Chiefs say this unsung special teams leader was key to stopping Bills’ fake punt

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill could tell something wasn’t normal.

The Buffalo Bills were lined up in a punt formation in the fourth quarter from their own 30-yard line, with personal protector Damar Hamlin moving back and forth before the snap.

“You could feel it in their cadence,” Tranquill said. “Gave a call that they don’t normally give.”

The Bills, it seemed, were about to try something tricky on a fourth-and-5 from their own 30.

Linebacker Leo Chenal said teammates started yelling, “Alert the fake!” Jack Cochrane, meanwhile, said the Chiefs have played the Bills enough lately to understand their protection patterns and when things don’t look right.

“Just kind of putting everything together,” Cochrane said. “I thought we had a chance to see something new.”

Sure enough, Hamlin took the direct snap, attempting a run around the left side for a potential momentum-changing play.

It never reached the intended destination in the Bills’ 27-24 Divisional Round loss to the Chiefs. Chenal and Cole Christiansen combined on the tackle to stop Hamlin for a two-yard gain, though Chenal said the hero of the play was someone else:

Cochrane.

“We had a solid guy — our leader on special teams, one of the leaders of special teams — set the edge,” Chenal said. “Great edge.”

That assignment was especially critical given the Chiefs faced a massive numbers disadvantage — because of their own mistake.

KC lined up for the Buffalo punt with just 10 players on the field. Not only that, the missing body was a big guy in the middle whose primary job on a fake would’ve been to muddy up run lanes.

Cochrane described being down an individual in that situation as “not ideal.”

“But as we showed,” Cochrane said, “I think we can get it done.”

In this instance, Cochrane’s role (No. 43) of “setting the edge” was to do whatever he could to get outside Hamlin. By doing that, he’d force Hamlin to go inside with his run, where the Chiefs had more guys that could make the tackle.

And while Cochrane deflected credit when told in the locker room that Chenal had complimented him for staying outside, one teammate wasn’t about to let him be modest.

Linebacker Nick Bolton, standing in the locker next to Cochrane, leaned his body into an interview to give Cochrane some love.

“He stopped it!” Bolton yelled. “Ten guys on the field, he stopped it anyway!”

Chenal said making the tackle was a matter of muscle memory. He said the Chiefs work on going against that particular fake every day in practice.

Tranquill still singled out Chenal’s effort, calling him a “freaking beast” before labeling it as a “huge play.”

The tackle was significant. According to the win-probability calculator at rbsdm.com, failing on that fourth down cost Buffalo 2.7 expected points — the sixth-biggest shift of any snap Sunday.

“It was good. It was a good swing for us,” Cochrane said. “Kind of felt like it turned momentum in our favor, and we were able to finish it out with all three phases playing a big part.”