Chiefs Special Teams Coach Says His Kickers Are 'Sharing Notes'

The Kansas City Chiefs have a kicker controversy, and they’ve brought in former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker to challenge current kicker Harrison Butker. Coach Andy Reid commented about this on Wednesday, and on Thursday he handed off the live grenade of a controversy to special teams coach Dave Toub for more commentary. 

Toub did his job by falling on the grenade and protecting Butker, but he didn’t protect his current kicker completely. Toub admitted that Butker’s failed 45-yard attempt against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night was “a bad miss” as the kick went wide right, per a report from Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk.

Toub also acknowledged the reality of the situation, which is that a 45-yard field goal is considered a short kick in today’s game. They’re especially important in close games, which the Seattle debacle was at the time of the attempt, and the special teams coordinator added that it was an “issue” in the game for sure. 

Butker has been put on notice, and Toub noted that the kicker is responding accordingly. The coach said that Butker went 10-for-10 on in his kicks at Wednesday’s practice, with Tucker standing and watching, which is an amusing visual to be sure. 

Toub added some color to this, saying there was the conditions featured “28-mile-an-hour gusts,” which is an interesting meteorological footnote as well. 

The plan from here is to “keep working it” with Butker, and Toub also said that Tucker and Butker have been exchanging notes on their processes. That doesn’t necessarily sound like a real competition, but we’ve got no choice but to take Toub at his word on that part. 

Not surprisingly, Toub said that Butker and Tucker are “both professionals,” and Tucker is probably glad to just have a practice squad gig given how complete his downfall has been since he was suspended by the NFL.

Reid has been less patient and understanding about the matter, however. He knows Butker led the league in misses last year, but Reid was initially content to treat this like the byproduct of a season that went sideways. 

Now he knows better. It’s unlikely that a made 45-yard field goal would have made a huge difference given the way the Chiefs were dominated by Seattle, but sometimes it only takes one kick to change the course of an NFL game. That kick could occur at altitude when the Chiefs head west to play the Denver Broncos, and whoever handles that kick needs to be ready to go the distance.