“Hard to Stop” – Rich on Kenneth Walker III & the Chiefs Improving to 4-0

Rich went out on a limb Monday, and it was a sturdy one. "If the Kansas City Chiefs are going to get 2,000 yards out of Kenneth Walker III," he said, "they're going to be very difficult to stop."

The setup was a 3-0 versus 3-0 showdown in Las Vegas, with the Chiefs trying to prove they are back to being the Chiefs and the Raiders trying to prove they are for real. What decided it was the running back Seattle let walk out the door after he won the MVP trophy of their Super Bowl.

Rich still can't quite believe how that happened. Walker won a championship in Seattle, earned Super Bowl MVP honors in the process, and the Seahawks essentially said, in Rich's words, "there's the door." They preferred to re-sign Rashid Shaheed and others. Shaheed did score in Seattle's win over the Chargers on Sunday, and so did Emanuel Wilson. "But you know who scored twice?" Rich asked. "Kenneth Walker the third."

The big question coming into the season was whether Kansas City would truly commit to the run. Rich had the answer written down, and he was proud of the bit. "Yes, the answer is yes. They're committing to the run." Walker ran for 177 yards in Vegas, and his biggest runs came exactly when the Chiefs needed them.

The Raiders, Rich said, played "an excellent football game," good enough to put Kansas City in a real bind. On the last play of the third quarter, Walker ripped off a 76-yard run that flipped the field from the Kansas City 16 to the Las Vegas 8. The Chiefs took the lead, the Raiders took it back, and with five minutes to go Las Vegas was in front. Then, after the Chiefs regained the lead and a dreadful fumble on the ensuing kickoff handed them the ball back, Walker ripped one into the end zone so fast he "could have been ticketed for speeding in a 20 mph zone."

The numbers back up the limb. Walker leads the league in rushing by more than 120 yards over James Cook, with almost 550 yards already. Kansas City now goes on its bye, and Walker could come out of it still leading the league. "When I say he's running for 2,000 yards, he's on pace for 2,200 yards," Rich said. "And it does not appear to me that the Chiefs are going to deviate from this plan."

They may have to lean on him even more. Tyquan Thornton dislocated an ankle that was then relocated, and Rashee Rice limped off early in the game. That is where the other big Kansas City storyline comes in. Adam Schefter reported that Drew Rosenhaus says Tyreek Hill will sign with a team sometime this week, and Mike Silver, Rich's buddy from the NFL Network days, is reporting that the Chiefs are interested and that leaders in the locker room, from Patrick Mahomes to Chris Jones, are saying, "Let's do it."

Rich could not resist the soundtrack. "Let's reunite like the old Peaches and Herb," he said, fully aware of the reference. If Hill comes back anywhere close to the player Kansas City remembers, and Walker keeps running toward 2,000 yards, the rest of the league has a problem. When someone in the studio noted that the "disrespect is real," Rich had the button ready: "And so are the Chiefs."

The 4-0 start has followed a script. Kansas City held home field against Denver and Indianapolis, took care of business by two touchdowns in Miami, then walked into Vegas and told the Raiders, as Rich put it, "not yet, not yet. Maybe later, but not today." After the bye come the Chargers, who could show up winless, followed by trips to Seattle and Denver that Rich called "nice tests" before the schedule eases.

Hard to stop, indeed.