Super Bowl: Isiah Pacheco's intensity fires up KC teammates

LAS VEGAS — Isiah Pacheco runs angry, and he revealed whom he’s angry at.

“The opponents,” he said.

Look out, San Francisco. Pacheco is coming.

Kansas City’s second-year running back is recognized for his unique running style.

His elbows are tight to his side and firing up and down, as are his knees. It garners a lot of attention on social media. Someone tweeted that Pacheco runs like he bites people. He found that funny.

“It’s the determined mindset of working hard, knowing you get the opportunity to go to work every day and you get to wake up and play the game that you love,” Pacheco said. “When you go out there and go as hard as you can, you’re showing the guys to the left and right of you that you love them.”

Running style aside, Pacheco, a seventh-round pick in 2022 out of Rutgers, has been a major part of Kansas City’s Super Bowl runs these past two seasons.

He rushed for 830 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie, and he scored a touchdown in last year’s Super Bowl win.

This season, Pacheco ran for 935 yards and scored nine total touchdowns despite missing three games. He has one rushing touchdown in each of Kansas City’s three playoff wins leading up to Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.

“He’s a spark plug, man,” Patrick Mahomes said. “You all see game days. You all should see him in practice. He’s like running, scoring every single time, doing his touchdown dances and then running back to the huddle ready for the next play.

“Whenever you’re dragging around, and that guy has that energy every single play, that inspires the entire team. I think that mindset has kind of made him have that impact so soon. He’ll continue to get better and better because that guy, he strives for greatness every single day.”

Andy Reid was reluctant to make the comparison because of Sunday’s opponent, but then he did. He said Pacheco reminds him of former 49ers great Roger Craig.

“I hate even mentioning this because he was a 49er, but Roger Craig was a violent runner,” Reid said. “He was coming at you with knees, elbows, hips — everything coming at you at one time. They’re built kind of the same way and run with that violence.”

Pacheco overcame plenty of heartache to reach the NFL. His brother and sister were killed within 20 months of each other when was in high school in New Jersey. Pacheco denied that that’s why he runs angry, though. He repeated, “It’s a determined mindset.”

“Running with a physical style allows you to get up every play knowing that you didn’t look back in the past and you’re just looking forward to the next one,” he said. “Putting the pressure on the defense allows you to keep going when you’re needed in the fourth quarter.”

His teammates appreciate how hard he plays in practice and games. All-Pro guard Joe Thuney, who won’t play on Sunday because of a pectoral injury, said offensive linemen love blocking for backs like Pacheco.

“I just really respect how hard he runs and how hard he plays,” Thuney said. “People can give him grief for what it looks like, but being on the field with him, you can feel the collision and the contact. You’re like, ‘Oh, wow, it’s real.’ He just plays with such intensity and passion and it lifts everyone up around him.”

Pacheco was not far from being Mr. Irrelevant. He was taken 11 picks before 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, 251st overall. Like Purdy, Pacheco is showing game-changers can be found late in the draft. He has Kansas City’s top two rushing seasons since Kareem Hunt in 2017.

“We’re used to being a pass-first offense,” receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling said. “Adding an element like that to our offense has been huge for what we want to do. He’s one of those guys that just runs the ball hard, no matter what. He is a hell of a player. He’s going to continue to be a hell of a player for a long time.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.