With their 25-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Kansas City Chiefs locked up the third seed in the AFC playoff picture. While the game went down to the wire, they couldn’t have pulled off that victory without Harrison Butker. The two-time Super Bowl champion kicker was incredible, connecting on all six of his field goals to help erase a 10-point deficit and clinch yet another division title. In honor of his great work, Butker earned Special Teams Player of the Week honors for Week 17.
Harrison Butker Earns Special Teams Player of the Week Honors
A Crucial Victory
While every win matters in the NFL, Week 17’s victory was especially important for the Chiefs. At 10-6, the team has officially clinched the third seed in the AFC, and nothing they do in Week 18 will change their seeding. Because of this, the Chiefs can effectively use the regular season finale as a glorified bye week to rest all of their starters and ensure they’re in full health for yet another postseason run. The team already announced that Blaine Gabbert is going to start over Patrick Mahomes, and it’s safe to assume other starters will also see the bench next week.
Harrison Butker is one of the best kickers in the league, and Week 17’s performance is just the cherry on top of the sundae that is his magnificent season. Entering Week 18, the kicker has connected on 31 of his 33 field goal attempts and is 37/37 on extra points. It’s also worth noting that one of his two misses was due to poorly inflated footballs, so he’s really only had one miss all season.
Of course, Harrison Butker’s impressive 2023 season is anything but an outlier. Butker was the best kicker in the league last week, but it’s not the first time he’s earned the honor. Since entering the league back in 2017, the kicker has earned Special Teams Player of the Week on five separate occasions, most recently in 2020 when he connected on two separate 58-yard field goals. With Kansas City’s offense not being its usual dominant self, they’ll need special teams and their defense to play a bigger role in the postseason, and Butker could turn into a Kansas City legend if he maintains this level of play into January.
Is Harrison Butker A Pro Bowl Snub?
Ironically, Harrison Butker earned the Special Teams Player of the Week right when the NFL announced their Pro Bowl nominees. The AFC only sends one kicker to the Pro Bowl, and it’s awfully hard to earn that honor when you share a conference with Justin Tucker. There is no denying that Tucker is the best kicker of his generation, as the former undrafted free agent has perhaps the best combination of leg strength and accuracy in NFL history. Butker can’t match Tucker’s career greatness, but has his 2023 been better than Tucker’s?
As mentioned earlier, Harrison Butker has only missed two kicks all year, and one of those was not his fault. Tucker, meanwhile, has “only” connected on 31 of his 36 attempts and even missed one of his 51 extra point attempts. While Tucker has been perfect on short-range field goals, he’s only 12/17 from beyond 40 yards. Some of these long misses are inevitable, but the fact remains that Butker has been better this year. Quite frankly, there’s a case to be made that the Chiefs have the best kicker of the 2023 season.
Main Photo: Sam Greene – USA Today Sports
