Tag: Harrison Butker

Chiefs’ Harrison Butker nails 56-yard field goal with an assist

Harrison Butker connected from 56 yards on a field goal for the Chiefs

You need every bit of help you can get this year when it comes to being a kicker in the NFL.

So, you won’t find Harrison Butker complaining one bit about losing style points for the 56-yard field goal he kicked in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

The boot had plenty of distance but needed a kiss from the upright to go through, which it got.

The Chiefs were up 10-0 and off and running in the battle of AFC West foes.

Chiefs’ Dave Toub thinks Harrison Butker can break NFL field goal distance record

#Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub gave his opinion on Harrison Butker’s ability to set a new field goal distance record. | from @EdEastonJr

Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl kicker Justin Tucker broke an NFL record in Week 3, connecting on a stunning 66-yard field goal to defeat the Detroit Lions. Tucker’s kick bested the longtime record of 64 yards held by Matt Prater.

Prater’s record stood for almost eight years. If Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and special teams coach Dave Toub have their way, Tucker’s mark won’t last long.

Butker hit a 64-yarder in practice ahead of Week 1, earning his team a day off of practice. Toub said afterward that he thought Butker could hit a 70-yard field goal in the right conditions. During Thursday’s press conference, Toub doubled down.

“I know Butker can be in that range, and on the right day, he’d have a real shot at it in the right situation,” Toub told reporters. “But it’s not surprising that Tucker got the record. He is a great kicker, he’s got a great mindset, and his leg is so strong, but Butker — if there’s one guy that can do it and break the record, it’s Harrison. Even their coach told me that, because I congratulated the coach, and he told me that very thing — ‘Your guy can break it’ — and in the right situation, I believe he can.”

Last season Butker had a fantastic game on the road in a victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, making two 58-yard field goals, including one in overtime. Both kicks are the longest in Butker’s career — for now.

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Chiefs K Harrison Butker quietly off to a solid start in 2021

#Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is having a very solid start to the 2021 NFL season. | from @TheJohnDillon

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Amid the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 2 struggles, it’s been hard to pinpoint much going right for the team headed into Week 3. The offense has looked good, which was to be expected. But they’re not quite as prolific as some might have expected after Brett Veach retooled the offensive line in the offseason.

Steve Spagnuolo’s defense has been one of the worst units in the league, even if against stiff competition in the first two weeks of the season. With a long road to the playoffs ahead and lots of room for improvement, Kansas City has but one north star in all that’s going wrong: the leg of pro bowl kicker Harrison Butker.

Totally flawless through two games, it’s probably too soon to prognosticate how long the perfection might last, but his exceptional leg has been one of the only sunny parts of an otherwise gloomy start to the season. Butker is 2-for-2 from the field and has hit eight consecutive extra points after struggling on the easy ones in 2020.

Last year, Butker set a career-high with his accuracy on field goals, making 92.6-percent of them and going four-of-four from 50 or more yards out. His 48-for-54 mark on extra points, good for just 88.9-percent was cause for concern heading into the offseason. His issues with PATs seem to have been rectified this year, but he did bang a few off of the uprights so far.

15 games stand between Kansas City and another playoff run, and with the AFC West looking more competitive than in years past, they’ll need every ounce of production they can get out of their kicker. Patrick Mahomes and his crew of offensive talent have proven they’ll do their best to hold up their end of the bargain, but with the defensive struggles characterizing the team’s early-season conversation, Butker could be the x-factor that delivers for the Chiefs in crunch time against the meat of their schedule.

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Harrison Butker nailed a clutch 64-yard field goal to give the Chiefs a day off from practice

Nice work.

Andy Reid pulled off one of the oldest tricks in the NFL coaching book: He told Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker that he had to hit a field goal in order to give the team Monday off from practice.

But this wasn’t any field goal. This one was from 64 yards out, which would tie the record for the longest boot in NFL history set by the Denver Broncos’ Matt Prater in 2013.

The video from the Chiefs show no one on the defensive side of the ball doing much of anything — hey, they’re in line for a day off too! — but it’s still super impressive either way.

Good work, Harrison, and it proves he could nail one from there in a real game if asked.

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WATCH: Harrison Butker nails 64-yard field goal, earns Chiefs a day off practice

#Chiefs K Harrison Butker made a high-stakes kick during practice last week, earning Monday off of practice for his team.

Kansas City Chiefs K Harrison Butker is no stranger to being a hero for his team in high-leverage situations, hitting plenty of game-winning field goals during his career. This time around, the fifth-year veteran was a hero because of his clutch kicking during practice.

The Chiefs released a video on their social media channels on Monday, showing Andy Reid challenging his kicker to a little kicking contest. The stakes in the contest?

