The Kansas City Chiefs may need to depend on Ol’ Reliable to make it to the big game again this year, and no, that’s not just Patrick Mahomes.
Kicker Harrison Butker has admirably won his fair share of games for the Chiefs during clutch situations, including a 27-yard field goal to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII and a 29-yard field goal to force overtime against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. After missing time due to injury this season, Kansas City’s well-oiled, automatic kicker seemingly struggled to shake off the rust in Week 15’s win over the Cleveland Browns, when Butker missed his sole field goal attempt at 29 yards.
Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub discussed Butker’s recent performance and return from injury in a press conference this week and took all of the blame for the missed kick.
“He's healthy. He's not 100%, but he's close,” Toub told reporters. “On the miss, I've got to do a better job communicating to the holder and snapper that we're going to kick the field goal. It wasn't his injury… anytime you get an operation out of sync, that puts a toll on everyone. I'll take the blame for that. That was my fault.”
Toub added that contrary to what some people believed, there was no buckling of Butker’s knee on the field goal try. The coach chalked it up as a “habit” that Butker developed a few years ago and has been doing all season.
Butker underwent knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus last month and only just resumed kicking duties in Week 15. He’s made 18 of 21 field goal attempts so far (85.7%) and barring any setbacks should serve as a special teams stalwart for the Chiefs this winter, as he’s been for the last several years.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chiefs Special Teams Coach Takes Blame for Harrison Butker’s FG Miss vs. Browns.
