Toub says Chiefs won’t back off returning punts after fumbles: ‘That’s not the answer’
The Kansas City Chiefs lost their fourth fumble of the season on a punt return last week against Denver, but special teams coordinator Dave Toub says the team will remain aggressive while seeking out punt-return opportunities.
In this instance, Kadarius Toney caught a second-quarter punt and ran it back seven yards before having it knocked away. Denver recovered on the KC 16, then scored the next play on a Russell Wilson touchdown run.
Previously, rookie Skyy Moore lost three fumbles for the Chiefs during punt-return duties before ceding the role to some of his veteran teammates.
Toub said the team’s philosophy would remain the same with punt returns: KC would work with its players to catch the punt, and when a return was available, they’d return it.
“You’re not gonna just fair catch everything. That’s not the answer. That’s not the answer,” Toub said Thursday. “The answer is to keep working, trust you guys secure the football. It’s across the board. We have to do a better job on ball security everywhere.”
Toub’s words come toward the end of a season where KC’s punt return struggles have been nearly historic.
According to data at NFLindex.com, the Chiefs are at negative-19.4 expected points added this season on plays when the ball is punted to them — the worst mark in the NFL and the lowest season mark since Washington had negative-19.6 in 2020. (For reference, 24 of the 32 NFL teams have positive expected points on opponent punts, while New England leads the league at plus-25.1 expected points added.)
The per-play numbers, meanwhile, are worse. The Chiefs have lost .293 expected points per opponent punt, the lowest total in nearly a decade; the San Diego Chargers were the last team below that (negative-.393) in 2013.
One could argue KC’s specific circumstances should have a role in the thought process too. According to Football Outsiders’ advanced numbers, the Chiefs have the top offense in the NFL, meaning there might be even greater motivation to get the football back to quarterback Patrick Mahomes following an opposing punt instead of risking a turnover to pick up return yardage.
So far, the Chiefs’ losses on punt returns have not come close to the gains. KC has had only three opponent punt instances earn 1 expected point or more; meanwhile, each of the four fumbles resulted in a loss of 6.48, 5.51, 5.23 and 4.38 points respectively, according to NFLindex.
Toub explained Thursday that Toney’s fumble against Denver occurred because he didn’t switch the football to his outside arm when running right. Toney was attempting that return, Toub said, when the Chiefs had a punt rush called; that meant Toney had less help with Chiefs blockers in front.
“If you are going to have the ball in your left hand and you’re going to the right, you’ve got to really secure it. That’s the coaching point,” Toub said. “It happened. He was sorry about it. Obviously, he’s sick about it, because I think he would have a touchdown. I really believe that it was wide open out there.”
Toub noted he trusted Toney with the next punt-return attempt and expected him to be better moving forward.
“He is going to make some plays for us down the stretch here in the playoffs when the games matter most,” Toub said. “They’re coming.”
Punt returns are not the only special teams issue KC faces as it enters the playoffs.
Holder Tommy Townsend dropped a snap on an extra point against Denver during a season where his holds have been scrutinized.
Toub reiterated Thursday he was “totally confident” in Townsend’s ability to do that part of his job.
“We made a mistake. Obviously, he dropped the ball. I mean, it happens, but it hasn’t happened in a long time. So it happened,” Toub said. “It seems like we’ve had a lot of things. I mean — not seems like it, we have had a lot of things. It’s just the timing was bad of it when it happened, and it’s something that we don’t expect.”
The Chiefs also had a field-goal attempt at the end of the first half partially blocked — an issue Toub said stemmed from a blocker leaning too much in one direction before Denver players swarmed that particular gap.
Toub is in his 10th year with the Chiefs and has been an NFL special teams coordinator since 2001. He admitted frustration Thursday with how this season had progressed from a special teams standpoint, saying this year’s issues were the “most things that’s ever happened for me in my career in one season.”
“Statistically, it’s probably the lowest we’ve been ever in my career. So I mean, it’s just one of those years,” Toub said. “We have a lot of good football in front of us. That’s the way I’m talking to the players.”
Toub says he will keep stressing the same points he has during his 22-year NFL coaching career in hopes the production will shift.
“Things happen. Even on great, great years, things like that happen: You get a block, you get a dropped snap. Things happen,” Toub said. “We’ve just had an unusual amount this year. Maybe the football gods will give us some things here down the stretch. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Toub says Chiefs won’t back off returning punts after fumbles: ‘That’s not the answer’."
