NFL kickoffs: Rules change results in most returns in history through Week 4

The NFL appears to person fixed concerns with the kickoff. Now the league volition person to anticipation it doesn't interruption again.

A twelvemonth aft a major overhaul and six months aft a seemingly insignificant tweak, teams person returned 78.3% of kickoffs during the archetypal 4 weeks of the play -- the highest complaint implicit that play successful 19 years. The NFL has seen 519 kickoff returns, the astir done Week 4 successful its history.

Coaches person reacted powerfully to moving the touchback from the 30-yard enactment successful 2024 to the 35 this season, refusing to concede the further 5 yards. The instrumentality complaint has much than doubled from past play and has much than tripled the 2023 rate. Health information is not yet available, but if the concussion complaint established during the archetypal signifier of the overhaul successful 2024 carries over, the NFL volition person achieved its extremity of revitalizing the play portion reducing its wounded risk.

"'Mission accomplished' would beryllium the mode I would picture it," said Walt Anderson, the NFL's officiating rules analyst. "It has surely brought the play backmost into the game, and it seems to beryllium successful a precise accordant pattern."

Pittsburgh Steelers manager Mike Tomlin, a subordinate of the league's contention committee, said "it's doing precisely what we intended it to do" and added: "I deliberation that we're each learning and increasing regarding champion practices, schematically however to strategize things to do, however to presumption players. Some of the size of the players successful definite positions person changed, and truthful we're each absorbing a batch of portion and we're each learning and increasing arsenic we spell successful this thing, successful presumption of the champion mode to presumption ourselves to instrumentality vantage of the caller opportunities successful the play."

As teams hunt for a competitory edge, 1 strategy successful peculiar has emerged. The improvement of specialty kickoffs -- astir notably 1 that mimics a knuckleball transportation successful shot -- threatens to disrupt the recently curated aesthetics of the play. The knuckleball footwear is designed to propulsion the shot done the aerial successful unpredictable directions, making it hard to travel and drawback cleanly. The shot often drops to the crushed successful the ineligible landing portion (between the extremity enactment and the 20-yard line) earlier it is fielded, and the likelihood of muffs increases.

Because sum men connected the kicking squad are allowed to statesman moving erstwhile the shot contacts the returner oregon hits the ground, a muff oregon bouncing shot gives them much clip to get downfield earlier a returner tin unafraid it. There person been 18 muffs connected 661 kickoffs this season, astir triple the 2024 rate. New England Patriots manager Mike Vrabel referred to it arsenic a "dirty kick" portion discussing the accomplishment of Carolina Panthers rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, an reflection describing the trouble of cleanly fielding the ball. The Panthers' sum squad has constricted opponents to an mean thrust commencement aft a instrumentality astatine the 25.8-yard line, 2nd champion successful the NFL. The lone squad amended is the Los Angeles Rams (23.4), who person their ain knuckleball specializer successful Joshua Karty.

One imaginable hole would beryllium to determination the kickoff from the 35-yard enactment to the 30, which would marque it much hard for kickers to guarantee that a knuckler could scope the landing zone. If the shot hits the crushed earlier the 20, the shot is placed astatine the receiving team's 35-yard line. Anderson, however, noted that receiving teams are making immoderate subtle adju...