Kansas City Chiefs coordinator Dave Toub explains his philosophy on when to squib-kick

With 13 seconds remaining in regulation, nursing a 3-point, the Buffalo Bills had a dilemma against the Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs.

To squib-kick or not to squib-kick — that was the question.

The Bills chose the latter scenario and paid for it when the Chiefs quickly moved 44 yards down the field and kicked a 49-yard field goal to send the game to overtime.

The rest became history, with the Chiefs winning 42-36 to advance to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium.

Days after last weekend’s epic overtime win, Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub took a moment to address his philosophy on when it’s appropriate to squib a kick.

“There’s really no right or wrong answer to it,” Toub said Thursday. “Depends on the situation, who’s back there, what kind of returner you’re facing and those kinds of things. All those things have to be calculated. It’s game by game, really.”

Buffalo might have found itself in a tough spot because of the Chiefs’ dangerous return game.

Had the Bills elected to squib-kick, they had to deal with wide returner/returner Byron Pringle and his team-high 24.8 yards per return. With Pringle anchoring the return game, the Chiefs finished the regular season ranked 10th in the league, averaging 23.4 yards per kickoff return.

Tackling Pringle, who had already had one kickoff return for 26 yards in the game, or another returner might have taken at least a few seconds off the clock. But then the Bills could’ve allowed the Chiefs to set up beyond the 25-yard line, which is where the ball went on the touchback.

“We could’ve got the ball out to the 40 just as well with a squib kick, and then it would’ve been basically the first play of our offense,” Toub said. “A squib-kick, by the time you get tackled, takes about four seconds and I think the offensive play was five seconds, so it’s comparable.

“But the chances you take, I mean, you’re saying, ‘Hey, you want to stop them with your special teams or do you want to do it with your No. 1 defense that you have?’ So, that’s the choice you got to make.”

To prepare his own team for potential squib-kicks, Toub said his special teams unit practices multiple scenarios.

Toub said his players know what to do in the event of a short squib-kick, which could include immediately downing the ball around the 40-yard line to not take time off the clock. In the event of a long kick remaining in the field of play, Toub said he wants his unit to get up the field if the ball is fielded around the 5-yard line.

“You got to try to get it out because if you take a knee there, they’re getting exactly what they want so you want to try and get something going,” Toub said. “We practice that like crazy.

“Put it this way: If someone squibs us the ball like that, we’re thinking we’re going to get it to the 40, at least. That’s really what we’re thinking, maybe even more.”

Ultimately, the Bills’ decision to kick the ball into the end zone never put the squib in play.

Equipped with the full 13 seconds and three timeouts to operate with, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes calmly threw a 19-yard pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill to move to the 44-yard line, which took five seconds off the clock. Then, five second later, Mahomes found tight end Travis Kelce on an audible for a 25-yard gain to the Bills’ 31-yard line.

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker took care of the rest with three seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.

The Chiefs are likely grateful for the lack of a squib-kick because of how much time remained in regulation, but Toub understood the Bills’ quandary.

“I’m sure that came across their mind of what are they going to do there,” Toub said. “You have to try to figure it out.

“If they had squibbed to us and we got it out, they would’ve said, ‘Yeah, they should’ve kicked it deep.’ It’s just one of those things it’s always easy to second-guess.”