Read the full transcript from STC Chris Tabor's media availability on November 12, 2026.
Hafley said obviously you're sticking with Zane. With something like that when you obviously consider other kickers, do you like to tell the player that he's staying when it's unclear? Like did you just call him aside Wednesday and say "you're our kicker moving forward," or do you just hope he finds out on his own? Zane's status was in question, which he knew, he acknowledged to us today because he was aware kickers were brought in for workouts. He was aware that his three elevations were up and the team had to make a decision. So I said, are you told by someone or just figure it out on your own? He said, no, I was told on Wednesday. So was that you telling him?
Chris Tabor: I'm going to always communicate with the player. I mean, I learned a long time ago in coaching tell the players the truth, right, wrong, or indifferent, just be upfront about everything, and that was it. We're always going to bring players in, so to me, it's not a big deal. Maybe it is to other people, but I don't see it like that.
And the thinking with keeping him, what led to that?
Chris Tabor: I think he's a good player. I think he's a player that, yes, he missed a kick he should have made. We can all agree about that and Zane would too. In my eyes, that's kind of his first miss. I know on stats that it's two, sometimes there's other things that go on. I'm just not really, I'm not a guy that just pushes players away. He's been on the street for six weeks, seven weeks, and this was his third week back, so I think that he's still working to get to where he needs to be, right? I got a lot of confidence in him and we're working hard at getting better. I look forward to watching him kick this weekend. I got a lot of confidence in him, and it's real easy for me.
What were you guys trying to accomplish on the kickoffs with Zane holding?
Chris Tabor: We were just manipulating the ball a little bit. We were trying to – a little bit more of the dirty ball, we were trying to get the ball on the ground.
What was it like the two fake punts where first you're on the receiving end of one and then running it later?
Chris Tabor: I think just the game of football, really, right? Jack Fox, obviously, he's a really good thrower. You can watch, I mean, he has some great, great throws throughout his career that you watch and all those things, throws a little back shoulder there. To be honest with you, you just kind of say, okay, tip my hat to you, you got us. That's a tough play to cover, and then we had our opportunity. I'm glad we had our opportunity and we converted on ours. I think that's just it's the game of football, right? I think probably what's the hardest part for everyone is that it happens in special teams. Sure, you don't want that to happen in special teams, but I thought we were playing aggressive and obviously Detroit's going to play aggressive and that's football to me.
When you make a call like that, like what was the process of like just keeping everyone from avoiding any tells? Because I'm sure guys get excited, get hyped up like, oh wait, they just called it, we're about to run that fake. How do you kind of keep it concealed so that the opposition isn't tipped off?
Chris Tabor: I think that just goes through your practice and preparation. I think you've run through that scenario so many times that it should be clockwork for the guys, and I think that's what that was.
Obviously that was the first NFL catch for Kaytron Allen. Just want to ask you, how did that spark the rest of the phases of the team? Just how that moment was?
Chris Tabor: I'm glad it worked. It's better we're talking about that than it didn't work, but it was good for Kaytron, right? I mean, the guy's really never ever played any special teams. He comes down there on the kickoff, early kickoff, makes a nice move and gets in a little bit to help force the tackle, and then he gets his first NFL catch, which is a big play. He's a player that's growing quickly, and how many games has he played now, three games? Is that about right? So really like to see where he's going and hopefully we can keep getting him better.
Going back to Zane what you were saying about him earlier, you said that in your eyes, that was his first miss. What did you mean by that? Were there other factors?
Chris Tabor: Yeah, sometimes there's other things that go on. It's a whole operation, and I've got a lot of confidence in all three of our guys. We will always look at the make or miss, and at the end of the day that's what an NFL kicker is charged with doing is making kicks. And sometimes there's other things that are out of his control, but it's still, at the end of the day, he needs to make that kick. I'm not making any excuses for him and he knows that, so that's not the big deal. Here's what I'd say – he missed it, and then the nice thing is that he comes back and hits a 52-yarder. So that kind of says a lot to me about who the human being is, but that's who Zane's been his whole career.
What's the process of finding out if your punter can pass? I mean, Pinion threw a nice ball. Is that a training camp thing or OTAs thing, regular season?
Chris Tabor: We're always throwing. I just think today's player, they're all good athletes. It's funny, sometimes you'll find another player that can do something and I'm always like, "man, how come you never said that? Don't keep things a secret." But I'm glad he executed. I think that might have been Bradley's first pass, I think that's what he told me. So that shocked me too, got a lot of firsts.
On the other side, the punt that only went 25 yards, was it just as simple as a mishit?
Chris Tabor: Yeah, he mishit the ball. Mishit the ball, can't have that. He knows that, and that doesn't help.
Kevin Coleman, it looked like on that first return he was on his way and somebody kind of grabbed him right by the arm. How has he done returning? It looks like pretty good.
