But Phillips also studied Charles, as he does any player his defense is set to face. He knew that Charles might put the football on the ground. He also knew that his swarming defense -- which so often the last five days has seen multiple players meet at the football -- was capable of negating Charles' explosive runs with big plays of its own.

"[Wednesday], Coach said, 'He'll fumble it to you,' so we took emphasis on that," Trevathan said. "So me and B-Marsh on the sideline, we're like, 'What's going on? He's holding that ball loose. Man, we can get it out.'

"So we look at each other like, 'Man, one of us is going to have to get it out.'"

Elsewhere on the north sideline of Arrowhead Stadium, the players and coaches who understand Charles' skills and technique the best -- Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville and his trio of runners -- noticed something amiss, too.

"Coach Studesville said, 'Did you see the way Jamaal was holding that ball?'" recalled C.J. Anderson. "I said, 'Yeah, that was crazy."

"He just had it in the center," Anderson said, gesturing as though he was carrying a football with his arm squarely over the football and the panels of the football exposed parallel to the ground.

"Usually when you have it in the center like this you're exposed, so when you get hit, you drop it," Anderson continued. "That happens. We talk about it all the time."