After a sluggish start to the season, the defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs are on a hot streak. Three straight wins have pundits declaring that they “once again, are the best team in professional football.” The NFL.com Power Rankings see the Chiefs at No. 3 after eight weeks of the season â an ascent from the No. 9 spot just three weeks ago.
The Chiefs scored an impressive victory over Detroit in Week 6, handing the Lions one of their only two losses this year. Kansas City then rolled over two struggling teams in the 2-5 Las Vegas Raiders and 3-5 Washington Commanders.
But in reality, it is the upcoming two games that will almost certainly determine the outcome of the Chiefs’ season. First up, in a nationally televised Sunday afternoon game, Patrick Mahomes and Co. take on their arch-rivals, the Buffalo Bills.
Pacheco Injured Against Commanders
The rivalry has become intense since the 2020 season, when the teams met in the postseason for the first time since Mahomes took over as the Chiefs’ No. 1 quarterback and his counterpart on the Bills, Josh Allen, did the same in Buffalo. Since then, the Bills have defeated the Chiefs in four straight regular season games â while Kansas City has dominated the postseason, winning four straight matchups there.
When the Chiefs meet the Bills yet again, in Buffalo, it now appears that they will be doing so without starting, fourth-year running back Isiah Pacheco. Pacheco injured his knee last week, and according to updates from the team and coach Andy Reid, he appears unlikely to play â though no final determination has been made.
In Moday night’s game against Washington, “Pacheco suffered a right knee injury with four minutes left in the contest after being tackled low by Commanders cornerback Trey Amos. Pacheco was slow getting up and limped off to the sideline following the play,” according to correspondent Jacob Camenker of USA Today.
Pacheco Sits Out of Practice
Pacheco was diagnosed with a sprain of his right medial collateral ligament, or MCL, a ligament that according to Massachusetts General Hospital “allows the knee joint to move but at the same time remain stable, preventing it from moving side to side.”
Reid told the media prior to Chiefs practice on Wednesday that Pacheco would not take part in the practice session that day, according to ESPN Chiefs insider Nate Taylor. Obviously, missing a practice decreases the likelihood that Pacheco â or any player who misses practice â will play in that week’s game.
But according to a study of more than 2,000 NFL injuries, the most important practice is the final one, in determining who will play in the upcoming game. If Pacheco misses the Chief’s Friday practice as well, his chances of playing against the Bills fall to just 28.3 percent, according to the study’s data.
Team ‘Backing Off’ From Pacheco For Now
Reid did not seem highly concerned about Pacheco’s injury, however, according to Kansas City Star reporter Pete Sweeney.
“Andy Reid doesn’t think the Isiah Pacheco injury is long-term,” Sweeney reported on Wednesday. “Chiefs are backing off for the time being.”
While it was not entirely clear what Reid meant by “backing off” from Pacheco, his wording also appears to indicate that it is unlikely the Chiefs will push the 26-year-old former Rutgers ball carrier to play against the Bills.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Isiah Pacheco Injury Update: Will Chiefs Running Back Play in Bills Game? appeared first on Heavy Sports.