Carlos Hyde: Catching Smoke From Chiefs Fans?
I jumped into an AFC West Trash-talk room, and this is the first thing I saw:
Facebook Post from AFC West TT
I’m not sure if that is just a Kansas City Homer or a fact-based statement. Either way, I had to take a look.
Last game, the Houston Texans‘ leading rusher was DeShaun Watson, with 55-yards on 14-carries. I want to focus on the second-leading rusher in Carlos Hyde, who managed 48-yards on 16-carries. This is a 1000-yard rusher on the regular season! How is this evidence of a bad running game?
I believe…
The former Brown, Jag, and Niner managed 4.4 yards per carry this season (just behind his career-high 4.6-YPC with the Niners in 2016). I have always been a big fan of Hyde. He just needed someone to believe in him and stay out of the infirmary.
“They are who we thought they were…”
We know what the Buffalo Bills were. They were the 10th ranked defense in the league against the run. These new contenders, not pretender-Bills, held Lamar Jackson to 40-yards when he normally averages 70+ per game. Mark Ingram II only managed 50-yards on the day. If you are holding the league’s best running attack to a total of 118-yards, giving up 141-yard to Houston in a wild-card round speaks to the Texans’ Moxy.
It’s possible…
To even further beat a dead horse, let’s take a look at the Kansas City Chiefs. They are 26th against the run, surrendering 128.2 yards per game. We know they have holes in their D. Their strength lately is their offense.
Should the Texans establish a good ground game with Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson, they will control the clock and slow down the Chiefs’ high-powered offense by keeping the ball out of Patrick Mahomes‘ hands. Hyde is the key to that, and I hope he sees this fan’s take and uses it as fuel.