Tag: Dave Toub

Chiefs feel good about K Harrison Butker’s chances to return for Week 6 vs. Bills

As long as #Chiefs K Harrison Butker doesn’t have any setbacks with his ankle in practice, Dave Toub says he feels good about his chances to be back against the #Bills in Week 6.

Kansas City Chiefs ST coordinator Dave Toub expects his starting kicker to be back on the field in Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Toub confirmed that Butker looked good in his limited practice on Wednesday and that he would be practicing for a second consecutive day.

“Good,” Toub said. “He looked good at practice. We’re going to practice him again today. He’s day-to-day. We’ll get both guys ready and we’ll make a decision at the end of the week.”

Toub added that Butker is back to his normal three-step windup for his kicks and is not trying to do one-step kicks anymore. After the look he got at him on Wednesday, Toub said he feels good about Butker’s chances to return.

“I feel good,” Toub said. “He looked good. (He’ll play) as long as we don’t have any setbacks. We’ve just going to keep working him and we’ll see. We’re not ready to say, ‘Yeah, he’s in.’ We’ve got to wait, but he looked good yesterday.”

Butker is looking like his normal self, but yesterday was also a lighter practice. Getting consistent work on Thursday and Friday will be key for playing in Week 6. We’ll have an update practice status on Butker later this afternoon after the team completes their practice session.

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Dave Toub provides update on Chiefs K Harrison Butker’s ankle injury

It sounds like it will likely be Matt Ammendola for another week as #Chiefs K Harrison Butker continues to nurse an ankle sprain.

For the second consecutive day of practice, the Kansas City Chiefs will be without starting K Harrison Butker due to an ankle injury.

Speaking to reporters ahead of practice on Thursday, Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub provided an update on Butker’s ankle injury and recovery.

“(Harrison) Butker is working his butt off,” Toub explained. “He is in there and he’s attacking (rehab) just like he attacks practice and everything else. That’s his personality. He’s doing everything he can to get back. Rick (Burkholder) and his staff are doing a good job of getting the swelling out. The swelling was really bad in his ankle, it went all the way up and the blood went all the way down to his toes. It was pretty ugly. So, they’re getting the swelling out of his foot. He just needs time to get that thing healed up.”

While Butker is clearly getting after it in the rehab process, even working on some kicks with Rick Burkholder and the training staff, the team is taking the cautious approach here. They want him as close to 100% as possible before he returns and that means getting all of the swelling out of his plant foot.

“It’s killing Butker,” Toub said. “He doesn’t like to miss anything. He certainly doesn’t want to see somebody else doing his job. He’s going to get back as soon as he can.”

While there is a slim possibility that Butker could get out there this week, it sounds as if it’s trending toward Matt Ammendola being the Chiefs’ kicker for another week. He made all of his kicks in Week 2 against the Chargers out at Arrowhead Stadium and he continues to build chemistry with his new teammates in practice.

“Matt (Ammendola) is here, he’s going through practice,” Toub said. “If (Harrison) Butker can’t go.

Should he play in Week 3, Ammendola will get the luxury of playing inside at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. In a short time, he’s developed quite a bit of trust with Toub, who says Ammendola has made kicks of 53, 56 and 60 yards in either practice or his tryout with the team.

“He’s got the range, he can do it,” Toub said of Ammendola. “We’ve got full confidence in him. He’s got a lot more reps with (Tommy Townsend and James Winchester), so he’s feeling more comfortable.”

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What was Chiefs S Justin Reid’s field goal range in Week 1?

Dave Toub says he trusted #Chiefs’ Justin Reid to kick a field goal in Week 1, but only at a certain distance. | from @EdEastonJr

The blowout 44-21 victory on Sunday for the Kansas City Chiefs sent a clear message to the rest of the league. Kansas City dominated all facets of the game, including special teams, during a moment where it seemed as if things would be bleak.

The Chiefs placekicker Harrison Butker rolled his ankle in the first quarter after a kickoff leading him to temporarily leave the game. Safety Justin Reid, who had done some kicking during training camp and the preseason, filled in admirably. Reid stepped in to go one of two on PATs and booted several kick-offs deep into the endzone before Butker’s eventual return.

Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub commented on being comfortable with the prospect of Reid attempting a field goal during the game, but only at a certain distance.

