KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Punter Tommy Townsend was a rookie just hoping to land a spot on the reigning Super Bowl champions’ roster when Dave Toub, the Kansas City Chiefs’ special teams coordinator, came to him with an unusual request.
He wanted to see Townsend’s passing form.
“Toub wanted me to throw a couple and just make sure I could throw I guess,” Townsend recalled.
It was a prerequisite for the job, because fake-punt passes are a staple of Toub’s game-planning.
Special-teams fakes are not used often, but the Chiefs count on such plays to change momentum and, ultimately, games a couple times each year — and it nearly did just that Monday against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Townsend was called on to throw a deep out route on fourth-and-5 near midfield with under 3 minutes before halftime — and he uncorked a dime to Justin Watson on the sideline that provided a temporary spark at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I saw the linebacker flying out, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to put this thing right on the sideline,’” Townsend said. “Luckily, J-Wat went down and made a nice catch and we got the first down.”
Kansas City had given up defensive touchdowns on its previous two possessions, turning a 7-3 lead into a 17-7 deficit, so the sneaky fourth-down conversion brought life back to the fans and put a pep in the offense’s step again.
“It was a great call by Coach Toub and great execution by Tommy,” Watson said. “It would have been sweet if that could have catapulted us into a scoring drive right at the end of the half.”
Ultimately, the drive stalled at the Raiders’ 18-yard line before Harrison Butker pulled a 36-yard field-goal try wide left, leaving the Chiefs staring down a 10-point halftime deficit.
“Hopefully, we get more (opportunities),” Townsend said. “I’m always down to have more fakes; they’re a lot of fun, especially when you execute and get a first down off of it.”
Townsend, a high school safety, doesn’t have much experience as a passer, but he stressed after Monday’s game that he’s always been a good athlete.
“I’ve always been able to throw the ball decent enough,” Townsend said. “... I played baseball and all that, so I’ve always been able to throw the ball pretty good.”
Clearly, Townsend was able to impress Toub all those years ago.
He’s been allowed to throw one fake-punt pass in each season of his four-year NFL career.
“It’s a good feeling to know he’s got faith in me to go out there and make that play,” Townsend said.
Townsend is 3 for 4 for 40 yards with three first downs in his NFL passing career.
He had a 13-yard pass for a first down against the New York Jets as a rookie and victimized the Raiders for a 16-yard fake-punt pass and first down in 2021.
Townsend’s incompletion came against Indianapolis last season.
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