Chiefs Coach Sends Strong Message to Struggling Harrison Butker, Raises Concern Before Ravens Game

The spotlight in Kansas City this Week isn’t on the electric offense or the roaring Arrowhead crowd. The league’s highest-paid place-kicker, Harrison Butker, suddenly finds himself under a magnifying glass that’s as sharp as the red-and-yellow banners that fill the stadium on Sundays. It’s not just about missed field goals, though. It’s about the nervous pulse running through Chiefs Kingdom ahead of a pivotal clash with the Baltimore Ravens.

The Kansas City Chiefs know the feeling: games turning on the tiniest margin, championships won or lost when the clock reads zero. For years, the only sound more reliable than starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ cadence was the thud of Butker’s kicks splitting the uprights. But now, after an uncharacteristic slip: a 33-yard extra-pointer in the third quarter vs. the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1, doubt has crept in.

Chiefs’ special teams coordinator Doug Toub put it honestly. “We’re assuming right now that it’s just a small little thing. It’s technical. We look at the tape and we see – it’s an unusual miss for him to miss it right. So it’s got to be the way his contact, his ball contact, and we just gotta work smarter in practice. He doesn’t need to do more because he does a lot already.” On the practice field, the vibe is anything but panicked. Toub’s prescription is precise, almost surgical: less volume, more specificity.

“If anything, we need to cut down what he does and get more specific on making sure that the contact is good and the rotation of the ball and the fundamentals are down.” Moving ahead, the plan is simple.

As Doug further adds, “You go back, and you go from scratch and evaluate it and you talk about it and you look at the tape. You build your confidence back and then you go.”

So, for now, both Butker and Doug are studying the film and figuring out what went wrong and then putting it back into practice. 

Stay tuned, this story is developing…

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