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Special teams play in the first half of the Texans-Chiefs playoff game was crazy

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Special teams is often overlooked in the game of football. That won’t be the case after Sunday’s AFC Divisional playoff round between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs.

The first half of Sunday’s game saw plenty of special teams flaws on both sides. It started with Kansas City, and transitioned over to Houston.

In the first quarter, the Chiefs had a punt blocked and saw it returned for a touchdown by Houston’s Lonnie Johnson Jr. That score gave the Texans a 14-0 lead.

Later in the first quarter, after the Chiefs defense forced the Texans to punt, Tyreek Hill dropped the return at Kansas City’s 6-yard line, setting up another Houston touchdown.

By the end of the first quarter, Houston owned a 21-0 lead.

In the second quarter, things got pretty weird for the Houston special teams.

Facing a 4th-and-4 from its own 31-yard line, Houston opted to call a fake punt in an attempt to catch the Kansas City defense off guard. But the Chiefs sniffed it out, holding the Texans to just two yards and forcing a turnover on downs.

Kansas City scored three plays later to make the score 24-14.

On the ensuing kickoff, DeAndre Carter fumbled the returned and Kansas City recovered deep in its own territory. The Chiefs scored another touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-21.

By the end of the first half, the Chiefs had taken a 28-24 lead after trailing 24-0.

As much as we’ll hear about the offense and defense, there’s no question the special teams has been the story of the game. At least that’s the case in the first half.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB