Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker has made it a weekly tradition to surpass the already-high expectations of Chiefs Kingdom. If he didn’t blow our minds enough by gashing the Denver Broncos
for 173 yards on the ground in the season opener, he doubled down against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4 with 177 yards and a 76-yard run that turned the game in the second half.Coming out of the bye week, there was reasonable speculation that rookie running back Emmett Johnson would spell Walker
to keep the talented lead back fresh. Instead, Walker took the load again, gaining 139 yards from scrimmage on 21 touches.
None of his carries matched the long touchdown run that gave the Chiefs an early 9-0 lead over the Chargers.
On third-and-1, quarterback Patrick Mahomes came out of an under-center formation to hand off to Walker off counter action; right guard Trey Smith and second-year tight end Jake Briningstool made the key blocks to spring him in the first quarter.
“The 33-yarder was pretty open,” Walker said in his post-game press conference. “(Tight end) Jake (Briningstool) came across and kicked out; there left was open.”
The Chiefs’ lead playmaker credited his teammates for the setup, but head coach Andy Reid understands how much Walker’s talent adds to a well-blocked play.
“He knows how to run the ball and knows how to set up runs,” Reid said at the podium following the win. “There’s an art to that and a patience that you’ve got to have and vision and all those things that the great ones have. So, he’s got all of that. And he’s tough. He’s a tough kid.”
Mahomes could just stand back and watch Walker paint a masterpiece every time he touches the ball, but that’s not in the two-time MVP’s nature. The quarterback sometimes forgets what position he plays when Walker weaves through the defensive line.
That showed on Walker’s two-yard touchdown run late in the first half.
“With Kenneth, you’ve got to be ready because he tries to press the front stop. Every once in a while, he bounces out,” Mahomes explained after the game. “And the defense that they had the moment you got stuffed in that front side, I was like, ‘That guy, if I get him, he’s going to score.” And so, I didn’t get a lot, but I got enough, and so we were able to get him into the end zone and get the big touchdown.”
“The first guy never tackles him,” Mahomes elaborated. “I know that guy isn’t going to get him. And just knowing him, and how much of a playmaker he is, he’s going to give it a chance. He’s going to bounce it to either front side or back side. And so, I just put myself in position that if he were going to bounce it back side, I could just give him a step because that guy was there for that reason.”
The veteran gunslinger is finding all sorts of ways to contribute to the team’s new run-dominant offense, even leading Walker to the run lanes he doesn’t see yet.
“Even in training camp, he usually sees the cutback before I do,” Walker told reporters. “Then he’ll go down and block the guy. That’s really unselfish.”
That’s all well and good, but Walker has shown that his talent doesn’t need the extra block from his $500 million quarterback. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Walker is still the NFL leader in forced missed tackles (52), despite most of the league playing an extra game.
Walker’s 128-yard performance also produced some fun stats, marking the fourth time he’s run for at least 117 yards on the ground in a game this season. Share your favorite Walker stat you’ve seen in “The Feed.”
An all-time discussion is also brewing in “The Feed,” a week after our Maurice Elston highlighted Walker’s four-game start as among the best in franchise history.
However you want to talk about Walker, it’s a fun time to do so! Next up: his revenge game against the Seattle Seahawks on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 7.
