Tommy Townsend wins award despite Holdergate criticisms

It’s been an interesting week to be among the Kansas City Chiefs specialists and the latest wrinkle only makes things more intriguing.

Tommy Townsend enjoyed another excellent week as the young punter for the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 in the team’s win over the Houston Texans. The NFL even rewarded him for his efforts by naming him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Normally that would be the end of the news brief here, except that if you’ve been following along, you know that there’s been some drama among the team’s specialists this week.

First, Townsend deserves plenty of praise for his efforts on Sunday and the majority of this season. This is his third such award, by the way, and it’s not often that punters even receive them as it is given that returners and kickers both garner far more attention from fans and analysts. However, Townsend’s incredibly strong leg generates serious hang time and his improving accuracy has made him a real weapon on Dave Toub’s special teams units.

Chiefs fans saw Townsend’s excellence in action against Houston on a day in which the defense gave up more points than expected and the offense was surprisingly conservative.

Following the game, however, there was some shade cast over the work of Harrison Butker, who missed a game-winning field goal attempt from a 51-yard distance that seems relatively normal for him, considering his own past excellence. In addition, a missed extra point was the difference between a win in regulation and overtime.

In defense of Butker, former Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt entered the proverbial chat by posting on Twitter that Townsend’s holds on those kicking attempts were the issue. Just like that, fans were pointing at Townsend wondering why he’s not holding snaps correctly from James Winchester and making life difficult for Butker.

It should be noted that Colquitt did praise Townsend for his punting skills, but part of his job is also about helping others execute and Colquitt called him out.

From there, Townsend defended himself with a general post referencing Colquitt as an outsider now.

Nothing further has taken place, but it’s comedic timing that Townsend would win the Special Teams Player of the Week award for the AFC in a week like this. Just when the dust was starting to settle, the NFL has the last laugh.

Opinions aside about proper holds, Butker’s work, or Colquitt’s legacy, Townsend’s ability to pin the Texans time and again deep in their own territory deserves significant applause and it’s nice to see him win some hardware.