The NFL implemented a new kickoff rule this offseason that was supposed to incentivize returns, making the play more exciting while limiting the player safety concerns of the old play. Mike Tomlin was part of the competition committee that approved the new rule, but it doesn’t sound like he sees it as all that more exciting, at least for Week 1.
“To be honest with you, I expect to see some touchbacks,” Tomlin said via his weekly Keys to the Game segment on the Steelers’ website. “I think a lot of us have analyzed it and obviously, although it’s exciting, there’s still some things, some questions that remain in terms of personalities and so forth. When you look at the average start point in the preseason, I think it was around the 28-and-a-half-yard line. There’s a lot of risk management decisions fighting over that yard and a half…I think you’re gonna see a lot of teams err on the side of caution and not compete for that yard and a half.”
That doesn’t sound like the exciting, game-changing play discussed all offseason. If that is what happens, then you are talking about offenses being given five extra yards of starting field position compared to the old touchback. It will drive up scores in games, but perhaps not the intended outcome for the play itself.
I don’t know if that is what Tomlin was initially expecting based on the team’s actions and what he has said in the past.
The Steelers signed return specialist Cordarrelle Patterson very shortly after the new rule was passed. Tomlin also said back in early August that he wasn’t interested in spotting people on the 30-yard line with the new touchback rule.
“From my perspective, as I sit here today, those 10 or so yards you’re talking about, we’re fighting for,” Tomlin said via SiriusXM Radio’s Movin’ The Chains with Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller a month ago. “I’m not interested in spotting people on the 30. We can’t live in our fears. From my perspective, if you’re pursuing greatness, you gotta take some risks. We gotta get acclimated to this thing.”
Tomlin just said he expects, globally, for teams to forgo the rule and opt for kicking the ball out of the end zone for a touchback. He didn’t necessarily say that is what the Steelers will do, but it wouldn’t surprise me, given his latest comments on the play.
He also said he suspects that teams won’t want to spot their opponents on the 30-yard line when the field gets narrow in the playoffs. So perhaps this becomes more of a factor later in the season once teams are more comfortable with executing the new play.
The new rule has a “landing zone” from the goal line to the 20-yard line. If the ball is kicked into that zone, it must be returned. If it lands short of the zone, it counts as out of bounds and gets spotted at the 40, the same as if it goes out of bounds. If it lands in the landing zone but then rolls into the end zone for a touchback, it will be spotted at the 20. And if teams just kick it out of the end zone, as was often the case in the old system, it gets spotted at the 30.
We will see if Tomlin goes against the grain and attempts to play with the new rule despite his prediction of the league largely forgoing the play.
