If Thursday night's season opener between the Chiefs and Ravens is a foreshadowing of how teams will handle the new kickoff rules this season, the NFL may have a problem on its hands.
The new "dynamic kickoff" had little impact on Thursday night. Of the 11 combined kickoffs, nine resulted in touchbacks. This is clearly not what the NFL had in mind when it implemented new rules encouraging more kickoff returns.
While the Chiefs booted each of their kickoffs into the end zone, the Ravens twice kicked the ball inside the "landing zone" while giving Kansas City the chance for a return.
The first return, a 28-yard runback by Carson Steele, gave the Chiefs the ball at their own 33, a slightly better starting field position than a touchback, which under the new rules puts the ball at the 30.
Baltimore benefitted on the second kickoff return, as the Chiefs started the drive on the 19-yard-line after a holding call wiped out a 31-yard return by Mecole Hardman.
The average starting field position on Thursday night was the 29-yard line, which is nearly exactly what the average was during the preseason. Given the risks associated with giving an opponent the chance to return a kickoff, it's clear that teams are content with kicking the ball in the end zone and giving the opposing team the ball at the 30.
It's clear that Andy Reid and John Harbaugh share Bill Belichick's approach toward the new kickoff rules. The six-time Super Bowl-winning coach -- who said that he would kick the ball in the end zone on kickoffs -- recently predicted that the new kickoff rules may not have the impact that the league had hoped.
"I think what we saw in preseason was most teams kicking the ball so it would be returned, so they could evaluate their coverage," Belichick said last week on The Pat McAfee Show. "I think, once you get into the regular season, if the (opposing) team's got good returners, it's just gonna be touchbacks. That's all it's gonna be. You put them on the 30 instead of 25 I mean, big deal. But I'd rather do that than kick it to one of these guys that can change field position on you in a hurry."
