The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Las Vegas Raiders last Sunday largely thanks to their special teams unit. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub called out areas in his group that needed improvement days before the Week 4 matchup, and it paid off.
"The kickoff coverage, I think it's been good; we've had a lot of them, which is good, because our offense is scoring. We're doing a good job there, I think. And then in the return game, we're getting the ball out," said Toub last week to reporters. "I think we're averaging just past the 30 now. Last week, we had a really good week; you know, we're out by the 35, and we held them to the 25-yard line. I mean, that's a big difference; that's what we're looking for."
With only 1:16 of game time left and no
timeouts, running back Emmett Johnson made a heads-up play to lateral the ball back to teammate Xavier Nwankpa to pin a punt by Matt Araiza deep into Raiders territory.
"I think special teams was the best part of the three phases today," Reid said to reporters after the game. "(Matt) Araiza with the fake punt did a nice job there. We didn't capitalize on it offensively, but what a job he did there, and then the punt down there at the end, I thought, was nice. "
Aside from Araiza's fake punt run for 12 yards, he punted five times, averaging nearly 47 yards per attempt.
"The play of the game was Bassa punching the kickoff out," Reid said. "Then Cochrane getting it back there. What a great job he did on that with the forced fumble, and like I said, probably the biggest play of the game."
Linebacker Jeffrey Bassa's forced fumble late in the fourth quarter and linebacker Jack Cochrane's turnover led to a crucial touchdown that kept the game out of reach.
This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Dave Toub's unit impacted the Chiefs' Week 4 victory over the Raiders
