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Now that we've seen the NFL's new dynamic kickoff rule in effect in an actual regular season game, and had it thoroughly explained to us by Mike Tirico as it was happening, hopefully football fans can finally start to process what it is exactly, and what they think about it.
So what's the consensus? I for one feel my opinion on the dynamic kickoff is best expressed by the timeless words of Garth in Wayne's World: “It's like a new pair of underwear. At first it's constrictive, but after a while it becomes a part of you.”
Surely we'll all eventually acclimate to the new rule — which was designed to maintain the lower injury rates, while still getting the occasional excitement of a kickoff return — but where does it rank on the list of the NFL's weirdest rules?
Interestingly, most of the oddest rules in the NFL involve kicking. At number one on the list has to be the drop-kick extra point. This is an alternative to the traditional extra point try, in which the quarterback or another offensive skill position player can actually try kicking the extra point for themselves.
The play involves taking the snap, dropping back, bouncing the ball on the ground and then kicking it through the goal posts.
Why would someone ever want to do this, you ask? Great question! And 99.99% of the time, you probably wouldn't. But in the early days of the NFL, in the 1920s and 1930s, the maneuver was used as a surprise tactic. As in, “Surprise! I'm about to try something really stupid!”
In football's defense, this country was doing a lot of stupid things in the 1920s and 1930s, so it was pretty much just par for the course. Also, the ball used was rounder and more rugby-shaped back then, so it bounced a little more like a soccer ball.
To be able to pull off such a kick, you'd have to be a pretty special, unique breed of player. Like special enough to have your own frosted flake cereal sold regionally in upstate New York.
Luckily for us, there is such a player — the incomparable Doug Flutie! He accomplished two shocking feats on a historic game day in 2006, when he not only nailed a successful drop kick, but also got his coach, Bill Belichick, to smile about it afterward!
This brings us to the next weirdest NFL rule which is even less widely know — there's actually a field goal attempt that's not allowed to be blocked. It's an obscure NFL rule called “the fair catch kick”. The basic idea is, if you call a fair catch on a punt, you are entitled to kick a fair catch field goal from the fair catch spot on the very next play — even if there's no time left on the clock.
The set up almost looks like a kickoff. The ball is held in place at the line of scrimmage by the placeholder, and then the kicker sets up for a free kick. It's mainly used for end-of-half heaves to try to steal three points.
The last made one was accomplished by the Chargers in 1976, but there's been plenty of missed fair catch kicks over the years. It's actually tried quite a bit more frequently than the drop kick. The last attempted one was by Joey Slye for the Panthers in 2019.
So where does the NFL's new dynamic kickoff rule rank with those other oddities? I'd have to put it at a distant third at this point. It's weird only in that it's new. But considering we're going to be seeing the dynamic kickoff every game all season now, something tells me we're going to get used to it pretty quickly. Whether we'll ever get to see a drop kick, fair catch kick and dynamic kickoff all in the same game is another story — probably about as likely as the grocery store bringing back Flutie Flakes, but we can all dream!
