Every week in the past on Thursday Night Football, the NFL world paid witness to a fairly odd kickoff technique from the Las Vegas Raiders throughout their sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Rams. After the primary drive of the sport resulted in a Raiders landing, kicker Daniel Carlson needed to boot the ball away, however he didn’t achieve this in a conventional style. Carlson opted for a holder, which is a very regular factor in sure conditions. If the ball persistently falls off the tee as a consequence of wind or different weather-related points, kickers will typically ask for assist from a teammate to maintain the ball on the tee. However, this sport was being performed at SoFi Stadium — indoors— which means there have been no climate points to talk of. Why was the holder mandatory then?
Several followers had been confused at this sight.
Former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee provided an ideal rationalization. Essentially, though having a holder reveals sure personnel selections on the kickoff, the profit is unbelievable if executed correctly. McAfee explains that the holder isn’t holding the ball on the tee, however slightly on the again finish of the tee, giving the ball a bit of extra top, permitting the kicker to get underneath the ball a lot simpler. That added top, plus the chance to tilt the ball backward, gave Carlson an opportunity to kick the ball extremely excessive up, leading to kickoff grasp instances almost equal to hold instances from punts. That time with the ball within the air permits the kicking crew to get down the sphere a lot faster, earlier than the receiving crew may even begin shifting upfield. This resulted in a number of tackles behind the 20 and even 15-yard line, based on McAfee, which clearly could be an enormous benefit within the discipline place division.
Even McAfee was flabbergasted at this discovery. He claims he even requested Raiders’ particular groups coordinator Tom McMahon (though McAfee refuses to call him) concerning the legality of this maneuver, as a result of if this was at all times authorized, groups ought to’ve been doing it for a very long time.
Well, it didn’t keep authorized for lengthy. Although it was initially authorized by the NFL, yesterday, the NFL reversed its determination on the matter.
According to the report, the league determined to rethink its stance on this elevated kickoff technique following the Raiders-Rams sport on Dec. 8. It additionally claims that the advantageous discipline positioning the kicking crew positive aspects from this technique didn’t play into the choice to ban this maneuver.
“Since the holder is facilitating a placement that is not possible due to gravity, the officiating department reversed course.”
However, if the officiating division authorized this motion as soon as, you’d assume it could take an extremely totally different interpretation of the rulebook in an effort to alter course, proper? It’s not onerous to think about that the potential benefit performed a job within the determination to ban this motion. But was it actually that useful?
According to stories, the Raiders had been utilizing this new-fangled kickoff approach for his or her final two video games — Dec. 4 (dwelling) and Dec. 8 (away) in opposition to the 2 L.A. groups. In these video games, the Raiders carried out 11 kickoffs — six in opposition to the Chargers, 5 in opposition to the Rams. The common beginning discipline place for his or her opponents in these video games was the 23.18-yard line — 21.5 common beginning discipline place for the Chargers, 25.2 common beginning discipline place for the Rams. There had been 4 situations the place the Raiders’ opponents began on the 25 or higher — two touchbacks, two runbacks. There had been solely two situations the place the Chargers or Rams needed to begin behind their very own 20-yard line. Considering the NFL needs the common beginning discipline place following kickoffs to be the 25-yard line, that doesn’t sound too dangerous, proper?
But what concerning the return statistics? Is this elevated grasp time really stopping huge returns? Well, based on Pro-Football-Reference, the common kickoff return in 2022 is about 22.2 yards. In these two Raider video games, their opponents’ common kickoff return was simply 18 yards, over 4 yards fewer per return than the league common. That’s not regular, and it’s not an inconsequential quantity.
Consider this. According to Pro-Football-Reference’s NFL Win Probability Calculator, a median NFL crew is predicted to attain .607 factors on a drive beginning at their very own 25. If a crew begins a drive at their very own 21, they’re anticipated to attain solely .343 factors, slicing their anticipated level whole by 43.5 %. That’s a monumental distinction.
There is a big benefit to what the Raiders had been doing, so it solely is sensible that the NFL would ban such a method. While the NFL claims they banned it for various causes, it’s onerous to imagine the NFL would enable it solely to take it away two weeks later for any cause aside from unfair play. Perhaps there was a security challenge concerned, but when that had been really the case, the NFL in all probability would’ve come ahead with that reasoning from the get-go. It would’ve been a suitable cause and PR transfer contemplating the NFL’s tendency to draw back from participant security. Just ask DeVante Parker.
In all chance, the one cause the NFL banned this technique was that it seemingly would’ve been adopted by the remainder of the NFL. If each kicker within the league makes use of it, the common beginning discipline place would lower, which suggests scoring would lower, and fewer scoring means fewer followers. Fewer followers imply much less cash, so for the sake of income, they needed to nip this system within the bud earlier than it acquired out of hand.