Kareem Hunt turned back the clock six years to be exactly what the Chiefs needed in Week 4 win over Chargers
Ahead of the Week 4 tilt against the Los Angeles Chargers, people scoffed at the idea that Kareem Hunt could be even a shell of the player he was when he first played for the Kansas City Chiefs. After the game, many people wondered how Hunt was still a free agent when K.C. came calling. Hunt finished […]
Ahead of the Week 4 tilt against the Los Angeles Chargers, people scoffed at the idea that Kareem Hunt could be even a shell of the player he was when he first played for the Kansas City Chiefs. After the game, many people wondered how Hunt was still a free agent when K.C. came calling.
Hunt finished the game with 14 carries for 69 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per clip. That's just over the amount he averaged during his first stint in Kansas City. Asked about Hunt turning the clock back on Sunday, Chiefs HC Andy Reid fired back with his own quips.
“Well you can say that," Reid said. "You and I need to turn back the clock about six years.
“He looked good. He did some good things. So, I would've expected him to do well because he's been a good player for a long time. I thought he did a nice job for us.”
Hunt didn't touch the ball until about 18 seconds into the second quarter of the game. His first play was a nine-yard carry, which came after an untimely false start penalty.
"I thought he did a great job," Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes said. "To come into an offense, I know it's an offense he'd been in, but an offense he hadn't played in years and to be able to run the football hard, get well-earned yards and catch the ball out of the backfield, it was good to see. I'm just glad [GM Brett] Veach has built a great running back room that we can get guys to step up and make plays while [RB] Isaiah [Pacheco] is not here."
Perhaps the most impressive part of the performance was Hunt's ability to fight for some extra yards. It was a familiar rushing style, akin to what they'd seen from Pacheco and it seemed to motivate the team, just as Pacheco's running style does.
“He's always been a guy that runs tough," Mahomes said. "He's hard to tackle and you can see that. He's going to make sure he finishes every single run and falls forward. I think that was good to see and I think he'll get more and more comfortable as the year goes on and be a role in our offense.”
It didn't necessarily look like the team had planned to hand over the starting running back role to Hunt. Rookie RB/FB Carson Steele was given the first opportunity to be the lead runner, but he saw his second career fumble. While Andy Reid insists that he's not down on Steele and simply went with the hot hand, it's hard to see a situation where Hunt is not firmly entrenched as the team's No. 1 RB moving forward, at least until Pacheco returns to the fold.
Even a rookie like Xavier Worthy, who never saw Hunt play in Kansas City the first time around, recognized just how big his performance was in Week 4. He also knows how big it can be for the team, moving forward.
"He ran hard, man," Worthy said. "With Pacheco being out at him running the ball how he did, it's going to be big in games, coming up."
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