Arrowhead Pride
Ever since Kansas City’s placekicker returned from surgery, his follow-through has been under scrutiny.
In mid-November, Kansas City Chiefs’ placekicker Harrison Butker was placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured list to undergo what was said to be minor surgery on the meniscus in his left knee — that is, his plant leg.
He missed only four games before being activated to the roster. In his first game back — Kansas City’s 21-7 win over the Cleveland Browns — Butker made all three of his extra points (which are the same as a 28-yard field goal) but missed a 29-yard field goal attempt at the end of the second quarter.
Coming back from the commercial after the miss, the CBS broadcast replayed the kick. Announcer Ian Eagle noted that Butker’s left knee had “buckled” after the kick, adding, “We saw that prior to him being placed on IR.”
Eagle’s remark suggested that the surgery had failed to correct a previously existing problem. And as so often happens, something that an announcer says during a game — even if it’s flat-out wrong — can take on a life of its own.
The following Thursday, special teams coordinator Dave Toub made it clear that Butker’s knee wasn’t the reason for the miss.
“We were going to kick the field goal,” said Toub. “I just assumed that [Butker, Winchester and Araiza] were together — but they weren’t. And that was my fault. So [there was a] little bit of change where Harrison’s panicking, [saying], ‘Where are they?’”
Even before Eagle’s remark about Butker’s follow-through, he and color analyst Charles Davis had mentioned that very issue. But apparently, that wasn’t nearly as compelling.
“It wasn’t his injury,” insisted Toub. “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 then said that Butker’s knee had not “buckled” on the kick in Cleveland.
“His technique is to break [as] his leg comes down,” explained Toub. “People are just noticing now because it’s his knee — and you know, sort of looking at that leg. But all year long, his technique is to collapse that leg after he follows through.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Butker also pushed back on the “buckling knee” theory that Eagle had put forward.
“Some people have said that [the] form’s caused it,” he said, “but I started doing that at least the entire 2023 season — [and] that was my best season. I didn’t have any pain or issues there.”
Butker said the meniscus issue had just “popped up” this season. He believes it was caused by the extra torque that placekickers put on the knee of their plant legs.
“There were at least two kickers this year that I talked to,” he noted. “They’re like, ‘Yeah man, I think I got the same...
