A sense of football normalcy returns for Chiefs’ James Winchester

After the Chiefs’ first place-kicking opportunity ended with Cairo Santos’ 22-yard field goal, Santos congratulated the operation as he usually does. Only this time, he spent an extra moment with snapper James Winchester.

“I said this one’s for daddy,” Santos said.

Winchester’s father, Michael, was fatally shot on Tuesday at the Oklahoma City airport by a disgruntled former employee.

Winchester, a second-year pro from Oklahoma, left the team immediately to be with family in Oklahoma. Tight end Travis Kelce and fullback Anthony Sherman practiced snapping for place kicks and punts during the week.

But Winchester returned to team after the funeral on Saturday that was attended by Chiefs general manager John Dorsey and Barry Switzer, who coached Michael Winchester with the Sooners in the mid-1980s.

Winchester didn’t speak to reporters after the Chiefs’ 19-17 loss Sunday to the Tampa Bay Bucs, a game in which Winchester was perfect on all six of his long snaps, three place kicks and three punts. A moment of silence was devoted to the Winchesters before the game at Arrowhead Stadium.

“For him to miss practice all week and come out and play he did, which was real well, it says something about him,” punter Dustin Colquitt said. “He’s a rock. We expected that out of him. He’s a great guy and that’s what you have to do when you have a job like this. Whatever they throw at you, you have to throw strikes.”

Teammates said they were with Winchester in spirit throughout the week and would have been supportive if he needed more time away from the team.

“Whatever he would have chosen, we would have been on board,” tackle Mitchell Schwartz said. “I respect his decision. It was great to have him back.”

Colquitt said the idea upon Winchester’s return was to create a typical pregame atmosphere.

“We didn’t do anything different,” Colquitt said. “We thought if we did that it would create something different for him, and as a specialist you want everything to feel normal.”

After the game, Winchester received hugs from teammates in the locker room, and plenty of admiration.

“I can’t commend that guy enough,” Kelce said. “The stuff that he’s been dealt this week, it’s hard. It makes football seem pointless. For him to be out here and want to be part of this team, it just shows what kind of brotherhood we have.”

Santos experienced a similar pain when his father died during his senior season at Tulane. He pointed skyward after his first kick then. Sunday, the gesture was to spend a little extra time with his long snapper.

“I told James afterwards that you’re going to go through life honoring your father in everything that you do,” Santos said. “That’s how I battled through the process.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "A sense of football normalcy returns for Chiefs’ James Winchester."