The Kansas City Chiefs may have lost their Governor's Cup challenge vs. the St. Louis Rams, but 35 yards on five touches was enough to get Jamaal Charles moving further up the 2012 fantasy football rankings after nearly a year off following ACL surgery. The Star thought he looked "like the Charles of old," and the Chiefs, in general, treated him no more gingerly than the Rams did Steven Jackson.
Meanwhile, Peyton Hillis, Charles's primary competition for carries, didn't exactly impress during Pretend Week 2, picking up a touchdown but also managing just 11 yards out of five carries. There's still time for either back to pull away, but Hillis has nearly as much to come back from, after being remarkably ineffective last year, as Charles does from being absent.
2011's injury might have permanently ended the chances of Charles becoming a feature back, after he spent all of 2010 hidden inexplicably behind Thomas Jones, but it looks like he'll be given every chance to repeat that season—and if he won't quite get there, the odds look better than they did two weeks ago.