Mike Ransdell, Kansas City Star

Kansas City Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt celebrates a punt landing at the 4-yard line against Jacksonville on Oct. 7.

Mike Ransdell, Kansas City Star

Dustin Colquitt, a former Vol, gets off a punt against St. Louis. Colquitt is averaging 45.2 yards on 76 punts.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Dustin Colquitt is a busy guy these days. And it isn't just chasing around his son, Brinkley, who turned 1 last Saturday, at his suburban Kansas City home to give his wife, Christia, a break.

Colquitt, the older brother of University of Tennessee punter Britton Colquitt, is in his third season with the Kansas City Chiefs. His workload has steadily increased each season. With 76 punts this season averaging 45.2 yards, Colquitt has surpassed last year's total (71). But that's the way it's been with a team that's struggling offensively and mired in a six-game losing streak, including four games at home-heading into Sunday's contest at Arrowhead Stadium against the Tennessee Titans.

"We've been punting a lot this year. I always say it's a lot better to punt than to throw interceptions" said Colquitt, who last Sunday for the third time this season was called upon to punt eight times, a season-high. It also ties a career-high, which he first established last year (Nov. 12 vs. Miami).

In 2004, the year before Colquitt arrived as a third-round draft pick from Tennessee, the Chiefs punted only 55 times. That year the Chiefs paced the NFL in offense with an average of 418.4 yards per game. They missed the playoffs, however, with a 7-9 record because of a defense that couldn't stop the other team from moving the ball. The Chiefs defense surrendered 377.3 yards per game. New Orleans was the only team in the NFL with a defense that yielded more yards on average (383.8).

"One thing I tried to do when I came to Kansas City was establish the special teams to where the coaches could come to practice and go into games only having to think about offense and defense, and know that the special teams is taken care of," said Colquitt, who set a Vols record for career punts (240) over four years.

That's been true for the punting part of special teams play. Colquitt provided one of the few bright spots in a 41-7 kicking the Chiefs absorbed Sunday at Denver. Three of his eight punts were kicked inside the 20. One week earlier against the San Diego Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium, Colquitt set a Chiefs record for the longest punt in history (81 yards).

Placekicking has been a different story. Colquitt is the holder for John Carney, 43, the Chiefs third placekicker this season. Colquitt's locker stall is in the middle of a threesome that includes the placekickers, Justin Medlock and Dave Rayner prior to Carney, and the team's new deep snapper this season, Jean-Phillippe Darche. When the ball doesn't split the uprights, Colquitt feels like he's part of the failure.

"You've got to trust each other. It's very similar to Tiger Woods and his caddy or any professional golfer. You spend so much time with them out on the course. The same thing with us in practice, we have a trusting relationship," said Colquitt, whose father Craig spent six seasons as the Pittsburgh Steelers punter (and one game with the Indianapolis Colts in 1987).

In Craig Colquitt's seven seasons in the NFL and Dustin's two before this year, never had either experienced a losing season. Craig, a former Vol who earned two Super Bowl rings with the Steelers (1978 and '79), went through 1981 in Pittsburgh with a record of 8-8. That has changed with the Chiefs sitting at 4-9 under their second-year coach Herm Edwards. With no chance to even reach .500, it's a first that Dustin would rather not dwell on.

"It's new territory, but it's one of those things. One big thing that Herm (Edwards) says is to know your role and do your job and that's what I'm focused on this year," said Colquitt. "No matter what the circumstances are in the game, I've just got to make sure I go out and do what he wants me to do."

With former Alabama standout Brody Croyle getting his feet wet as the Chiefs starting quarterback in his second year on the team, the team is averaging 269 yards a game in total offense, the second worst in the league. It's almost certain Colquitt will be called upon often in the Chiefs final three games.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.