“I told (Head Coach) Andy (Reid) during the game (that) if we had to keep going with him, I thought that if we got the ball on the 25-yard line, we’d be good with him,” said Toub. “Which would be a 43-yarder or so, yeah.”

Reid, who converted a field goal from 60 yards or more during practice, would’ve needed some time to prepare for a long-range attempt properly. Toub understood the risk, but wasn’t willing to put Reid out there for the 54-yard field goal made by Butker at the end of the first half. They had a contingency plan to leave the offense on the field if Butker was unable to return to the game.

“I mean, that’s as far back as I’d want to take him,” said Toub. “That’s why there was no thought in him hitting that long one. If we didn’t have (Harrison) Butker at that time, if we didn’t think we had Butker, we probably would’ve just went for it right there. I think that was a little bit too far out of his range right there, realistically.”

Reid likely won’t get much kicking work in Week 2, with the Chiefs adding former Jets K Matt Ammendola to the practice squad. It’s good, however, to know what he’s capable of should something happen in the future.

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What was Chiefs S Justin Reid’s field goal range in Week 1?

Dave Toub says he trusted #Chiefs’ Justin Reid to kick a field goal in Week 1, but only at a certain distance. | from @EdEastonJr

The blowout 44-21 victory on Sunday for the Kansas City Chiefs sent a clear message to the rest of the league. Kansas City dominated all facets of the game, including special teams, during a moment where it seemed as if things would be bleak.

The Chiefs placekicker Harrison Butker rolled his ankle in the first quarter after a kickoff leading him to temporarily leave the game. Safety Justin Reid, who had done some kicking during training camp and the preseason, filled in admirably. Reid stepped in to go one of two on PATs and booted several kick-offs deep into the endzone before Butker’s eventual return.

Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub commented on being comfortable with the prospect of Reid attempting a field goal during the game, but only at a certain distance.

“I told (Head Coach) Andy (Reid) during the game (that) if we had to keep going with him, I thought that if we got the ball on the 25-yard line, we’d be good with him,” said Toub. “Which would be a 43-yarder or so, yeah.”

Reid, who converted a field goal from 60 yards or more during practice, would’ve needed some time to prepare for a long-range attempt properly. Toub understood the risk, but wasn’t willing to put Reid out there for the 54-yard field goal made by Butker at the end of the first half. They had a contingency plan to leave the offense on the field if Butker was unable to return to the game.

“I mean, that’s as far back as I’d want to take him,” said Toub. “That’s why there was no thought in him hitting that long one. If we didn’t have (Harrison) Butker at that time, if we didn’t think we had Butker, we probably would’ve just went for it right there. I think that was a little bit too far out of his range right there, realistically.”

Reid likely won’t get much kicking work in Week 2, with the Chiefs adding former Jets K Matt Ammendola to the practice squad. It’s good, however, to know what he’s capable of should something happen in the future.

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What excites Chiefs ST coordinator Dave Toub about Week 1 also terrifies him

#Chiefs ST coordinator Dave Toub revealed that the thing that excites him about Week 1 is also his biggest concern heading into the game.

Special teams have the ability to change the outcome of games in the NFL. It’s why the Kansas City Chiefs have invested so many resources and have given coordinator Dave Toub so much control over the bottom of the roster.

Ahead of the Week 1 tilt against the Arizona Cardinals, Toub is both excited and nervous. He’s replacing thousands of snaps over last season’s special teams unit and primarily with rookies and newcomers. Asked about what excites him most and what terrifies him most, Toub explained that it’s the same thing.

“It’s probably the same thing. The young guys, they excite me and then the young guys, it’s terrifying too, at the same time (laughter),” Toub said. “I’m excited about it, really because I think (General Manager) (Brett) Veach brought in some good players. We had (nine out of ten draft picks make) our team and they’re all going to help us. They’re all going to help us on special teams.

“I’m excited about what we have (and) I can’t wait to see them when the live bullets come and see how they handle it. But I feel pretty good about them. They’re going to make some mistakes and there’s going to be some things that surprise you like ‘why’d you do that?’ but I think, in the long run, you know after a couple of weeks, I think they’re going to settle in and be pretty darn good.”

