GAME BREAKER
Let's discuss 1 playmaker the Texans defense can't afford to sleep on against KC
Sep 9, 2020, 3:32 pm
Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images.
The Houston Texans return to Arrowhead Stadium for the first time since bowing out to the Kansas City Chiefs 51-31 in the divisional round of the playoffs last year. The Chiefs had no issues lighting the scoreboard up led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes' electrifying 5 touchdown performance. However, the prevailing thought surrounding the Chiefs offense entering 2020 is that the defending champs might be even better on that side of the ball because of the addition of first-round draft pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of LSU.
The 5-7, 207 pound shifty running back rushed for 1,414 yards and 16 touchdowns last season to go with another 55 receptions for 453 yards and one touchdown as a receiver out of the backfield helping LSU win the National Championship. Despite being a rookie, trying to contain Edwards-Helaire on defense won't be easy. One of the challenges in preparing for Edwards-Helaire is the fact that without any preseason games the only film the Texans have on Edward-Helaire is his college tape.
"We had to go back and watch college tape because of no preseason games," Texans Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver said. "He is a very talented back. He's built low to the ground, but he runs tough. He runs tough and strong and he's very good out of the backfield... He reminds me a little bit of Darren Sproles, which obviously Andy (Reid) had in Philly. So, it'll be interesting to see how they go about using him."
In the National Title game against Clemson, Edwards-Helaire rushed for 110 yards and caught five passes for 54 yards. Texans Head Coach Bill O'Brien took notice.
"Obviously, he did a great job at LSU with Joe Burrow last year. I mean, they set records," O'Brien said. "Their offensive output at LSU last year was in another stratosphere.
Add Edwards-Helaire to the list of offensive weapons that the Texans are going to have to deal with if they are going to shock the NFL world and win in KC as 9.5 point underdogs.
"Look, he's a guy that can run it, he can hurt you out of the backfield," O'Brien said. "He's a part of an offensive system now in Kansas City that's a very dynamic one. We're just going to have to do as good a job as we can of knowing where he's at, how they're trying to use him early on and do as good a job as we can."
Jake Asman is a national host on SportsMap Radio. You can listen to The Jake Asman Show weekdays from 8 AM - 10 AM Central.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a tiebreaking two-run homer for his first major league hit, and the Chicago Cubs swept the Houston Astros with a 3-1 victory on Thursday.
Nico Hoerner had three hits and Mike Tauchman went 1 for 1 with three walks as Chicago won for the fourth time in five games. Hayden Wesneski (2-0) pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings for the win in relief of Javier Assad.
Houston has lost a season-high five straight and eight of nine overall. At 7-19, it is off to its worst 26-game start since it was 6-20 in 1969.
First-year manager Joe Espada was ejected by plate umpire Jansen Visconti in the top of ninth.
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He picked a perfect time for his first major league hit.
Houston had a 1-0 lead before Dansby Swanson scampered home on a fielder’s choice grounder for Miguel Amaya in the sixth.
Espada then replaced Rafael Montero with Bryan Abreu, who threw a wild pitch with Crow-Armstrong trying to sacrifice Amaya to second. Crow-Armstrong then drove his next pitch deep to right, delighting the crowd of 29,876 at Wrigley Field.