Teicher: A thousand yards would be a grand accomplishment for Charles

[Tribal Warfare]

A thousand yards would be a grand accomplishment for Charles
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

Getting to 1,000 yards might not carry the same meaning it once did to most running backs, except perhaps to those trying to get there for the first time.

The Chiefs’ Jamaal Charles is in that category, and being able to finish with 1,000 yards is definitely a big deal to him.

“That would be real special,” he said, smiling when the subject is raised. “My fullbacks and line, we’re really trying to get there. My line is with me, my quarterback is with me, my wide receivers, everybody is in with me. They want me to get it.”

To Charles, 1,000 yards is still the magic number that separates the great backs from the good ones. It puts a back in a different class and gets others looking at him differently.

More important to the Chiefs, it would get Charles looking at himself differently.

“It would be reason for this organization if I reach that … to know we’ve got a back that we can look forward to making plays for our offense so we can win games,” Charles said. “I’d come back next season with a lot of confidence. This season, I was playing kind of nervous. I wasn’t really out there playing with (his teammates) like I’ve been playing with them. I just got in and got started. I’m starting to get more comfortable and feeling myself and I’m starting to feel like I can be a good back.”

Charles cringed at the thought of losing a 42-yard run, as he did in last week’s game in Cincinnati because of Branden Albert’s holding penalty. That leaves Charles with plenty of work to do in Sunday’s final game of the season against the Broncos in Denver if he’s to reach 1,000.

He needs at least 139 yards. But it gives the Chiefs something to shoot for along with the chance for their fourth win of the season.

“It would be really nice, something to definitely get excited about,” center Rudy Niswanger said. “Always as an offense and an offensive line, we’re trying to establish the running game in every game. If we can run for 150, 200, 300 yards, whatever it is, that’s what we’re trying to do.”

One thousand yards is hardly an exclusive club. Thirteen runners already have 1,000 yards this season, topped by Tennessee’s Chris Johnson with 1,872, and a handful of others, like Charles, could get there.

But during the first eight games, Charles was a little-used backup in seven and, inexplicably, inactive for another. So it’s natural for the Chiefs to wonder where Charles might be if he had been a regular the entire season.

There’s no way of knowing for certain. But since he became the featured back in the Nov. 15 game at Oakland, Charles has 709 yards, second in the league to Johnson and his 913 yards.

“He’s kind of raised the bar for himself,” Chiefs coach Todd Haley said. “We thought he maybe was a 15-, 16-carry-a-game guy. He’s kind of pushing to say, ‘I can handle more’ just by the way he’s played.

“Jamaal’s the one that continues to push the expectations.”

Opponents have started to take notice. Charles was told by a couple of friends who play for the Bengals, high school teammate James Johnson and college teammate Quan Cosby, that he received top billing on Cincinnati’s defensive scouting report last week.

“They tell me (other players) are asking them, ‘Is he really that fast (and) what can I say to make him mad?’ ” Charles said. “They said the Cincinnati coach said (Charles) was the best back they were going to play (against) this whole season and the fastest back they were going to play (against) all season.

“That’s how I want to feel. I want to feel I’m a threat to the defense. I want to feel like if you all don’t stop me, I can win the game. I want to be the back on the scouting report.”

On game day, Charles will find defenses stacked in wait for him.

“These teams are loading up,” Haley said. “There are going to be teams (like Cincinnati) that say, ‘We’re going to stop the run.’ We’ve got to find ways to block them and he’s got to find ways to run the ball when there’s too many of them.”

If the Chiefs can find a way to get their running back to 1,000 yards, Charles said he would spring for dinner for the offensive line at a Country Club Plaza restaurant. Such dinners can be pricey for a group of 300-pounders — Albert was stuck with a bill of $1,800 for a meal last year — but to Charles, that’s a small price to pay if he’s going to move into the upper running back class.

“I appreciate what they do for me,” he said.

“I told them I don’t really need a big crease. I just need a small crease.”

Bigger numbers
This has been a tale of two seasons for Jamaal Charles — games before and after Nov. 15, when he became the featured back in place of Larry Johnson.

Weeks	Att.	Yards
1-9	29	152
10-16	136	709
Total	165	861