Chiefs followed Royals script with energizing kickoff return
Do Kansas City sports teams know how to get a postseason party started or what?
On the opening kickoff of Saturday’s AFC Wild-Card Game against the Houston Texans, Chiefs’ return man Knile Davis raced 106 yards to the end zone without being touched, let alone tackled.
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Davis’ return was the second-longest in NFL postseason history, trailing only Jacoby Jones’ 108 yard return in Super Bowl XLVII, and it gave Kansas City the fastest lead ever in NFL postseason history at 11 seconds.
Take a look.
Pretty thrilling, right?
Davis’ return was just the beginning of a dominating performance from Kansas City in every phase of the game. In fact, that touchdown would be the only points they needed as they ran away with a 30-0 victory.
The Chiefs’ relentless attack on Saturday kind of reminded us of another professional sports franchise that represents Kansas City. That team would be the 2015 World Series champion Royals. And Davis’ return in particular reminded us of one very thrilling moment from the Royals’ postseason run. That would be Alcides Escobar’s inside-the-park home on the very first pitch seen by a Royal in the World Series.
Those plays are what you call tone setters.
In the Royals case, they were able to ride Escobar’s home run to a win in Game 1 and they never really looked back during the series, securing their championship in five games. Things work a little differently in the one-and-done NFL postseason. There’s no Game 2 where a different starter or game plan can right the ship. Unfortunately for Houston, there was no other quarterback who could have saved them on Saturday or any day against Kansas City anyway. They were simply overmatched.
With that in mind, it’s difficult to say which play had a bigger all-around impact. All we can say for sure is that both will be talked about for years to come in Kansas City. Especially if the Chiefs continue building on their 11-game winning streak, which actually started seven days before the Royals clinched the World Series.
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Here’s another interesting note. Davis ran 106 yards in 11 seconds, which is pretty impressive. As for Escobar, he rounded the bases (360 feet or 120 yards) in 15 seconds. That’s impressive too, especially considering he had to make three left turns.
Think about that though. Two plays that took a combined 26 seconds may have redefined Kansas City history. They certainly spurred two of the city’s most important as the Royals ultimately snapped a 30-year World Series championship drought and Chiefs won their first postseason game in 22 years.
That, my friends, is pretty wild.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
