The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots on Sunday with solid production from their running game without starter Isish Pacheco. The second-year player was unavailable for the second consecutive week after recently having surgery on his injured shoulder.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid praised the effort of Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon’s performances and gave a promising update on Pacheco’s condition during his Monday Zoom press conference.
“It wasn’t the muscle. But he’ll be back this week,” Reid explained. “It’d be good to go this week. So unless there’s a further setback, right now, everything’s positive for him to go. He really had a clearance last week from the Fella that did the surgery to go. Not precaution but cautious on it.”
The Chiefs’ leading rusher hasn’t played since Week 13’s loss against the Green Bay Packers, but Reid reiterated that Pacheco will likely play, barring any unforeseen setbacks.
“No, I think he’ll play this week,” Reid said. “Yeah. I think it’ll be ready to go. And that was a clearance that he had to be able to do that.”
The Chiefs get an early Christmas gift with the speedy return of Pacheco while also continuing to work Justyn Ross back into the system for his eventual comeback to the lineup.