Kansas City’s Rashee Rice may miss the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury during a strange play against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
Rice was taken to the team bus after the Chiefs won 17-10, with his right knee in a brace that had a dial for controlling motion. He was injured when his own quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, hit him while they were both trying to catch Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton during an interception return.
Coach Andy Reid mentioned that Rice will have an MRI on Monday, but he wasn’t very hopeful about the outcome.
“I’m sure it’s not as good of news as we want,” Reid said. “I feel terrible for Rashee because he is having a fantastic year. We’ll hope for the best.”
During the Chiefs’ second drive, Mahomes overthrew Travis Kelce, leading to Fulton intercepting the ball and returning it 29 yards. Rice managed to catch Fulton from behind and knocked the ball loose for a fumble, but Mahomes accidentally hit Rice’s legs while trying to tackle Fulton.
Chiefs center Creed Humphrey recovered the ball, but video review showed that Rice was out of bounds when he forced the fumble, so the Chargers kept possession.
Both of Rice’s knees were impacted in the collision with Mahomes, and it looked like his right knee might have hyperextended.
“I thought Rashee made a good play. I was going to tackle the guy (Fulton) and obviously rolled up on him,” Mahomes said. “I didn’t know exactly what happened because I was trying to make a tackle, but I know Rashee and how tough he is. So him being down like that, I knew it wasn’t good.”
Rice is the leading receiver for the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, with 24 catches for 288 yards and two touchdowns. Travis Kelce is second, with 15 catches for 158 yards.
After having some struggles in the first three games, Kelce stepped up in Rice’s absence. The tight end had seven catches for 89 yards, including the 917th of his career in the second quarter, making him the Chiefs’ all-time leader in receptions.
Rookie Xavier Worthy could become the Chiefs’ top wide receiver now. Worthy, who was the 28th overall pick in the draft, had three catches for 73 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
“We really don’t know what’s going on with him, but, I mean, in our receiving room, it’s next man up. I feel like we have a lot of guys that are able to make plays in key moments,” Worthy said.
