Some teams used to be able to create a significant advantage with their return game. By forcing blockers to wait, they now have a better chance of at least slowing the coverage team down. The NFL recently released the following animation that illustrates the difference between player movement in 2017 onside kicks (red) and 2018 onside kicks (blue). That's basically the entire difference between 2013 and 1983. They have now been removed altogether. This decreases the likelihood of surprise onside kicks since so many return team members are forced into an area so close to the neutral zone. That's much harder when even the lesser kickers are capable of getting the ball to the end zone often enough. The league claimed concussions suffered on kickoff plays dropped 35 percent in 2018 after it tweaked the rules in the name of player safety. Of course the league-wide pass ratio has continued to increase each season as well, and we know more points come out of the passing game, so that's a big factor in the record-setting numbers. The 2011 rate of 153 kickoff returns per touchdown was close to double the rate of 88 per touchdown in 2010. Since 2011, it's happened five times, including a 28-point comeback by the Colts in the playoffs. The NFL's solution to reduce those hits was as simple as moving the spot of the kickoff to the 35-yard line rather than the 30. It respects the spirit of the game. Data from NFL.com is only complete to back to 1992, but when we compare current numbers with the years 1992 and 1993 when kickoffs were at the 35, we see today's kickers are much better at driving the ball for touchbacks. It takes away what the NFL calls the “jump-set/attack” block. The NFL is implementing some kickoff rule changes. The last three seasons, all under the new kickoff rule, are the three highest-scoring seasons in the Super Bowl era. They must line up on the 35-yard line and can’t run until the ball is kicked. New Kickoff Rules. On the receiving team, players cannot cross the restraining line until the ball hits the ground or is secured by the returner. There are so many restrictions on what either side of the ball can do. - If the ball goes straight to the endzone or further, it is a long touchback and the ball is placed at the 40-yard line. In a related note, touchbacks skyrocketed to 43.5 percent this season, more than two and a half times last year’s rate of 16.4 percent. t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; The 2018 NFL season will be another great year of football; as long as the new rules don't impact the game. Rarely does a kickoff go out of bounds these days -- John Kasay in Super Bowl XXXVIII aside -- but that was two or three times more likely to happen for most of 1992-2010. After the league reviewed their medical data, it showed that concussions were five times as likely to happen on kickoffs than during other plays, according to ESPN. .site-description { New Kickoff Rules. Denver's lead was built almost exclusively on takeaways and short fields -- an unsustainable strategy. Since 2011, 16 teams have won a game after trailing by at least 18 points. Before the NFL season, one of the rule changes that received the most discussion was how moving kickoffs up five yards to the 35-yard line would affect the return game. This AP release has the following concussion totals: 252 (2011), 261 (2012) and 228 (2013). This new rule makes blocking similar to a punt. Of course with nearly a 40 percent decrease in returnable kickoffs, this was to be expected. The touchback rate had reached 26.5 percent in 1993, but instantly fell to 7.0 percent in the first season after the five-yard move. Using the Drive Finder at Pro-Football-Reference, I collected data on drives starting at exactly the 20-yard line since 1999: Wow, we went from about 100 80-yard touchdown drives to 250 per season since 2011. The overhaul comes in several facets, as laid out by the NFL competition committee. Team B presses and makes a mistake, giving Team A more great field position and a chance to have a three-score lead. 1,374 kickoffs (5.4 per game) were returned in 2011, compared to 2,033 (7.9 per game) in 2010. The goal of the league is to reduce the speed of collisions which, in theory, reduces the risk of injury. 2017 rule: Kickoff team can set up five yards behind the line of scrimmage. The receiving team should still be in better position to have the ball. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({ Your email address will not be published. by sancho.brasil // Apr 21, 2014 - 11:31pm. In reply to Re: Impact of the NFL's Kickoff Rule Change by sancho.brasil. Team A kicks off and pins Team B at its own 20 or worse. A free kick is a kickoff or safety kick that puts the ball in play to start a free kick down. The Chargers' second-half drives started at their own 15, 22, 15, 32, 14 and 20. We'll possibly get the 2013 update from Edgeworth Economics this summer, but these numbers almost never match the NFL's releases. Kickoffs will look a little different in 2018 after the NFL passed a new set of rules in May that aim to make the play safer. This will force blockers to run down the field with the coverage team, making blocking similar to that of a punt. Regardless of which injury numbers are right, the league must do its best to make sure the numbers stay down. If it reaches the endzone, the ball is spotted at the 40-yard line; if it doesn't, it is at the line of the kick. 2013 had a FG% of 86.5%, or around 5.1 points/game. As I mentioned before, a new league record for offensive yards per game has been set every season since 2009.

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