During the Super Bowl Opening Night event, Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco was asked about Sunday’s duel with Christian McCaffrey. But Pacheco, a former star running back at Rutgers, was not going to start a war with McCaffrey, the San Francisco 49ers running back.
Pacheco, a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft out of Rutgers, is having a solid second season in the league. He continues to show the hard running style from his time at Rutgers with 935 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
He has rushing touchdowns in all three NFL playoff games to help the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl.
Now, as to Pacheco looking to prove himself against McCaffrey. It wasn’t a loaded question or even a leading one that came from the media during the Super Bowl Opening Night event. But it was clear that Pacheco wasn’t going to take any kind of bait and say something that could land on the 49ers bulletin board.
Do bulletin boards still exist?
Pacheco was asked about facing McCaffrey and if he wants to “outdo” the 49ers star. McCaffrey led the NFL in rushing this season.
“Like I said, leave it all out there on the field,” Pacheco told reporters (h/t to Vegas Sports Today).
“We’re going to let the pads do the talking.”
In terms of facing the league’s best and most accomplished running back, Pacheco didn’t make it about himself. He said that the chance to go
“It’s competition, like i said before, we love competing
“Looking at one another, always competing. It’s game time.”
Pacheco was asked an interesting question about what NFL running backs he looked up to and modeled his game after. Earlier in the week, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid compared Pacheco to 49ers running back Roger Craig.
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Winner of three Super Bowls and named to the Pro Bowl four times, Craig was one of the best running backs in the NFL during the 1980s.
Pacheco, when asked who he styled his game after, was blunt in his response.
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“None of them,” Pacheco said matter of factly.