A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports columnist
Well, the wait is over.
Come Saturday afternoon,1 o’clock, at Highmark Stadium (WIVB-TV), the Bills host the Bears in Buffalo’s first of three exhibition — oops, preseason — games in the annual win-win for the NFL’s 32 teams.
Full-price tickets without a starter in pads and a game in which at least half the participants won’t be on the regular-season roster come September.
What a deal.
There are myriad reasons to skip a preseason game — by the way, anybody who bets on one has a gambling problem — but not this year.
I was glued to the TV last week when Chicago played Houston in the annual Hall of Fame Game at Canton, Ohio. (Writer’s aside: my second year covering the Bills, 1974, Buffalo played in the game against the then-St. Louis Cardinals. At that time, the NFL had a 14-game regular-season schedule but its teams played SIX exhibitions, except the Hall of Fame teams which had SEVEN … half the length of the games that counted).
ANYWAY, I’ve always enjoyed the Hall of Fame Game because it marks the beginning of the season and it’s pro football, albeit in its most diluted form.
But the hook this year was the debut of the NFL’s so-called “Dynamic Kickoff.”
With the lowest kickoff return rate in NFL history a season ago — thank you, touchbacks — the league was determined to find a way to encourage more of the most exciting play in the game.
The entire kickoff rules have been rewritten to produce a kickoff that, in the league’s words. “more resembles a scrimmage play with players on both teams closer together.”
It takes some getting used to and I’ve taken the liberty of detailing the NFL’s explanation of the “Dynamic Kickoff” below.
Indeed, the league sent officials to each team during training camp to explain the new format to both players and coaches as well as the media.
For Buffalo, official Clay Martin spent 14 minutes answering questions from the press, most of the “what if” variety.
The Bears and Texans managed eight kickoffs in the Hall of Fame Game — I watched every snap — and the new rules started to make some sense.
But all the while, it occurred to me that NFL special teams coordinators are a smart crew and they’ll soon figure out a way around some of the stipulations, prompting those “what if” questions.
The point is, if you were thinking about skipping Buffalo’s preseason opener, either in person or via TV — even though you know the starters will be in shorts and t-shirts, this one would be worth watching.
HERE’S THE NFL’s explanation of the “Dynamic Kickoff” rules:
- The ball is kicked from the A (kicking team’s) 35 yard line (same as current rule)
ALIGNMENT
- — All kicking team players other than the kicker will line up with one foot on the receiving team’s 40 yard line
- — Kicker cannot cross the 50-yard line until ball touches the ground or player in landing zone or end zone
- — The 10 kicking team players cannot move until the ball hits the ground or player in the landing zone or the end zone
- — The receiving team will line up as follows:
- — Setup Zone – a 5-yard area from the (receiving team’s) 35 to the 30 yard line where at least 9 receiving team players must line up
- — At least 7 players with a foot on the 35-yard line (restraining line) with alignment requirements
- — Players not on the restraining line must be lined up in setup zone outside the hash marks
- — All players in the setup zone cannot move until the kick has hit the ground or a player in the landing zone or the end zone
- — A maximum of 2 returners may line up in the landing zone and can move at any time prior to, or during, the kick
LANDING ZONE
- — Landing zone is the area between the receiving team’s goal line and its 20-yard line.
- — Any kick that hits short of the landing zone – treated like kickoff out of bounds and ball spotted at receiver’s 40-yard line; play would be blown dead as soon as kick lands short of the landing zone
- — Any kick that hits in the landing zone – must be returned
- — Any kick that hits in the landing zone and then goes into the end zone – must be returned or downed by receiving team – if downed then touchback to 20-yard line
- — Kick hits in end zone, stays inbounds — returned or downed – if downed touchback to 30-yard line
- — Any kick that goes out of the back of the end zone (in the air or bounce) – touchback to 30-yard line
GOT ALL THAT?
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
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