Matt Araiza lived up to his Punt God nickname when Chiefs needed it most

He’s called the “Punt God” for a reason.

A month into the season, Kansas City Chiefs punter Matt Araiza has been booting the ol’ pigskin beautifully, and while his hot start to the year might have flown under the radar for the first three weeks, it took center stage on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Araiza had not one but two fantastic plays that were instrumental in the Chiefs' road win against the Raiders to move to 4-0 on Sunday, including something we’ve never seen from him before in his career.

Matt Araiza pulled off the first fake punt of his NFL career

On the opening drive of the game, it looked like Kansas City was going to hand the ball straight back to Las Vegas after going three-and-out to start the quarter following two short runs and an incompletion.

A frustrating special teams penalty—the Chiefs were lined up in an illegal formation—took a booming 64-yard punt off the board and forced Araiza to kick again from his own 30-yard line, but the penalty turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Instead of kicking the ball again, Araiza caught the snap and took off, sprinting up the field on 4th & 9 and picking up the first down on the first fake punt of his NFL career.

It was beautiful.

I’d love to know if the fake was the plan before the snap or not, but my guess is that Araiza saw the Raiders drop three players deep into return coverage and called his own number.

Maybe special teams coordinator Dave Toub and the Chiefs had a plan in place to run a fake like the one we saw on Sunday, should the perfect situation present itself, and it did when the Raiders backed off from the line of scrimmage.

Hilariously, the trick play could have worked if Araiza had thrown the ball, too—Jaden Hicks was lined up on the left side of the formation and ran totally free over the middle of the field, without a Raider anywhere near him.

There’s nothing that gives the same kind of nervous “uh-oh” feel as a team running a fake punt or a fake kick, but this one was executed to perfection. So, too, was another play at a crucial moment late in the game.

Araiza delivered another huge play with the game on the line

Late in the fourth quarter and again after a three-and-out, the Chiefs had to punt up three with 1:26 left in the game, giving the ball back to the Raiders, who had the chance to win the game with a touchdown or tie it with a field goal. Every yard would matter.

Araiza unloaded a perfect punt, a high kick that bounced inside the 10 and sat up beautifully, allowing Emmett Johnson and Xavier Nwankpa to team up and down it at the one-yard line.

Araiza couldn’t have walked down the field and placed the ball at a better spot than that, and it mattered, too—the Raiders’ attempted possession stalled just past midfield. Had Araiza’s punt gone for a touchback, the 50-yard drive would have put Vegas inside field goal range.

For all their special teams miscues—and oh boy, have there been a lot of them—one player who has rarely misfired this season has been Araiza, so it should come as no surprise that he stepped up when it mattered most on Sunday.

Matt Araiza has been one of the NFL's best punters this season

Araiza had five punts on Sunday with an average of 47.6 yards and a long of 59, and all five of them landed inside the 20.

This season, the 26-year-old ranks first in the NFL in average yards per punt at 52.3 yards and equal-first in net average punt yards—a punt’s distance minus any return yards and touchbacks—with 47.6 yards, and just one punt has gone for a touchback.

Araiza is also equal-third in total punts to land inside the 20 with nine—that’s despite him only kicking the ball 12 times so far this season, which is the equal-eighth fewest punts in the league so far. In total, 75 percent of Araiza’s kicks have been inside the 20, the best rate in the NFL.

It’s a great early sign for Araiza and the Chiefs, given his 2025 season. Araiza wasn’t bad last year, but his average and net average were both middle-of-the-road across the league. But this season, it looks like he’s back in form.

Football is a game of inches, and sometimes even plays from your punter can help be the difference between winning and losing, exactly like they were on Sunday. Matt Araiza earned his “Punt God” nickname for a reason, and on Sunday, we saw why.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow