The Kansas City Chiefs are sitting nicely at 2-0 to start the season after wins over the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals, but the offense has been dealt a rather cruel blow.
Running back Isiah Pacheco suffered a fractured fibula in the 26-25 win over the Bengals on Sunday and now Patrick Mahomes’ star back is out indefinitely.
With rookie Carson Steele one candidate to take some of Pacheco’s reps so too is the newly acquired Kareem Hunt, with Mahomes will have a different-looking backfield.
And in the wake of Pacheco’s injury, CBS Sports thinks that Mahomes, who was already feeding receiver Rashee Rice, could look his way far more often.
“It’s Rashee Rice time,” CBS Sports writes. “The young wideout has already been a focal point for K.C., but with Isiah Pacheco now out indefinitely, Patrick Mahomes is set to lean even more on his No. 1 downfield target.”
Rice leads the Chiefs in targets (15), receptions (12), yards (178), and had a touchdown along with Xavier Worthy and Wanya Morris through the first two weeks.
With Travis Kelce being somewhat of an afterthought in the opening two weeks (4 rec, 39 yards) maybe the All-Pro tight end could see an uptick in targets to help alleviate the pressure on Mahomes with a backfield setup without Pacheco.
The Chiefs have started the season strongly, and having two wins over fellow AFC contenders is a great way to begin your title defense but with Pacheco being the leading rusher and also the offense’s second-best receiver through two games (7 rec, 54 yards), it is going to be interesting to see how Andy Reid tries to cover the loss in the run and pass game.
Isiah’s injury is far from ideal and we are about to see how the Chiefs handle the first bit of adversity of the new season, and based on previous years, as they always do, they’ll find a way.
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