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Deadskins wrote:Interesting, but not meaningful. Do the same comparison after the regular season, then we can discuss.
cvillehog wrote:Used to be if the kickoff reached the end zone, it wouldn't usually be returned. Maybe we're discovering that more deep kicks should have been returned all along?
Red_One43 wrote:In week 1-
19 of 32 kick off returners had at least a 24 yard average or better
3 KOR TDs (108, 103 & 102 yds)
Brandon Banks 2 KORs 48 Yds 24 yd avg. (against a very disciplined Giant kick off coverage team)
Red_One43 wrote:I didn't see the Oakland/Denver game, but I checked the stats and they showed no kick off returns at all - not one. This is what I thought the new rule would produce for games. I admit that I was wrong here. Games like this are a rare occurrence when you include preseason.
Red_One43 wrote:Red_One43 wrote:In week 1-
19 of 32 kick off returners had at least a 24 yard average or better
3 KOR TDs (108, 103 & 102 yds)
Brandon Banks 2 KORs 48 Yds 24 yd avg. (against a very disciplined Giant kick off coverage team)
Adjusting for the two Monday Night Football games
20 out of 35 kick off returners had a 24 yard average or better.
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats? ... &Submit=Go
Note*I did not count the 6 TEs and DEs that retuned kicks that's why my total returners is 35 and not 41.
Irn-Bru wrote:I still think what's going to happen is that we'll get a year or two of near-automatic touchbacks, and then some coaches are going to start tinkering with having the kicker punch it really high in the air for hangtime and having it land near the goal line. Start to cover it almost more like a punt return, with the goal of tackling them inside the 15.
Countertrey wrote:There may be some merit to testing the techniques in a game situation... otoh, why let them get tape? It has limited utility, as it is a fairly desperate attempt to change the field position battle.
Deadskins wrote:Red_One43 wrote:Red_One43 wrote:In week 1-
19 of 32 kick off returners had at least a 24 yard average or better
3 KOR TDs (108, 103 & 102 yds)
Brandon Banks 2 KORs 48 Yds 24 yd avg. (against a very disciplined Giant kick off coverage team)
Adjusting for the two Monday Night Football games
20 out of 35 kick off returners had a 24 yard average or better.
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats? ... &Submit=Go
Note*I did not count the 6 TEs and DEs that retuned kicks that's why my total returners is 35 and not 41.
Do you have any stats on the percentage of returns on kickoffs vs last year?
The NFL's new rule moving kickoffs up 5 yards produced a huge number of touchbacks during the opening weekend, yet a record-matching three kicks were returned for touchdowns.
Heading into Sunday night's game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets, 49 percent of kickoffs (63 of 129) were touchbacks. Last season only 18 percent (24 of 137) were not returned the opening weekend.
As for the new kickoff rule, I gotta tell you, I think the pooch-kickoff is going to become the trend. As kickers get more height on the ball, and they will, the pooch-kickoff receiver will have no choice but to signal for a fair catch. I can see the day when pooch-kickoffs are causing offenses to routinely start at their 15-yard line, and that’ll force another change of the kickoff rule. Everyone is focused on the touchback factor of the new kickoff rule. I think the pooch factor is going to become more of an issue.
Cobb wasn't the only player to return a kickoff from the end zone for a touchdown in Week 1. Percy Harvin went 103 yards, Ted Ginn 102. But it's not unusual — returners often field the ball two or three yards deep and take their chances, especially well-regarded specialists like Harvin and Ginn.
There have been 58 kickoff-return TDs of 101 to 103 yards in NFL history, but only 25 of 104 or more yards and only six (including Cobb’s) of 106 or more. Historically, the depth limit on kick returns from the end zone has been 4 yards, with a few exceptions: last returns before half or the end of the game (when field position won’t matter), or desperate attempts by the exceptionally talented or foolish.
There were 37 returns of kickoffs that traveled four or more yards into the end zone. Those returns averaged 29.7 yards in length, giving the offense average starting field position on the 23.9 yard line. If you consider Cobb’s touchdown an outlier and throw it out, offenses still got the ball on the 21.8-yard line. That beats a touchback, if only by 2 yards
Not every deep return was a success. Bengals returner Brandon Tate took four kicks out of the back of the end zone but twice got his team pinned inside the 10-yard line. Neither the Lions nor the Buccaneers attempted a deep return in their meeting, so not every team has embraced the idea of bringing kicks out from 8 yards deep.
andyjens89 wrote:Red_One43 wrote:I didn't see the Oakland/Denver game, but I checked the stats and they showed no kick off returns at all - not one. This is what I thought the new rule would produce for games. I admit that I was wrong here. Games like this are a rare occurrence when you include preseason.
They were in Denver and Janikowski has the biggest leg ever. Prater isn't half bad either.
The Broncos and Raiders never had a chance, because most kicks sailed out of the end zone. There may not be a single kickoff return in Mile High this season; if one happens, it will be at the end of the year, when the weather gets bad.
Football Outsiders has studied kickoff yardage for years. Over the course of a season, kickoff lengths decrease by an average of 3-5 yards. In cold-weather stadiums like Buffalo, the effect is more pronounced than in warm locations like Tampa.
In Denver, kickoff lengths average 68 yards at the start of the year but drop to just over 64 yards by season’s end, meaning that the kicks that currently float off to heaven will actually land somewhere on the field of play come December. (In dome stadiums, as you might expect, kickoff lengths are roughly constant through the year).
Countertrey wrote:As the air gets colder, it becomes more dense. This increases moving resistance, and, therefore, increases the rate of deceleration of the football moving through it. Add to that, the decreased rebound of a cold football...
Net result, shorter kickoffs.
The number of returns will increase in outdoor, cold weather stadiums as we move through fall, and into winter, but should remain fairly constant at indoor or warm weather stadiums.
That's my useless prediction.
yupchagee wrote:My guess is that the change in elasticity of the ball has an even greater effect.
Bears return man Devin Hester thinks it was stupid of the NFL to move kickoffs up five yards, and he’s not afraid to say so.
After a Week One that saw more touchbacks than usual but also more touchdown returns than usual, Hester said nothing really changed, and that the NFL passed a rule that was ostensibly about player safety but didn’t really have an impact.
“It’s just showing the NFL that moving the line up five yards didn’t budge things a bit,” Hester told the Chicago Tribune. “They got a couple touchbacks but you’ve still got guys bringing it out and at the end of the day that rule is pointless. It’s not going to prevent concussions because guys are bringing it out five to eight yards deep in the end zone. We’re still coming out with it. And that’s taking away from some of the fun in the NFL because guys are going to bring it out regardless.”
Hester is far from alone. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell thinks more touchbacks will mean fewer injuries, but most of the players who are putting their bodies on the line seem to want to keep the game the way it is.