Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City made big special-teams plays in the Divisional round, but will face a tough test against Buffalo.
Special team plays were a significant factor in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 23-14 Divisional round victory over the Houston Texans last Saturday.
One of the biggest moments for coordinator Dave Toub’s unit was when linebacker Leo Chenal — just as he had done in the Week 10 game against the Denver Broncos — blocked a late-game field goal.
Against Denver, Chenal’s block on the game’s final play prevented the Broncos from securing a 17-16 win; Kansas City won 16-14. On Saturday, Chenal’s big play all but eliminated any chance for Houston — then trailing 23-12 — to score twice in the final two minutes of the game.
In both plays, safety Justin Reid played a key role.
“I mean, he’s the main reason why we’re getting these blocks,” said Toub of the veteran safety when he spoke to reporters on Thursday. “He has such a great get-off on the edge, it makes everybody respond to that. It opens up gaps for Leo, who’s like a couple of spots down from him.”
According to Toub, Reid’s extraordinary get-off is the result of film study.
“He watches the snappers’ movements,” explained the coach. “It could be a squeeze into the hand. It could be a dip of the hips — whatever it is — to indicate that the snap is imminent.”
Thanks to this film study, Toub said Reid was essentially “tied to the football” on two of Houston’s field goal attempts. But while Reid has been able to create distractions that have helped the team make these blocks, Toub still wanted to emphasize Chenal’s role.
“You just tell Leo, ‘Leo, this is the time,’” smiled Toub, “and he goes and gets it. He’s a beast — he really is.”
Still — just as Toub noted after the Denver game — these blocks are happening because the team has found specific weaknesses on film that it can exploit.
“Snappers are different,” he explained, ”[so] we have a game plan; it’s not every week. If we have somebody different that doesn’t give us [a tell], then we don’t do it. We just dial in on the football — and go on the ball.”
On a very windy day on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, the Texans’ placekicker Ka’imi Fairbairn also missed another field goal — and an extra point, too. But the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker made all five of his kicks.
“He’s a great manager of the wind,” said Toub of Butker. “He understands the wind and how much [it affects his kicks]. In his pregame warmup, he’ll try different stuff [to] figure [the wind] out. And he kicks a lot pregame — and by the time he gets to the game, he’s dialed in.
“Now, sometimes the wind changes during the game. That’s why you’ll see him periodically walk out on the field [to] check things; he’s always doing that. So [we have] total...
