are going to have to get used to this.

We have highly paid superstars at multiple positions so we will have have "average guys" at other positions....

w

 

[Palangi 788]

Hopefully Rankin comes back and takes the RG spot. 

[xen 1,010,220]

15 hours ago, Calichief said:

Yea, that is going to be the strategy all year again. It is the ONLY way to beat KC. Make us run it, and run it on offense effectively. Which may work in some games with our LB play.  The Indy blueprint is perfect. Detroit played a good game for 3 quarters. Chiefs were pretty injured in that game. And of course SF Played it well on defense but Ultimately made some mistakes on the back end.

Ultimately though, even with that strategy is the reality that we are extremely capable of turning on the quick strike switch at any time.  Will take a really disciplined team playing their best game to beat us, assuming we show up to play, which hasn't really been an issue so far with our leadership.

[robgar 1,046]

yeah stack the box, just to watch a quick screen go to the house?

go ahead and stack.. slants... stack,  and mahomes pulls the ball back out and a quick dump... ooops.. no you cant do that.. 

dont stack the box.. and well your still screwed... playing against our o is scary.. 

[Balto 723]

I think that's all good thinking about stacking the box and Pat kills you or play Pat and CEH kills you.  The problem is like most games last year it 100% comes down to how our D is playing.  Do you see Reid running CEH when we are down like in the playoffs?  

We get behind and Reid has shown to let Pat eat and for the most part has worked just fine haha.

 

Still think it will come down to our well our D hold until Pat/CEH gets up.

[reesebobby 5,661]

Reminds me of 2012 when Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn were slinging it around to McCluster and Moeaki with Baldwin and Bowe on the outside.  And Romeo Crennel drawing up all those crazy plays.  We only got held to single digits scoring 6 times that year. 

[sith13 1,746]

12 hours ago, reesebobby said:

Reminds me of 2012 when Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn were slinging it around to McCluster and Moeaki with Baldwin and Bowe on the outside.  And Romeo Crennel drawing up all those crazy plays.  We only got held to single digits scoring 6 times that year. 

Greatest $hit show on Earth.