The Kansas City Chiefs (1-1) pride themselves on having a balanced attack on offense. The run game complements the passing game, and vice versa. Head coach Andy Reid relies heavily on both assets of their game.

But that was anything but the case last week in Kansas City's 19-12 loss at Houston. Out of the 60 total plays that the Chiefs ran on Sunday, 19 of them were runs. And only 16 of the 19 involved running backs Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West.

Ware was the go-to running back in team's Week 1 come-from-behind victory against the San Diego Chargers with 70 rushing yards and 129 receiving yards out of the backfield. Even in Week 1, though, Ware was only handed the ball 11 times (partly due to the team's huge big deficit at halftime).

Moving forward this week, the Chiefs must establish the run early against the New York Jets (1-1). In the first two weeks, there's been a similar theme: the Chiefs fall behind early to their opponent, and they rely heavily on the passing game.

Last week against the Texans, the Chiefs were never out of the game by any means. Down by only 10 points at halftime, the Chiefs showed no urgency to establish a run game in the second half.

It's not that the Chiefs couldn't get anything going on offense. Ware (10 carries) averaged 5.7 yards per attempt, while West (six carries) averaged 10.2 yards per attempt against the Texans. The running game was working, but for some reason Reid and co-offensive coordinators Brad Childress and Matt Nady chose not to commit to it in the second half.

Against the Jets this Sunday, Kansas City has to establish a run game early on. Even if they get behind early, they cannot abandon what they do well.

As of right now, it seems that it's extremely optimistic to think that Jamaal Charles will play Sunday. Even though Charles may be absent for the third week in a row, the Chiefs have to rely on Ware. He is too talented to only carry the ball 10 times in a game, as he did last week.

Establishing the run against the Jets won't be easy, though. They boast a front seven that has limited opposing offenses to just 71.5 rushing yards per game and 3.8 yards per carry.

"That's an explosive group," Reid said on Wednesday about the defensive front for the Jets. "That's the strength of their defense, they're very good up front. They're two deep at that. We have to get good preparation this week for them."

To make things a little more difficult, the weather forecast for Sunday in Kansas City looks a little gloomy. Potentially heavy rainfall is likely all afternoon. If that's the case, then it could make for a sloppy field, which could hinder the ability to make sharp cuts for whoever is in the backfield for the Chiefs.

But even then, the Chiefs should rely heavily on the running game. Throwing and catching the ball could make things difficult for Alex Smith and the wide receivers.

After communication issues with wide receivers last week, Smith's focus in practice was on fixing those issues. On numerous occasions against Houston, Smith and Jeremy Maclin, along with other receivers, were not on the same page in the passing game. Although miscommunication issues aren't too common for Smith, he noted Wednesday that he has to return to the fundamentals.

"You go back to the work, communicating, making sure we're on the same page, and getting those things worked out," Smith said. "You can't get everything 'repped' in practice, so some of that is up to us to communicate about looks we see on film and the 'what ifs' for different scenarios."

Much of the success for the Jets' offense depends on the health of wide receivers Brandon Marshall (knee/foot) and Eric Decker (shoulder). Both Marshall and Decker have proven to be extremely valuable to Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick through the first two weeks. The two have combined for 296 receiving yards and two touchdowns so far this season.

Kansas City has a great opportunity to move to 2-1 in front of the home crowd, but defeating the Jets will not be an easy task.

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