Like defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, Toub is expecting that there will be some growing pains for his unit. He’s not terribly concerned about those growing pains because he feels this group has the talent and speed to make up for it. It’s simply going to take some time for him to build that trust with kick/punt return, coverage and protection units comprised primarily of new players.

 “Yeah, it takes a while. It takes a while,” Toub said. “You have to see it probably two or three games then you feel pretty good about it. And then, you never know what you’re going to get thrown at you, you know. You don’t know how the guys are going to handle a ‘break the formation’ or a fake. How are they going to handle a fake? I knew how (former Chiefs S) Dan Sorensen was going to handle a fake (but) I don’t know how Deon Bush is going to handle a fake in the same position. So, those are things that we practice and in the game speed and stuff, those are all unknowns.”

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Dave Toub pleased with Chiefs rookie WR Skyy Moore’s punt return progress

#Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub praised Skyy Moore’s progress with punt returns during the preseason. | from @EdEastonJr

The Kansas City Chiefs have one more preseason game left with the regular season only a few weeks away.

The rookie class has shown flashes of success in every phase of the game. One player that is expected to contribute immediately is Skyy Moore, but not just in the passing game. Moore’s athletic ability and overall talent are expected to be utilized on special teams to get the most out of the elusive rookie receiver.

Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub praised Moore’s progress with the punt return unit during Monday’s press conference.

“I think he’s building confidence every game,” said Toub. “I really liked that second one where he went after it; it was a short kick. We had a right return call, but there was not a lot of blocking over there, but he still went up and caught it and saved us some yardage, and held onto the ball when he got hit. So, I mean, that was good to see. He’s getting a lot more confident with his catching and his ball reads, so we’ve got to keep working him. I tried to get him as many as I could in that last game.”

Moore returned only three kicks for 21 yards and fielded one punt for no yards throughout his college career at Western Michigan. He’s primarily only had to worry about playing the receiver position in school but now must adapt to this new role quickly.

On the play where he didn’t fair catch the ball against the Commanders, Toub explained that Moore was trying to catch the coverage unit sleeping. It was a risky play, but one that Toub was happy to see the rookie take given the situation. It shows that he has confidence in his abilities.

“If you fair catch it, obviously you can’t return it, so he was trying to steal it,” said Toub, “He was trying to get something out of it. I like his courage right now; that’s a good thing to see. You want to have a returner who is willing to take chances. It’s a tough job. I tell our guys, ‘You’ve got quarterback, then you’ve got punt returner as far as the toughest jobs in the NFL.’ I think it’s hard. You have to have courage, and you have to have toughness. The ball reads and everything that goes along with it. You have to trust your teammates and that they’re going to block for you because you don’t get to see it a lot of times.”

Moore’s impact on special teams is seemingly a right of passage for future Chiefs receivers under Andy Reid. Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman each made an impact in that role. The position requires quick instincts and, most importantly, sound decisions like that moment in Saturday’s win over the Commanders.

“Yeah, the decision-making is huge,” Toub concluded. “That’s a big thing. In a regular season game, a fair catch, I would’ve been fine with that. He made a fair catch on the first one; that was fine. I like the fact that he tried to steal it. That was a good thing to see.”

The Chiefs will continue to work with Moore as he adjusts over the next few weeks while still working to establish himself in the passing game. Moore’s growth will be under a microscope as he begins his professional journey.

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Chiefs to give RB Isiah Pacheco every chance to be starting kick returner

#Chiefs ST coordinator Dave Toub reiterated on Tuesday that rookie RB Isiah Pacheco would be given every chance to be the team’s No. 1 kick returner.

Kansas City Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub already tabbed rookie RB Isiah Pacheco as the guy at kicker returner. On Tuesday, Toub confirmed his prior comments, explaining that Pacheco will be given every possible opportunity to earn the starting job.

“He’s going to be the guy,” Toub told reporters. “We’re going to start him off. Like I said last time, we’re going to give him every chance to be that guy. I just think he’s got all the attributes to be a good kick returner, and he’s gotten better and better out at practice. He’s doing little things better, and he’s catching the ball great. You know now we got to see what happens with live bullets when guys are coming down there to take your head off, it’s a little bit different. We’ll see how he handles it.”

The seventh-round rookie has been impressive during the course of training camp, even working in with the starting offense at times. His ability as a kick returner is still a relative unknown as he didn’t do much of it during the course of his college career at Rutgers.

