The kickoff has gone from dead to very much alive. Most football fans don’t quite realize how live it will be.
When football season rolls around, everyone will know it’s different. No one will know how different it will be until we see how things play out, one game and one kickoff at a time.
Regardless, considering where the kickoff rule was (i.e., parade of touchbacks) to where it now will be (a lot more action), this could indeed be the biggest rule change the NFL has made in decades.
At a minimum, it’s the biggest single rule change since the two-point conversion in 1994. It might be the biggest single change since the adoption of overtime in 1974, or the movement of the goalposts from the goal line to the back of the end zone that same year.
Other more consequential adjustments have been the result of a series of changes, from the efforts to beef up the passing game through systematic adjustments to the never ending tweaks to the replay rule. But for one specific change at one specific time, this could be the biggest since the merger, given that it takes a play that was adding nothing to the game and potentially changes everything.
For more, check out the attached video from Thursday’s PFT Live.
