The Chiefs must improve these 3 things after Lions win
Special Teams Play
Ever since Andy Reid brought Dave Toub to Kansas City, the Chiefs have featured one of the NFL’s top special teams units. That hasn’t really been true all season, especially against the Lions in Week 4.
Now, I will start by saying that the kick and punt return coverage teams have done a nice job overall this season. Opposing returners have not had much success against K.C. and that was the case again on Sunday.
However, the return game has been much less impressive. Tyreek Hill has been out most of the season, but frankly, if the Chiefs are paying Hill like a top NFL receiver, I just don’t know that you want him out there returning kicks and punts all the time. With an injured Hill or not, the Chiefs need to get better results in the return game.
I’ll talk about the ball security issues in a minute. That is obviously an issue, but right now I’m just talking about their ability to make plays in the return game like they have in previous seasons under Toub.
Many fans have been irritated with K.C.’s return men trying to return kicks/punts that could have been touchbacks. While I understand that frustration, that is nothing new with Toub’s units. He’s always coached them to be aggressive with returns. The difference now is that they aren’t making the big returns to make those gambles worth it. Fans would be willing to take an occasional return getting stuffed at the 10 or 15 yard line if later in that same game they broke a long return to midfield. That just isn’t happening, or if it does its almost always called back on a penalty. Which brings me to my biggest complaint.
The special team penalties have been absolutely absurd. There have been so many stupid special teams penalties this season already and its got to get cleaned up. At one poin, safety Jordan Lucas had two bone-headed penalties in just a couple of minutes of game action. He jumped offsides on a 58-yard field goal attempt and then got what felt like K.C.’s 20th blocking penalty on a return this season.
When you throw in Harrison Butker missing an easy field goal and Dustin Colquitt finally starting to show his age with much less pinpoint accuracy, suddenly the special teams isn’t the strength of this team that it traditionally has been. Dave Toub is widely viewed as the best special teams coach on the planet, so I have hope that things will get better. The Chiefs can survive sloppy special teams when their offense is clicking on all cylinders, but on days like Sunday against the Lions, they need better.