“I know (Isiah Pacheco) doesn’t have a lot (of experience),” Toub said. “He hasn’t done it in a long time. Same thing goes with Skyy (Moore), we’re going to put him back there on punt returns and he hasn’t gotten a lot (of work) either in college. There are going to be a lot of firsts in this game. It’s going to be fun.”

Ultimately, how Pacheco and Moore perform during the preseason as return specialists will determine their course of action at those positions. While Toub said Pacheco had improved, there is only so much they can ascertain as coaches from non-live practice periods at training camp.

“Really, for us, it’s hard to tell what a guy can do in practice because we don’t do anything live,” Toub said on Aug. 2. “It’s really the games. The Bears game is going to be huge for us and the Washington game is obviously going to be huge for us. We might be making decisions all the way up to the Green Bay game.”

Under the bright lights in Chicago, Pacheco will get a chance to make his case and prove he has what it takes to be the No. 1 kick returner.

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Here are Chiefs players that Dave Toub expects to contribute on special teams

#Chiefs ST coordinator Dave Toub has a lot of control over the bottom of the 53-man roster. Here are some of the players he currently likes:

The Kansas City Chiefs are going through a bit of a special teams renaissance this offseason.

Four of the team’s top five players in terms of total special teams snaps from last season are no longer on the team. From return specialists, to punt and kick coverage units, Chiefs assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Dave Toub is having to rebuild practically from scratch.

“There are holes everywhere,” Toub told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s going to be a complete reset. It’s going to be tough. Really for us, it’s hard to tell what a guy can do in practice. It’s really the games. The Bears game is going to be huge for us. The Washington game is going to be huge for us. We’re probably going to be making decisions all the way up until the Green Bay game.”

Toub has always held a lot of control over the bottom of the 53-man roster in Kansas City. If you’re a player on the roster bubble and Toub has identified you as a potential contributor on special teams, your chances of making the team go up significantly.

With that in mind, here is a look at some of the players that Toub mentioned as potential contributors during his Tuesday press conference:

Chiefs ST coordinator Dave Toub won’t give up on rookie DB Zayne Anderson

#Chiefs rookie DB Zayne Anderson has made some mistakes on special teams in each of the past two weeks, but Dave Toub is unwilling to give up on him.

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Kansas City Chiefs rookie DB Zayne Anderson has been the subject of much outside scrutiny over the past few weeks.

Anderson was signed to the Chiefs’ 53-man roster from the practice squad ahead of the Week 15 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. It wasn’t his first action of the season, as he was a COVID-19 replacement for Tyrann Mathieu in Week 1. Anderson made a special team’s tackle against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16, but in the weeks following, he made crucial and costly errors.

The first, an illegal block on an 86-yard kick returned for a touchdown by Byron Pringle. The penalty cost the Chiefs a chance at six points in a game they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals. Dave Toub shrugged off that penalty as something that could have gone either way.

“We talked about this,” Toub said. “The thing about Zayne (Anderson) is he is playing as hard as he can possibly play. He’s got to play a little smarter in some spots obviously, but I still love the guy. The holding call that happened two weeks ago, could’ve happened to anybody on the field. That could’ve been called, it could’ve not have been called.”

Unfortunately, the miscues for Anderson continued and bled into the Week 18 game against the Denver Broncos. After forcing a quick three-and-out, Anderson went for the blocked punt, but he ended up with a running-into-the-kicker penalty instead. That penalty allowed the Broncos to march down the field and score their first points of the game.

“Running into the kicker, he was two inches away from being the hero of the game,” Toub explained. “That’s the way I look at it. He comes clean, he does everything right, he probably just false stepped a little bit, didn’t get there early enough, but he was two inches away from blocking that punt, scooping and scoring and now it’s 14-0 with a blocked punt and they have no life at all. Now it didn’t happen that way. We rough them and that gives them a little bit of life. There’s a fine line. You want to stay aggressive as a special teams coach and as a team, you want to try and make a play, but also you got to realize when you get there early enough to be able to just take it off the foot and then when you get there late enough, and you have to pull off. There’s a fine line there, but I don’t want to slow him down by any means by turning him into a passive guy because he’s worried about making a mistake. I want him to stay aggressive and I want him to get the block next time. No false step, get there early enough, get the block so we can get a scoop and score and help our football team.”