“If he makes it then we have Monday off,” Reid said. “No pressure, but have at it brother.”

The catch is that Butker had to hit a 64-yard field goal in order to win the day off for his team. Had it been in a game it would have tied the NFL’s record for the longest field goal, a record owned by former Broncos K Matt Prater.

The results of this challenge were superb. Not only did Butker make the field goal, but it looked like it would have been good from 65 yards too. Once again a hero for his team, Butker helped earn the Chiefs a well-deserved day off on Labor Day.

The team will soon be back at it for their preparation against the Cleveland Browns in Week 1.

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Chiefs K Harrison Butker aims for consistency through visualization in 2021

#Chiefs K Harrison Butker had a down year in 2020, but he’s entering 2021 with a fresh outlook that he hopes will improve his consistency. | from @TheJohnDillon

Coming off a down season in his NFL career, Harrison Butker is seeking improvement wherever possible to give Kansas City an edge.

The special teams group, headed up by coordinator Dave Toub, has been a crucial part of the Chiefs’ rise to consecutive Super Bowl appearances. Butker has served in a starring role for the unit over the past four seasons.

Having converted all but two of his field-goal attempts in the regular season last year, tangible gains on the stat sheet could be hard to come by. An area he’s seeking to improve upon is consistency, particularly when it comes to PATs. In 2020, Butker missed a career-high of six PATs on the season with the lowest extra point percentage of his career (88.9%).

When Butker addressed the media at training camp, he made it clear that his focus in camp so far has been on maintaining the right mindset to stay unflinchingly consistent. When asked about his mental game, Butker emphasized the importance of having everything put together in his head.

“So much of kicking is a mindset,” Butker told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s a lot of kickers sitting on the couch that are better ball-strikers than me . . . but for whatever reason, they weren’t able to put it together. If you’re not able to put it together in those big pressure moments, then you’re probably not going to make it at the highest level, playing in the NFL.”

The difference between good and great kickers is the ability to convert in clutch moments, and it’s in that part of his game that Butker hopes to build on his already strong resume.

“For me, visualization is huge,” Butker explained. “Just going to the spot, imagining the wind’s going this direction. How would I want the holder to hold it? Where would I be aiming? Making sure that my breathing is slowed down. Kind of all those things that I guess are separate from the physical realm. . .”

There’s no question Butker has a million-dollar leg, and with his veteran’s mentality as a mainstay for the Chiefs, the sky remains the limit for Kansas City kicker.

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7 Chiefs who could make their first Pro Bowl in 2021

A look at 7 #Chiefs players with the best chance of making their first Pro Bowl in 2021.

The Kansas City Chiefs have their eyes on a bigger prize, but the Pro Bowl is always a nice consolation, with a lasting impact on player’s individual legacies. The Chiefs had two players earn first-time Pro Bowl selections in 2020, with DT Chris Jones and DE Frank Clark being selected for the game. Of course, they both appeared in Super Bowl LV instead and didn’t play in the annual all-star game.

If the Chiefs want to get to Super Bowl LVI, they’ll need some Pro Bowl-caliber performances out of their players during the upcoming season. Here are the seven Chiefs with the best chance at making their first Pro Bowl in 2021:

Super Bowl LV: 5 players with connections to the Panthers

Here are a few names that might sound familiar in tonight’s game.

The Carolina Panthers may not be in the Super Bowl this year, but a few former players are taking the field today.

Here are a few names that might sound familiar in tonight’s game.

Chiefs LT Mike Remmers

Remmers is a name many Carolina fans are familiar with for bad reasons. Remmers played 100% of the team’s offensive snaps in their incredible 15-1 regular season that led to the Super Bowl run, but his year ended on a sour note. In Super Bowl 50, the Broncos chose to exploit a favorable Von Miller matchup against Remmers, which quickly turned into a disaster. Remmers gave up three sacks, two strip-sack fumbles and seven additional quarterback pressures on Cam Newton. He has turned things around, though. Remmers had had the best season of his career with the Chiefs, allowing zero sacks in 2020.

Chiefs K Harrison Butker

In 2017, the Panthers selected Georgia Tech kicker Harrison Butker with their seventh-round pick, bringing in training camp competition for then-starter Graham Gano. They both performed well in camp and Carolina decided to keep both on their 53-man roster before eventually parting ways with Butker in hopes of stashing him on their practice squad. However, Butker was signed by the Chiefs later that season and quickly became one of the league’s top kickers. Butker has never fallen below 88% on field goals in his career, turning in a career-high 92.6% this season.

