Concerning the new rule with the spot of the ball during the kickoff, what I have noticed and maybe others have seen this also is the special team is getting down there so fast that all the returner needs to do is make a few miss and he is gone.. There seems to be no body left but the kicker. I sure all teams will watch film and make adjustments as the season moves on.
I was going to comment on this too, there will definitely be adjustments made during the season that will exploit this. There is maybe a 5-10 yard wall of defenders and that includes the kicker/punter. after that though, open field, which is why we have seen so many run backs already IMO.
I believe there were 3 kickoff returns for TDs. I did hear on NFL radio that 50% of the kickoffs were touchbacks, compared to 18% last year. Were other returns that weren't for a TD but were for 78, 57, 51, and 46 yards. It's not nearly as bad as we thought it'd be. I love our strategy of angling the kick to the corner and tackling inside the 20.
i think the coverage teams are actually getting down there slower than in previous years ... the new five yard run up rule, as opposed to ten yards, is a big reason we saw a lot of returns for touchdowns (yet i havent heard many "analysts" mention that impact on returns, just the move to the 35) the reason it looks like they are getting down there faster is because kickers are putting more hangtime on the kicks so its almost like a punt situation, make the first few miss and youre gone ... if you dont youre probably pinned inside the 15
They should do it like we do in the back yard. Cover team can't cross the line of scrimmage until after the balls been caught!
