The Houston Texans actually played a football game yesterday. It's so nice to have football back. The Texans and Bears faced off in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game that was unlike any that came before it. This was the first chance that most NFL fans got to see the league's new XFL-style kickoff rules, which will be fully implemented this year.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans shared his thoughts on the new Dynamic Kickoff rules earlier today.
“I wouldn't say it's weird, we've been practicing it,” Ryans said, via KPRC's Aaron Wilson. “What I noticed was definitely a lot of big hits, violent hits, it's tough five yard gap to get feet set and get a guy blocked. Saw a lot of guys running free, a lot of collisions.”
This is interesting to hear from coach Ryans. Part of the sales pitch from the league for the new kickoff rules was player safety. It seems that Ryans isn't necessary convinced that this rule is going to make an impact.
Of course, the new kickoff achieves greater player safety by eliminating a running start for gunners. So while there may still be some big hits, those should be similar to a normal football play instead of the high-speed collisions we're used to seeing.
Ultimately, last night's game is too small of a sample size to make any definitive statements about the new rules.
We can't wait to see more examples of the Dynamic Kickoff throughout the rest of the NFL preseason.
NFL fans go crazy after first Dynamic Kickoff in Bears vs. Texans Pro Football Hall of Fame game last night
NFL fans were excited to see the NFL debut the Dynamic Kickoff last night more so than any other part of the game.
The new kickoff rules should increase player safety and help ensure that there is a return on most kickoffs.
Everything is not perfect with the new format after one game. In fact, David Lombardi immediately pointed out after the first kick that there was an uncalled penalty.
“First dynamic kickoff definitely featured an uncalled false start,” Lombardi posted.
ESPN's Mina Kimes pointed out that NFL teams are likely to keep things vanilla during the preseason. We'll have to wait until September to see what teams actually want to do with the new rules.
“Feel like most special teams coordinators will hide their more creative approaches to the new kickoff during the preseason,” Kimes posted on social media.
Regardless, NFL fans seem pleased to have something new to learn instead of the old kickoff rules that often resulted in touchbacks.
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