Anderson is on the wrong side of Toub’s fine line right now, but Toub’s coaching point with Anderson is for him to not worry about the mistake and execute better the next time around.

“My teaching point is simple,” Toub explained. “Don’t let one bad play mess up the next play. You got to forget it. I mean one bad play happens, you got to come in the next play and execute the next play at 100 percent and be where you’re supposed to be, be on the field, do your job. Those are the things that we try to coach. Mistakes are going to happen especially with a young kid like that. But we still love him. We still love the kid, he’s a good player, he’s going to help us down in the road in the future and he’s going to help us in the playoffs. We’re not down on Zayne by any means.”

What Toub’s seen from Anderson in the meeting rooms and in practice encourages him that he has what it takes to play in this league and do so at a high level.

 “We see him in practice every day,” Toub said. “We see his speed. I mean we saw it on the field. He’s made plays for us while he’s been in there. Good plays, running down kick returners from behind, his speed, his size, he’s got a great combination of those two things and he’s got the right temperament. He is not afraid. We just got to get it under control a little bit more, just be a little bit smarter in some spots, but he’s going to be a good football player for us.”

As for the one player who could push Anderson off the 53-man roster and back to the practice squad, it doesn’t appear he’s ready to return. Chris Lammons was designated to return from injured reserve, but his activation to the 53-man roster might not happen until the divisional round, should the Chiefs advance.

“Lammons is a really good player for us,” Toub said. “He’s a four-phase starter, he’s obviously our starting gunner, him and (Marcus) Kemp. I know he’s still working to get back. We’re not sure if he’s going to get back this week or not, but he’s working hard at it and he’s a guy we’re missing right now. But we have other guys that are going to step up and a lot of guys not only on our team, but on our practice squad that we can elevate going forward during the playoffs, so we feel pretty good about that.”

For now, the Chiefs will ride with Anderson into the playoffs, for better or for worse. With mistakes increasingly magnified in postseason play, for both Toub and Anderson’s sake, let’s hope the penalties are a thing of the past.

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Chiefs ST coach Dave Toub commends Tommy Townsend for AFC Player of the Month award

#Chiefs ST coach Dave Toub commended Tommy Townsend and the entire punt coverage unit for Townsend’s AFC Special Teams Player of the Month win. | from @TheJohnDillon

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It seems that every phase of the Kansas City Chiefs team hit its stride at the same time in recent weeks. Even punter Tommy Townsend ended up receiving a major accolade, winning the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month Award for November after all his efforts in pinning opponents deep when the Chiefs offense stalled.

Dave Toub, one of the most respected members of the NFL’s special teams community, gave high praise to the second-year punter in his Thursday press conference. Toub was clearly over the moon about the honor bestowed on Townsend, saying that what he accomplished last month was among the most impressive feats he has ever witnessed.

“Really great, really, really, great news this morning hearing that,” He said. “Well deserved, I mean when you go back and look at the month that he had, it’s by far the best performance by a punter that I’ve ever had as a coach. It was really, really good numbers, and it was good to see him do it week after week. He had a really good week and then he followed it up with three more weeks so very proud of him and the unit.”

As impressive as Townsend’s leg has been, the veteran coordinator knows that winning the field position battle is a group effort, and commended the gunners in punt coverage for maximizing every opportunity they were given.

“The gunners have played excellent for him,” Toub explained, “(Chris) Lammons and (Marcus) Kemp are doing a great job covering kicks. Sometimes they’re not perfect kicks, but they go down there and make a great play for him and keep his net up so it’s a team effort. Tommy would be the first one to tell you that.”

Townsend definitely benefitted from the play of all other members of the special teams unit. Six of his 10 total punts in November landed inside and were downed within the 20-yard line. He averaged a whopping 54.9 yards per punt with a 50.7 net yards per punt, with a booming long of 68 yards en route to the monthly award. He also had the fake punt against the Raiders, resulting in a 16-yard reception by Marcus Kemp.

While fans certainly hope his role is limited moving forward, Townsend’s ability to help Kansas City in a multitude of ways will only serve to help them win games moving forward. His Player of the Month recognition is a sign that the NFL has officially taken notice of his unique skillset from one of the most underrated positions in the game of football.

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