The highest rushing total from Week 1 didn't go to Jahmyr Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, or Derrick Henry, it went to Kenneth Walker. In his first game as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, Walker dominated the ground game, rushing for 173 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries, along with 18 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown. It was a career-high for Walker in rushing yards in a single game, and the most carries by a Chiefs player since Jamaal Charles in 2012.
Kansas City fed him the ball early, and it became immediately clear he is the new focal point of the offense. And according to offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, it may only be the beginning for Walker. Some people have carried it a whole lot more than that, you know what I mean?
So I don't think you wanna put a limit on anything. I think the sky is the limit," Bieniemy said. "Any great back will tell you they want the ball as much as they can.
They wanna take it, and if it was up to them, we'd probably hand it off to them the whole entire game because that's the temperament and the mindset that you want in the player." "He's done a hell of a job with his preparation and practice, also in the classroom. And due to that, he was able to execute on game day," Bieniemy added. More news: Aaron Rodgers Has Blunt Response to DK Metcalf’s Rough Week 1 It's easy to chalk up Walker's explosive performance to it being a one-week outlier over a 17-game season.
This is an offense that typically likes to spread the ball around, and it's an incredibly small sample size. But it's also easy to see a path where Walker gets 20-plus carries a week. Patrick Mahomes is coming off the first serious injury of his career, and the last two Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks and Eagles, were built behind a strong run game, Philadelphia with Saquon Barkley and Seattle with Walker.
Add in the Chiefs' high-flying defense and how they just shut down the Broncos, and it's easy to see this being the recipe for Kansas City this season. More news: Cam Skattebo Fires Warning Shot at Aaron Donald Ahead of Giants-Rams More news: Browns Reunite Shedeur Sanders With Former Colorado Teammate If Walker continues to get the type of workload he saw on Monday night, with how good this offensive line is and Bieniemy's Super Bowl-winning scheme, he could match what Barkley did two years ago during his record-setting first season with the Eagles. His next chance to build off the strong debut will be Sunday night against the Colts, a team that just gave up 144 rushing yards to Derrick Henry.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
