If you need an example of why special teams matters, look no further than the Kansas City Chiefs’ embarrassing Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
The Chiefs’ special teams unit had about as bad of a day as one could have. A missed field goal, a missed extra point, a muffed punt, a nonsensical fake FG that failed miserably, and a kick returner who simply fell over mid-return all played a part in the story that was the 20-17 loss to a much inferior opponent on paper.
By default, much of the blame goes directly toward special teams coordinator Dave Toub. We’ll talk more about him later, but Chiefs fans must remember that Toub remains one of the best special teams coordinators in the league. Every coach has bad weeks. Chiefs coach Andy Reid will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day and even he has bad games (Week 3 among them). Toub is dealing with a young, inexperienced crew, so he should be judged less on one bad game and more on whether he can set up his players for success moving forward.
This week we’ll highlight the punt and kick return subunits, and go over some quick notes on other subunits as well. My snap counts and grades for individual players are available via Google Sheets, though charting for Week 3 won’t be available until later this week.*
*Sorry! I’m running a little behind this week. Expect snaps and grades to be late after Week 4 as well given the late game coming up Sunday night.
Punt returns: Should Chiefs end the Skyy Moore experiment?
In last week’s special teams film review, we talked about how Chiefs receiver/punt returner Skyy Moore had trouble tracking the ball on punt returns. Well, that struggle was amplified in Week 3 to disastrous results.
The Chiefs defense forced a Colts three-and-out to open the game, but the ball went right back into Indy’s hands after Moore muffed the punt. This gave the Colts the ball at Kansas City’s four-yard line. Here’s the play from two angles:
Moore probably made the right decision to call a fair catch as he saw a Colts gunner running straight past cornerback/jammer L’Jarius Sneed. The problem, I assume, is that Moore might have been focusing too much on what was in front of him, causing him to lose track of the ball. Like last week, Moore struggled with camping under the punt, leading to a turnover that basically handed the Colts seven points.
Moore again showed an inability to track the ball on his next punt return:
When opposing gunners have your jammers beat and you’re returning around the 10-yard line, the best thing to do is call a fair catch. Otherwise the ball could bounce up and give the gunners or opposing defenders an opportunity to down it within the five.
Moore didn’t approach the ball well enough in the clip above, so upon the ball’s arrival, he had no choice but to let the ball bounce. There was too much traffic in his area so it seems likely he was worried about another muffed punt. Thus, the Colts downed this ball at the one-yard line.
In Moore’s final return of the day, he was able to field it successfully and earn some yards:
Moore tracked the ball well on this return, worked behind his blockers and got upfield for a gain of 12 yards. It’s actually a good punt return, although I found a window that makes me wonder whether Mecole Hardman could have earned a larger chunk of yards:
As writers (and fans), we can fall into a trap of forgetting that the NFL is insanely fast, and that pausing a play can result in seeing holes that just won’t be there milliseconds later. So it’s important to note that Moore getting the ball to the 46-yard line on this play was impressive, given that a free defender was ready to approach him at the 40.
However, I do question whether Moore is the best man for the punt returner job given that Hardman is on the team. Hardman has more speed and, more importantly, burst than Moore, which makes me wonder if Hardman could have squeezed this one up past the 50. I know Tyreek Hill could have, but that’s another conversation.
The best answer I can give is that the Chiefs are preparing for life after Hardman. His contract is up after 2022, and there’s a pretty good chance he will sign with another squad after this season. With that in mind, using Moore as a returner is a long-term investment. He will need to make these mistakes in order to improve, much like Hardman did early in his career (he fumbled the ball twice on kick returns in his first NFL season). For now, we will have to deal with Moore’s growing pains and hope they don’t come back to bite the team (again) before he can start to show progress.
Kick returns: Isiah Pacheco had some good, some bad, one oops
Chiefs running back/kick returner Isiah Pacheco is averaging 19.3 yards per kick return. He has six returns for 116 yards.
