Dave Toub Talks About Rookie Kicker Cairo Santos’ Debut

Sunday was a shaky start for rookie kicker Cairo Santos. In two field goal attempts Santos clanked one off the upright from 48 yards and then ricocheted another one in off the crossbar. His erratic kicking didn’t help with the fact that the man he beat out, Ryan Succop, was five-for-five from field goal range.

Is it time to be concerned the Chiefs made the wrong decision at kicker? Special teams coach Dave Toub doesn’t seem to think so.

In an interview after today’s practice, Toub discussed Santos and what went wrong on Sunday. Here’s what he had to say.

"“In that game, he might’ve been a little nervous in the mental aspect of it but really physically what happened was he was looking. Really, he couldn’t see the kick. His eyeballs were coming up every time he hit the ball. That’s something that can easily be corrected and that’s something we worked on yesterday and we’re going to work on it again today. I think that’ll help him. The thing about him is if I felt like his confidence or mental aspect wasn’t good, he wouldn’t be here right now. I really feel strong about him going forward.”"

When asked if this was ‘looking’ problem was something Toub had seen before from him Toub said no.

"“He was just anxious. It was his first game. He was looking up to see the result of the kick. He did it on both kicks and it’s something that he normally doesn’t do.”"

Santos was chosen over Succop because of his ceiling as a young kicker and because of his affordability against the cap. Truth is Sunday was maybe the best game Succop has had as an NFL kicker, so to say what he was Sunday is who he is as a kicker would be false.

Sunday sucked, yes, but fans should give the rookie a few more opportunities before calling for his head.