Special teams coordinator Dave Toub came to the podium on Wednesday.
Kansas City Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of the Chiefs Divisional round matchup against the Houston Texans. The Chiefs will host the Texans this Saturday, January 18, at Arrowhead Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Arrowhead Time
Here are the four most significant takeaways from Toub:
1. Butker’s knee injury has affected his accuracy
Placekicker Harrison Butker has struggled with accuracy since returning from a knee injury earlier this season. He’s missed two field goals and a point-after attempt in the last four games, including a 51-yarder against the Denver Broncos in the final game of the regular season.
Initially, in mid-December, Toub claimed that Butker’s struggles were unrelated to his hurt knee.
“It wasn’t his injury,” he said at the tiem. “I don’t think that had anything to do with it. I just think anytime you get an operation out of sync like that — [where] they have to rush or somebody’s not there — that puts a toll on it. And I think that’s what happened there.”
Toub walked back those comments on Wednesday, saying that Butker’s injury continued to give his trouble, even after his return.
“He had surgery on that knee,” he said. “We can’t forget that. I mean, it was a minor surgery, but still, I think it lingered a little bit — you know, because it’s the plant leg that he collapses or whatever… so it’s changed up things a little bit.”
Despite his accuracy issues, Toub said he is not worried about Butker being ready for the playoffs if/when his team needs him.
“He had a really good day yesterday at practice. We’re going to go outside today… And I think he’ll follow it up with another good day.”
One thing the Chiefs aren’t looking to address (at least not until after the season) is Butker collapsing his knee on his follow-through.
“That leg buckled once again.”
– Ian Eagle on Harrison Butker’s missed 29-yard field goal pic.twitter.com/JxBE7QeOhu
— NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) December 15, 2024
There has been speculation that this led to Butker’s injury — something Toub also previously refuted.
“His technique is to break [as] his leg comes down,” said Toub in mid-December. “People are just noticing now because it’s his knee… But all year long, his technique is to collapse that leg after he follows through.”
Toub said Butker began buckling his knee in response to his ankle injury in Week 1 of 2022.
“That’s something that’s developed over time,” noted Toub. “You can’t just change your technique because you got injured all of a sudden… So he’s going to keep the same technique..
The Chiefs’ special teams coordinator said the team will address Butker’s buckling knee after the season.
“It’s not something you want to change right now,” he added Wednesday. “It’s something he’s been doing now for the last few years. You don’t want to mess with that.”
2. Chiefs will practice kicks in Arrowhead this week
The turf of an NFL field changes from week to week — there are divots and other damage to the grass that occur throughout a game, and whenever you fix these, the surface and feel of the field change ever so slightly. One of the benefits of home-field advantage is that you get an opportunity to practice and adapt to any changes in the grass caused by weather or anything else.
Toub said the kicking unit would practice in Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday afternoon to get used to these variables.
“We’ll go over today,” said Toub. “We’ll go outside and practice. And then as soon as we have our session here, those guys go up and, and we kick a few up there at the stadium too, just to get a feel. The field changes all the time — it gets replaced, and check the wind and cold and all that stuff. And we just go up there every home game [and] we do it.”
3. Weather will play a role
The Chiefs, playing in Kansas City, are not strangers to the blistering cold, which Toub said is another advantage.
“We’ve had a lot of weather games, and we do certain things as far as if it’s gusty, you know, we hold the snap, and there’s all different things that you can do. But we have a lot of experience kicking into cold weather, so we feel like that’s an advantage for us.”
One unique aspect of playing in Arrowhead is that its bowl shape causes the wind to change at field level.
“I don’t want to give away our secrets,” smirked Toub, “but you see the flags blowing one way, it’s going to be opposite on the field because the wind comes down and hits the side of the stadium and blows back across. So it’s opposite of what you see with the flags.”
4. Special teams are critical
Using their division rivals as an example, Toub referenced a moment shift in last week’s Wild Card game against the Texans. With 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker had his point-after attempt blocked by the Texans and returned for two points.
“The Chargers they got a little momentum out there. They had a big momentum play — a big, long touchdown. And then they come out. And then they get the extra point blocked. Then, all of a sudden, the momentum swung back to Houston.”
The block killed any hope the Chargers had of making a comeback and advancing in the postseason.
“That was a big, big, swing in that game right there,” explained Toub. “So I mean, every down on special teams, you can win or lose a game— especially at this point in the season and the playoffs.”