ExtremeRavens Posted September 25 Posted September 25 In late 2023, NFL executive vice president of officiating Troy Vincent infamously called kickoffs a “dead, ceremonial play.” The league has spent the past two years trying to resuscitate it. Enter dynamic kickoffs and the “landing zone.” No NFL kicker has struggled more with the changes than Ravens rookie Tyler Loop, who, when asked about it, didn’t seem overly concerned. Start with the rules: Any kickoff that drops between the goal line and the 20-yard line must be returned. Kickoffs that hit within the landing zone and then are downed in the end zone award the offense the ball at the 20-yard line. A ball landing in the end zone for a touchback puts the receiving team at the 35. And anything shy of the 20-yard landing zone gifts the opposing offense a drive starting at the 40-yard line. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that it will bring kickoffs back to a “relevant play,” and Ravens coach John Harbaugh argued that it’s “better than 12 touchbacks a game.” Of the 32 NFL teams, 24 haven’t had any issues adjusting. Seven have been flagged for one kick short of the landing zone this season. Loop leads the league with three in three games and a fourth penalty for a kick that dribbled out of bounds, which he took onus for and Harbaugh insisted “shouldn’t happen.” “I wouldn’t say it’s annoying or frustrating,” Loop said, specifically of the landing zone flags. “It’s a learning curve.” Loop explained his high penalty count as the special teamers in Baltimore experiment with how to best approach the new play. Those kicks that look like a screwball, he said, “we call them dirty balls.” By hitting the ground early with an unpredictable bounce, kickers can maybe delay the returner’s start and pin an offense back even farther. Easier said than done. “You’re trying to hit an oblong ball in a way that it rotates funny,” Loop said, “it’s hard to have a consistent rotation on it.” League-wide touchback rates nosedived from 65.5% last season to below 20% in 2025. It’s created much more variability for both sides of the play. Loop’s specialty is his strong leg, which would have been perfect for the days when kickers could mindlessly boom it through the back of the end zone. Now, “hang time’s irrelevant and distance is irrelevant,” Bills kicker Matt Prater told reporters. “So for young strong guys, I think it takes away their strengths.” Three of Loop’s four penalized kicks have resulted in touchdown drives for the other team: twice in Buffalo and once versus Detroit. The short kickoff against Cleveland was turned around by Nate Wiggins’ interception. “I think we’ll be able to get those out of our system pretty quickly,” Ravens special teams coordinator Chris Horton said. He agreed that anything shy of the landing zone this early in the season they’re deeming “experimental kicks.” Take the two kicks versus Cleveland, for example. The first landed at the Browns’ 21-yard line, 36 inches from the landing zone. Two quarters later, Loop’s attempt touched down at the 9-yard line, then skipped out of bounds. But the swing mechanics — Horton said that Loop knows what he’s trying before leaving the sideline — were the same on both attempts. One just died down earlier. The whole calculus of a kickoff changed with the new rule. As Harbaugh put it, teams have more incentive to put the ball on the ground and try to get it to wiggle to the corner. Either that or “make it bounce” so that the kicking team gets a head start. The alternative, which has plagued the Ravens more than any other team, is a mistake that puts the opposing offense near midfield, one chunk play from field goal range. “We’re trying a lot of new things trying to figure that out,” Loop said. “But the one thing we did talk about is like, if we’re trying that and it goes 1 or 2 yards in the end zone or 2 yards short of the landing zone, it’s kind of the cost of doing business.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. View the full article Quote
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