KC Wolf
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- Mar 19, 2019
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You have to look pretty hard to find fault in Clyde Edwards-Helaire‘s debut.
But that’s what football coaches do, especially if they have an extra couple of days between games.
Via Adam Teicher of ESPN.com, Chiefs coaches expressed some concern about the rookie running back’s goal-line running, a small flaw in an otherwise brilliant first game last Thursday.
The first-rounder had 138 rushing yards in the opener against the Texans, but negative-2 yards on six carries in goal-to-go situations.
“Clyde’s got to do a better job of making [the blockers] right. He understands that,” offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said. “He has to be disciplined and sound with his footwork, and he saw that. I know, if anything, he’s probably the most critical person of his own performance.
“Although it was a good performance, he knows he left some things out there on the field that could have helped us to be better.”
Running backs coach Deland McCullough said Edwards-Helaire has to do a better job of reading his keys, but those are the things rookies can need time with.
“He is as advertised, as far as being able to make guys miss, run with a low center of gravity, contact balance, different things like that, vision,” McCullough said. “But also on the flip side, we found out he’s a rookie. It was his first game he played. No preseason. So there was a bunch of things going on all at once in that game.”
It’s easy to view that as a quibble, considering he had 67 yards after contact last year. But the standards are high in Kansas City, so you have to have something to work on each week.