Chiefs CB Bashaud Breeland

Breeland came very close to joining Carolina back in 2018. That season, Breeland had agreed to join the Panthers on a three-year deal worth $24 million, but a foot infection prevented him from passing his physical, and the deal never went through. Breeland eventually signed with Kansas City, where he’s become an important starter for a loaded secondary.

Bucs CB Ross Cockrell

Cockrell won’t start for Tampa, but he was once a starting cornerback for the Panthers. In 2018, the Panthers signed the former Giants DB to a two-year, $6.8 million contract just days after their deal with Breeland fell through. Cockrell performed well in his two seasons with the Panthers and ranked among the top-five defensive backs in the league in yards per target allowed. He eventually landed on the Bucs’ practice squad and is now a backup behind their starting corners.

Bucs RB/KR Kenjon Barner

Barner contributed as a kick returner for Carolina during his two brief stints with the team in 2013 and again in 2018. The first was especially brief, as the rookie running back returned two kicks and totaled six carries on the season. In 2018 Barner brought back nine kicks for 220 yards. He is currently on the Bucs’ injured reserve list, but head coach Bruce Arians said the team will make a “late call” on his availability for the Super Bowl.

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Dave Toub says Chiefs fixed ‘operational glitch’ causing Harrison Butker’s missed kicks

The Kansas City Chiefs had their own “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” moment in the divisional round.

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s troubles with extra points returned during the AFC’s divisional round, but this time it was a different issue causing the problem.

During the regular season, Butker missed a total of six PATs but hadn’t missed once since Week 9. Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub blamed those issues on the weather in some cases or even Butker “toeing the ball.” This time around they’ve identified the issue as an “operational glitch.”

“Had nothing with what happened earlier,” Toub told reporters on Thursday. “It was an operational glitch that we had with the rotation of the ball; the laces came down in a weird spot. 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 shared a great amount of detail about why this kick failed and how they’ve gone about correcting it in this particular situation.

“(James) 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 explained. “Now there was a combination with the weather and a little bit short, whatever we did there, we figured it out this week. The laces showed up to where they were facing (Harrison) Butker and then Tommy (Townsend) 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 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. I didn’t want to get real technical with it, but I guess you forced me to, but that’s really what it is. Like I said, it’s just an operational thing that we got ironed out and fixed.”

In layman’s terms, the laces were the wrong spot when the ball got to the holder, then the holder spun the ball the long way to account for it. If you’ve ever seen the film “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” you know that kickers always want the laces facing out and away from them.

Butker explained why it’s important, specifically for him, to have the laces in the right spot. But he also shouldered the blame as well because he’s trained for the ways that he can adjust to overcome issues with the laces and otherwise.

“So every kicker is different, but for me I’m looking at the ground, the spot basically where the holders 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 so in a perfect world that ball is still so I can just hone in on the sweet spot and swing away,” Butker said on Thursday. “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 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 a kicker, if the ball’s on the ground it’s your job to make the kicks so when that balls moving or whatever or if it’s perfectly still, you 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.”

Both Toub and Butker believe this is a quick fix and something that they’ve already accounted for in this practice week leading up to the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills. As the stakes get higher in the playoffs, this unit will want things to be airtight.

“Yeah definitely, I mean we’re not going to try and reinvent the wheel,” Butker said. “I think there are some minor adjustments we can all make, and we’re focused in for this next AFC Championship game and the biggest thing is just learning from past mistakes and correcting it and getting better and moving on.”

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Chiefs players react to Harrison Butker’s clutch game-winning field goal

The legend of Harrison Butker grows as his teammates celebrate his epic game-winning kick against the Chargers.

The Kansas City Chiefs secured a come-from-behind victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, but it wouldn’t have happened without some clutch moments from kicker Harrison Butker.

Butt-kicker dot com, as Andy Reid calls him, nailed the chip shot to send the game to overtime. That was just the tip of the iceberg for Butker, though. With the game on the line, the veteran kicker made a 58-yard field goal after being iced twice, once by a penalty, and a second time by a timeout. He showed that he was made of sterner stuff and wouldn’t be denied from the uprights.

After the game, Butker’s teammates took to Twitter to react to his legendary moment. First came the reactions from a pair of players who didn’t make the trip to Los Angeles.

Rankin is on the PUP list and Saunders is on injured reserve. They both knew all along that Butker was going to nail these. Then came the comments from the teammates who were on the field with him.

You have to have ice in your veins to do what Butker accomplished.

The rookie cornerback L’Jarius Sneed came away impressed with his kicker after Week 2.

Watts calls it like he sees it.

Mahomes put in a lot of the leg work to mount the comeback win, but he’s glad to see Butker take the glory. In the end, so long as the team wins, that’s all that matters for this group.

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