NFL’s radical new kickoff rules leave everyone guessing about their impact

Kickers such as the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker will be all by themself when they kick off under the NFL’s new rules on the play. (Kirby Lee / Getty Images)

To get up to speed on the dramatic change to NFL kickoffs this season, everyone is in for an education — players, coaches, officials and millions of fans.

With that in mind, “Thursday Night Football” executive producer Fred Gaudelli has gone back to campus.

In advance of an Aug. 22 preseason game between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Gaudelli has arranged for a high school football team to walk through the various formations and possibilities of the new kickoff in order to get the best camera angles.

“We sat down and drew up a coverage plan,” said Gaudelli, who was working with director Pierre Moossa and producer Mark Teitelman. “We had one way of covering conventional kickoffs. So we’re going to have a totally different way of covering this kickoff. We’re trying to plan for all eventualities. So we’re bringing in a high school team to mimic the kickoffs so we can shoot it and see what works and what doesn’t.”

No ordinary rules tweak, these new kickoffs might be the biggest on-field rules change since the advent of the forward pass.

“This is going to make more people be glued to their TV.”

Cinque Sweeting, kick returner for the XFL’s Vegas Vipers

The new rules put the majority of opposing players much closer together for kickoffs, so they won’t be able to build up a head of steam for those explosive collisions. The ball is kicked from the 35-yard line with 10 kick coverage players assembled on the opposing 40, five on each side of the field.

Those players are within point-blank range of the “set up zone” between the 30- and 35-yard lines, the area where at least nine of the return-team blockers are required to assemble. So almost everyone on the field is gathered in a tight cluster.

Graphic of proposed change to NFL kickoffs. (NFL)

That looks strange enough, but it’s even weirder that no one in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfls-radical-kickoff-rules-leave-100019800.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-08-08 10:00:19

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