On paper, that’s not great. The goal is to get over 25 yards per return, or else you should just let the ball bounce into the end zone. But then you have to ask, why is Pacheco’s average so low?
First, it’s early. Second, consider that a couple bad returns can make an average look bad, especially with so few returns. Third, his blocking hasn’t been the best. Pacheco actually showed good vision in three of his Week 3 kick returns. One of his returns went for 29 yards, and two others could have been successful if not for bad blocking.
So let’s look at the film. Here are Pacheco’s five returns from Week 3, joined together in one video:
Pacheco found holes in his first two returns (starting at the :00 and :11 marks), but his blockers failed to hold up. When it comes to returning kicks, two things are key: blocking and vision. That’s why running backs make good kick returners — their primary job is to use their vision and instincts to follow blockers both on offense and as returners.
In the first return, if Bryan Cook held up his block for just a bit longer, Pacheco probably would have busted up to the 40-yard line, possibly further. On the second return, Pacheco did a nice job bouncing outside after realizing there was no hole up the middle, but he couldn’t quite get around the defender after Deon Bush failed to get in front of him.
The third return (:23 mark) shows why Pacheco can be a good returner moving forward. If Pacheco would have moved inside, he would have been blown up. Instead, he followed Jerick McKinnon to the right and squeezed through a tight window for a gain of 29 yards to the 31-yard line.
Pacheco’s fourth (:36) and fifth (:48) returns were not so great. He slipped and fumbled the ball on his fourth return, which is a shame because he actually had a decent-sized window to his left where he wanted to go:
His fifth return came at the end of the game when the Chiefs had 24 seconds left to score three points. One can argue that he should have let the ball bounce into the end zone, but that’s Toub’s call, not Pacheco’s. Players are taught to return every ball that’s not caught in the end zone. The Chiefs should have made an exception with this play and let it bounce, but again, that’s a coaching decision.
In Pacheco’s fifth punt, he simply tried to do too much. It’s a tough position to put a rookie who just wants to help his team win the game. Pacheco got too antsy and narrowly missed a window, instead running into Bush’s back and only making it to the 15-yard line, draining six seconds in the process.
Despite two bad returns, I think there is potential with Pacheco as a kick returner. He has the vision, speed and strength to run through arm tackles. He’s learning patience, which comes with time and experience. That’s the missing element: experience. We all knew going into the season that this was a young and inexperienced squad. Nine rookies made the team. Eight of them play special teams. There will be mistakes. The question is, will the unit improve, or falter?
More special teams notes
Here are some quick-hitters to round out our Week 3 review:
- Yikes, Matt Ammendola was bad. He was 1-for-2 on field goals and 0-for-1 on extra points. The Chiefs simply could not trust him down the stretch, which led to some questionable coaching decisions.
- You could blame Toub for picking up the wrong kicker, but Toub isn’t a fortune teller. If Ammendola was the best kicker in practice, you must go with the hot hand (or leg). Ammendola was nails in Week 2. The issue with lower-end kickers is not the talent — it’s the mental part of the game. They have to shake off their misses or else they’ll keep on missing. That’s what separates the Ammendolas from the Harrison Butkers.
- What the heck was that fake field goal attempt on fourth-and-11? You’re telling me the Chiefs thought they had better odds of punter Tommy Townsend completing an 11-yard pass than Patrick Mahomes? That’s not a play you run with 11 yards to go. You either go for it, or let your kicker kick.
- If you go back up to watch Moore’s second punt return, you’ll notice tight end Jody Fortson absolutely embarrassed the right wing and almost got the block. We might need to put Fortson on Block Watch along with defensive end George Karlaftis.
- Speaking of Karlaftis, he had yet another close call on an extra point block attempt. He’ll get there soon, I’m telling you…
- Townsend sometimes struggles with putting too much power into his punts and boots them straight into the end zone. However, in Week 3 he had one punt downed at the one-yard line and another downed at the 11. Good sign for him moving forward.
