How Chiefs’ 4th-string punt returner saved game vs. Bengals: ‘A full-circle moment’

Confetti fell from the sky at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium when Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub found receiver Skyy Moore on the field.

“Redemption. That’s a redemption moment,” Toub told the Chiefs rookie as they embraced late Sunday night. “I told you you were gonna get a big one.”

God’s honest truth: Neither believed this would be that day. Or that the Chiefs’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game would be when Moore would overcome his earlier nightmares — while showing the world that, yes, he could be a dangerous punt returner.

Moore — with 41 seconds left and the score tied at 20 — caught a Cincinnati punt at the Chiefs’ 18 and returned it 29 yards up the right sideline to the 47. Tight end Travis Kelce would later call it “arguably the biggest play in the game.”

None of that, though, encapsulates just the significance of this moment for Moore, who was the Chiefs’ fourth-string punt returner this week after losing three fumbles this season.

He kept working on them in practice. One day — maybe in training camp next season or later in his career — he might need to have those skills ready again.

“I knew I was gonna get one. I just didn’t know when,” Moore said in the locker room. “I would say this year ... I didn’t think I was gonna get one this year.”

Then the attrition began Sunday.

Justin Watson was inactive for the game because of an illness. Kadarius Toney left Sunday with an ankle ailment, and Mecole Hardman reinjured his pelvis.

Suddenly, in the second half when Cincinnati had to punt, Moore said there wasn’t much conversation. Instead, assistant special teams coach Andy Hill said, “Skyy, go out there,” then instructed him which yard line to stand on for the incoming kick.

In other words, Moore had to face his demons head-on.

Moore, who’d never been a punt returner in college, began the season as the Chiefs’ starter before the muffs added up. His fumble was one of the biggest plays in a Week 3 loss to Indianapolis, then four weeks later, he lost another against San Francisco.

Toub stuck with him, though not for much longer. Moore fumbled again in Week 13’s win against the Los Angeles Rams and the Chiefs turned to other options after that game.

“They said they weren’t going to put me back there. I was like, ‘I ain’t going,’” Moore said. “I didn’t even want to go back there.”

Those mistakes also had a confidence-shaking effect overall, as Moore said they “kind of put me down, made me feel different about myself.”

Through all that, though, he never stopped fielding kicks in practice.

“I had to buckle down and just keep working at it for times like this, just in case I was called to do it. I haven’t stopped catching punts, you know?” Moore said. “But I knew there would be a time that it would get like that. So I had to be ready.”

There were anxious moments Sunday for sure. Teammates attempted to be supportive on the sideline, but many repeated the same words to him before he took the field.

“Everybody was just looking at me like, ‘Catch the ball,’” Moore said. “But it happened how it was supposed to happen.”

Moore returned his first punt Sunday — in the third quarter — 25 yards. That would’ve been the longest punt return of the Chiefs’ season if it hadn’t gotten wiped out by a holding penalty.

His final opportunity late in the fourth quarter had no such callback. Instead, Moore’s 29-yard scamper on a punt return right was a season best ... and the type of play foretold by Toub the night before at the team hotel.

“He told us in film. He’s like, ‘This will be the week. This is gonna pop this week,’” Chiefs cornerback and special teams blocker Joshua Williams said. “And he didn’t lie to us. He just told us keep fighting, and eventually, we’re gonna come up big.”

A few critical blocks set it all up. Chiefs receiver Marcus Kemp credited Williams’ and Bryan Cook’s work on Cincinnati gunner Stanley Morgan, as that outside runner is typically the first one down the field; when he goes free, Kemp said, it often can put pressure on punt returners as they’re trying to focus on catching the ball.

Early on, Williams knocked Stanley to the ground as they grappled downfield. Though Bengals coaches protested to officials that it should have been a penalty, Williams didn’t see it that way.

“He got past me a little bit. I came up, and I just laid a small little lick on him,” Williams said. “He’s a good gunner, and we knew we were gonna have to double him. So we blocked that edge off, and there goes Skyy.”

While watching a replay, Kemp highlighted other teammates who did their jobs while shielding the right sideline from defenders. That included Darius Harris sealing off the side and Cook and Williams making sure Morgan didn’t have an impact at the start.

“If you can do a good job on the gunners, a lot of times, you can catch an edge,” Kemp said. “And that’s where the big plays are made.”

Moore — one of the Chiefs’ second-round draft picks from April — made it to that spot on the right sideline, saying he considered trying to hurdle Morgan before taking the safer route while going out of bounds.

When it was over, Moore bounced up and roared toward the crowd, fired up by his extended return.

“My team put a lot of confidence in me too, just to go out there knowing I was like the last line of defense — like everybody that was ahead of me was hurt,” Moore said. “So I had to really step up and just focus on the ball and get it done.”

The play set up the dramatics that came next. Patrick Mahomes followed with a critical scramble. Harrison Butker hit a 45-yard field goal with 3 seconds left, and the Chiefs, a few minutes later, were raising the Lamar Hunt trophy after advancing to Super Bowl LVII.

Moore described it in front of his locker after the game as “a full-circle moment.”

“The Rams game (fumble) put it over the top, like, ‘I’m done,’” Moore said. “But when you grow, you get bumps and bruises. I was hurt about it, but that was behind me. We’re going to the Super Bowl now.”

When all the reporters were finished with their questions, Moore leaned back. He was seated at his locker, resting his head while looking up toward the ceiling.

Teammate Juan Thornhill saw Moore’s relaxed posture as he walked out, smiling before turning to him.

“Soak that in,” he said.

Moore kept his comfy stance, laughing while still reflecting on what had just happened.

And also the two weeks that lie ahead.

“Having an impact on that last couple plays, it just made me feel so relieved,” Moore said, “and so excited to go to the big dance.”