KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Stuck back in Kansas City because of the flu and watching the game on TV, Chiefs running back Charcandrick West began shouting when he saw his teammate, Kareem Hunt, bust through the line of scrimmage on his 35-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of last week's game against the Broncos.
The carry was Hunt's only one of the game but was enough to give him 1,327 yards and the NFL's rushing title in his rookie season.
"My guy ran hard," West said. "I'm proud of him, winning the rushing title. I knew he would get the title if he played, but the way he did it, with that run, and scored the touchdown, he's special."
Hunt was indeed special for the Chiefs as a rookie. The third-round draft pick took over as the featured back during the preseason for the injured Spencer Ware and was an important part of their AFC West championship team. When Hunt rushed for more than 100 yards, the Chiefs were 6-0. When he didn't, they were 4-6.
The Chiefs are on to the playoffs now and the pressure increases on Hunt to produce. His fantastic rookie season loses at least some of its shine if he doesn't deliver in Saturday's wild-card game against the Tennessee Titans at Arrowhead Stadium.
"I told him everything counts now," West said. "You've got to be on point with everything you do. There's no room for rookie mistakes. It's no time to be a rookie."
Hunt made few mistakes as a rookie. He fumbled on the Chiefs' first play of the season in the opener in New England but rallied to collect 246 yards and three touchdowns between rushing and receiving. Hunt went over 100 yards from scrimmage in each of the season's first seven games.
Hunt then went into a slump and didn't bust out until late in the season. After he did, he resumed his chase for the rushing title.
He wasn't going to play in last week's game in Denver, but the Chiefs needed him at least in uniform because of West's absence. At 14 yards away from winning the rushing title, he wanted to give that a try and convinced coach Andy Reid to let him play long enough to get it.
"I wasn't supposed to dress," Hunt said. "Once I dressed and got all fully padded, I kind of wanted to try to get out there and help the team a little bit. I was only like 14 yards away, so I'm like I'm already dressed and we've only got two running backs, so why not try to go get it?"
Hunt wouldn't have won the rushing title had the Chiefs not recommitted themselves to getting him the ball late in the season. The Chiefs after starting 5-0 lost six of their next seven and Hunt didn't rush for 100 yards in any.
The next three games made for Hunt's busiest stretch of the season. He carried 78 times for 362 yards and three touchdowns as the Chiefs won all three games and again took control of the AFC West race.
"I feel like I get better as the game goes on and the more carries, the better for me," Hunt said.
The Chiefs obviously agreed.
"We went through that rut [in the middle of the season] and we wanted to create an identity," offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. "All of us believe that, 'Hey, you've got to be balanced, you've got to be able to run the ball.' There are a lot of things that go into that. It just so happens that the run game is picking up.
"You have to be able to throw the ball to open up the run game and you need to be able to get the run going to open up the pass game. Every game it might be a little different on how you do that, but in the end if you can get those numbers to be balanced, you have a really good chance of winning."
The Chiefs last week had their AFC West championship and playoff seed locked up, so they rested many of their key players and used Hunt only sparingly. He got the ball only twice, including a pass reception, and played only five snaps.
Hunt should be capable of delivering against the Titans as he has done much of the season.
"I'm feeling good," he said. "I didn't really play much last week or anything like that, so I didn't take any hits."