Chiefs believe they have fixed a ‘glitch’ that caused problem with kicking game
In the end, Harrison Butker’s two missed kicks didn’t cost the Chiefs a chance to win the AFC Divisional playoff game against the Cleveland Browns.
Butker missed a first-quarter extra-point attempt and a 33-yard field-goal attempt in the third quarter of the Chiefs’ 22-17 win over the Browns. However, having those four points on the board would have made the fourth quarter a bit less stressful.
During an interview this week with reporters, Chiefs special-teams coordinator/assistant head coach Dave Toub said the trouble was unconnected to the eight-game stretch earlier this season when Butker missed six extra-point attempts.
Toub is confident the same problem won’t resurface during Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Bills.
“It was just an operational glitch that we had with the rotation of the ball; the laces came down in a weird spot,” Toub said. “Not one time all year did that happen or in practice, for that matter, and it happened twice and both of those kicks we rotated a different way. It was just an operational glitch that we cleaned it up, he had a great week of practice and he was on point this week so we’re good.”
Toub was asked more about the “operational glitch,” and he pinpointed the issue as being the snap from James Winchester to holder Tommy Townsend.
“Winchester is so good as a snapper, he can count the rotations with his snap where the laces never appear for him for the hold, but in this case the laces appeared,” Toub said. “Now there was a combination with the weather and a little bit short, whatever we did there, we figured it out this week.
“But the laces showed up to where they were facing Butker and then Tommy has to deal with getting them out of the way which is a matter of which way we’re going to rotate the ball, so (it) rotated to where Butker could see the laces for a longer period of time. That’s not what we want to do, so we want to rotate it the opposite way, so it goes away.”
When Butker talked to reporters, he was asked why the placement of the laces made such a big difference.
“So every kicker is different, but for me I’m looking at the ground, the spot basically where the holder’s going to put the ball, and then once the ball’s down my eyes normally raise up to look at the sweet spot of the ball,” Butker said. “So in a perfect world that ball is still so I can just hone in on the sweet spot and swing away.
“So if the laces are a little bit off, then the ball’s going to be moving, but I’ve been very fortunate to have such a great operation the past couple months, past couple weeks so that when in a game when the ball is moving, I didn’t handle it well, and that’s on me because I do practice that during the week.
“Since our operation is so good, I do practice seeing bad laces, seeing the ball moving because at the end of the day, as the kicker, if the ball’s on the ground it’s your job to make the kick. So when that ball’s moving or whatever, or if it’s perfectly still, you’ve got to make the kick. We got a lot of good reps this week, and as I said as a kicker, you got to be able to handle everything no matter what.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 7:16 AM.
