The NFL is a cyclical league, loaded with adaptation and revisitation moreso than actual innovation. Teams imitate, copy and steal from each other, year after year, and when they’re not doing that, they’re catching opponents off guard by stealing tricks from the past.
Yet, opportunities for innovation still bubble up when rule and/or procedure changes are made to the game. The NFL’s kickoff process is a prime example of this change, with the NFL’s efforts focused on reducing injuries and simultaneously increasing the number of kick returns. For Brandon Aubrey and the Cowboys, this is a prime opportunity to get ahead of the pack.
A topic of conversation throughout the offseason, the NFL’s new kickoff process involves the kick coverage team and the kick return team lining up 10 yards apart. Frozen until the ball is fielded, collision speed between the two units is minimized while space to return the kick is maximized. As an extra incentive to make them returnable, balls that first land all the way in the endzone are eligible for a 30-yard-line touchback.
As extra incentive for the returner to return kicks, balls that land short of the endzone, in the landing zone, and bounce through the endzone for a touchback are placed at the 20-yard-line. If that all wasn’t enough, balls that go out of bounds and balls that land short of the landing zone are touchbacks to the 40-yard-line.
The three different touchback points serve as clear incentives for the kicking team to provide returnable kicks and the receiving team to return all returnable kicks. It also gives Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel a chance to strategize behind the leg of his wildly talented All-Pro kicker.
Aubrey, Dallas’ second-year kicker, is the complete package. Accurate from anywhere on the field and powerful enough to boom any kick he wants through the back of the end zone, Aubrey has a set of skills very few kickers have.
Aubrey’s leg power allows him to send oddly-struck knuckleballs to returners. The ball fulfills its obligation to fall within the landing zone but the uncentered strike point causes it to follow an unpredictable path to the return man.
Cleveland struggled to field these cleanly, losing precious time to advance the kick in the process. On one occasion the ball even snuck through the landing zone completely, earning a 20-yard-line touchback “penalty” as a result. It stands to reason these difficult to catch kicks bring with them an added element of fumble-bility, potentially resulting in a turnover.
Since the coverage and blocking units can’t move until the ball is caught, there’s no incentive to lob a high fly ball like kickers have done in the past. It opens up a handful of opportunities to send off kicks with varying trajectories and spin.
The new kicking rules bring with them opportunities for innovation. It’s not often the Cowboys are on the side of innovation but that appears to be exactly where we are with Fassel and Aubrey leading the way.