Chris Tabor: He's done a nice job. You could kind of feel him coming through there. He has some speed and some explosiveness as he comes through the hole there. I mean, that was a really good kickoff team. I think they were fifth in the league in kickoff coverage and to go up against those guys, I thought our guys did a nice job blocking. There's always still room for improvement, but guys believe in KC trying to get it through there. I say it every week, it is a work in progress and I'm excited about how they're growing. And trust me, I want things to be better faster and all those things, but man, I am having a blast coaching them. Even if they make a mistake, yes, we'll get it fixed and let's go, and that's been a fun part with these guys.
I was talking to Tucker Addington about long snapping. I know he coached for two years. What is the skill of long snapping like? I mean, do you need good hands, good timing, like what do you need?
Chris Tabor: Well, there's a lot to it. I can't even – I don't want to bore you with everything there, but just short snaps, right? Being able to hit the spot so that when the holder catches the ball, the kicker is seeing the ball the whole time. It doesn't go blind for him for a second. Then there's the lace component, you know what I mean? The velocity and making sure that you hit the same velocity all the time so we don't have to manipulate the laces, because when you put the ball down, if the laces are wrong, you're essentially kicking a spinning ball, which could contribute to a miss, right? And so there's a lot of things in their world, then you go into the long snapping deal and now they got to protect and you're talking about defensive ends that rush the quarterback for a living and they're one-on-one with them and the guy's on his snap hand. He has to finish the snap, then get his hand up and that guy's already almost by him. I mean, that's why there's only 32 of them and that's a tough spot. It's a tough spot, but he's growing and getting better, so excited about his development.
I always wondered, why wouldn't a center work on long snapping? Why wouldn't every center work on long snapping? Is it something that's going to throw off their other rhythm?
Chris Tabor: It is a hard skill, it is. And there's different guys that you try to prep, even in your backup, like when I was in Chicago, Greg Olson was our backup long snapper. Not everybody can do it, and you got to obviously be able to throw the football, and then sometimes some guys might be too – I don't know if you want to say bulky or big – boxy to finish the snap and then get up. I mean, there's a lot of moving parts there on that whole deal. Indianapolis has a great one. He was a former linebacker converted to long snapper, so you see a guy that can play out in open space and run down and all those things. A lot of dads say, I'm going to train my son to be a long snapper, and I say, that's probably a pretty good move. That's a good move, because if you can do it, you can find work.
I know I've asked you this before, and I even asked Jeff Hafley this, because I see it all the time now, especially the dirty ball kick and kicking it in the landing zone instead of just kicking it out of bounds. I'm watching Buffalo, Minnesota, and they dirty ball kicked it. The team returns it to the 30-yard line, why are we stressing over 15 yards?
Chris Tabor: Because, once again, you're getting into four down territory, and it's a hard one. I'll go through tonight and as you watch NFL games – like tonight, I call it the big play tape, and I'll watch all the returns that are 40 yards or more, and it's been averaging about 17 per week. There's a lot, but if you hit the touchback, you have to kind of pick and choose and look at everything collectively. But when you get the ball, obviously, on the 35, I mean, it's one first down and a little, and then they're in four down territory, then it's obviously earned points already. The dirty ball is something that because once it hits the ground, we can take off and go, so you're buying time to make a move on a guy. Where in the old days, remember we'd kick off and you needed the hangtime because we were running down further and the higher he hung it up, it bought me time to get down there. Well now, since we're so close, it's nice if you can to hit the dirty ball and you're buying perceived hangtime. Now obviously the flaw in that is when you don't hit the landing zone, now the ball's at the 40. The Colts, this kid's a great kicker, what is he, 22 or 24. And he hit a dirty ball to open up the game last week and he hits it out of bounds. It's tough for those guys to master that, but the ones that can do it, it does then kind of limit some of the returns that you can run against it, because you just don't know where the ball's going. Because once again, kickoff return, timing and spacing, right? Offensive play, and it's disrupting all those, the timing and the spacing. So that's why if you can hit the dirty ball, it is advantageous for you.
With college, they're not – you don't have the same rules. They're not working on the dirty ball. So how does this benefit you? I mean, I know it makes that element of game more interesting.
Chris Tabor: Yes, it has some ying and yang to it, you know what I mean? With regards to if it works, hey, we love it, right? And then when it doesn't hit the landing zone, you're like, oh boy, we just gave it to them at the 40. You do have a little Russian roulette on the deal, but once again, I'd say this; the game of football, it's each play has its own life, right? You're kind of living – I live just one play at a time and kind of going back to the fake, like when it happened, I was like, oh okay. Over, move on, next, you know what I mean? And then same thing, well, we didn't hit the landing zone, then we kicked off and we covered, so you just kind of keep moving on. It's a tough one, and we're trying to perfect the dirty ball, we are.
Did you see the Jets used a fullback to kickoff? Can Hermanator kick it?
Chris Tabor: Yeah, I don't know if the Hermanator can kick it, but that's a nice thing because now you're getting an extra cover player who covers for a living, and no one accounts for the kicker because you just don't have enough guys. So you'll probably see that trend increase as we go, but you have to find somebody that can do it, right?
Do you want to let him try tomorrow, the Hermanator?
Chris Tabor: The Hermanator? Only if you want to.
What can't the Hermanator do?
Chris Tabor: Hermanator can do everything, that's why we love him. That's why he's the Hermanator.
