Tonight, the N.F.L. season will begin with a new and unusual-looking version of the play that’s as old as the league itself: the kickoff.
The impetus for the change was boredom.
Long considered one of the most exciting plays in football, the kickoff has been adjusted several times in recent years, primarily in the name of player safety. But those changes have meant less action. Last year, fans were treated to an actual kickoff return about one in every four plays.
The rule changes piled up:
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In 2011, the kickoff was moved forward 5 yards, to the 35-yard line, making it easier to kick the ball deep into the end zone. That often resulted in a touchback, and the receiving team, instead of returning the kickoff, got the ball at its own 20-yard line.
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Beginning in 2016, a touchback meant starting at the 25-yard line, not the 20, further incentivizing receiving teams to choose a touchback instead of a return.
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And last year, the N.F.L. allowed a kick returner to call for a fair catch anywhere he caught it — not just in the end zone — resulting in a touchback.
Although the league declared the series of rule changes successful in reducing concussions during kickoff returns, its own statement credited the decrease in injuries to the fact that fewer kickoffs were returned.
The N.F.L. is hoping its new rules can keep injuries low while saving the kickoff from irrelevance. What fans will see Thursday night, when the Baltimore Ravens visit the Kansas City Chiefs, is what the N.F.L. is calling a “dynamic kickoff,” an adjustment intended to encourage more returns while limiting concussions caused from hits after long running starts.
If the preseason is any indication, the change appears to have had an effect: Return rates on this year’s preseason kickoffs have more than tripled last year’s regular-season rate.
The last time the N.F.L. kickoff return rate was as high was in 2010, the year before the N.F.L. moved the kickoff 5 yards closer to the end zone. Bill Belichick, then coach of the New England Patriots, warned at the time that the move could kill “one of the most exciting plays in football.” He was right. The next year, return rates dropped 25 percentage points, from 81 percent to 56 percent.
What’s different
In the new rules, players on both teams line up much closer to one another, and most players can’t move until a kick has been received or hits the ground.
While the old rules placed the ball at the 25-yard line after touchbacks, the new rules differentiate two types of touchbacks:
If the ball lands in the end zone, the ball is brought to the 30 for a touchback (assuming the team doesn’t run the ball out).
If the ball lands between the end zone and the 20-yard line, then bounces into the end zone, the receiving team can choose to return the ball or choose a touchback that moves the ball to the 20. (If the ball lands between the end zone and the 20-yard line and doesn’t go into the end zone, the receiving team must return it. If the ball lands short of the 20-yard line, the ball is placed at the 40.)
The hope is that skilled kickers could land the ball just short of the end zone, leading to an exciting return. But kicking teams may end up opting to kick the ball as deep as possible for a touchback, putting the ball at the 30.
In recent years, kickoff return rates have been 10 to 30 percentage points higher in the preseason, as teams are more likely to experiment and opt for more live practice even at the cost of superior field position.
And even over the course of this preseason, teams became less likely to experiment. In the first week, the return rate was 83 percent. In the third and final week of the preseason, when teams typically start to play more like the way they will in the regular season, that figure had dropped to 59 percent.
The average returner in the preseason reached the 28-yard line. While that’s two yards short of the new touchback mark at the 30, many teams may not consider those yards worth the additional risk of surrendering an explosive play. Some commentators, including Belichick, have predicted that teams will end up preferring a touchback given those incentives.
We’ll soon see what teams choose to do.
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