Harrison Butker is going to break the new KO
 

Just saw this last night. Butker already figured out how to bend the kick and force a bad return
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Poop taco.

I really can't wait to see a bunch of different strategies regarding kickoffs and kickoff returns this year.

This must suck for the touchback fans.

It looks like he had an anti-spiral on that kick where it was spinning on the short axis of the ball.

Yeah, somehow he hit it so that it would tumble laterally around its short axis. He's trying to get it to dive and curve. If he kicked a soccer ball, that thing would've hooked hard down and to the right. For a typical football player, that's probably never seen something like that, it's going to be a minor nightmare to try and field it.

People like to bag on Toub, but dude is a good coach.

He’s a good coach. There may be times when we disagree with his strategies, but he’s one of the best. Whenever I hear him speak on The Franchise, or other engagements, I get the sense he’s a strong leader as well.

Considering I'm a touchback fan as long as Mahomes is on the Chiefs, yes, it does.

Do you like when ur uncle touches back inside your sphincter

Just another reason we will threepeat.

Sounds like we will have a huge advantage in field position between Butker, Toub and Big Rape.

Pics of uncle and/or sphincter.

I know you think that's cute but really it's just plain disrespectful, and distasteful. He didn't do that, period. Perhaps you could come up with a better nickname.

He just pretends it's Lebron and it makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

On one of the Chiefs returns on Saturday, with both Steele and Hardman back there, I'd be curious to know if it was intended for Steele to catch and return with Hardman lead blocking because I'd think you'd want that the other way around

Can a team opt to use a regular ball instead of a K-ball?

I'd run the old reverse return on the first real return of the season. Seems like it could work REALLY well.

Lil Rape

We dog Toub but I'm glad we have him with all the rule changes making ST a much bigger part of the game.

So basically the goal is to get it to land in the landing zone but then go into the end zone for a touchback. This is probably the most reliable for best field position for the kicking team. At times maybe even better if you want to gamble for really bad field position have the ball land in the landing zone in a way that forces the returner to screw around trying to field it for a few seconds to where it’s unlikely they get it past the 20 yard line.

I did find this quick video explaining the rules to be helpful.

https://youtu.be/gaEl4zv16Qo?si=SX8Ghwd8mKy19w2j

Now, if he could kick a knuckle ball that would be another hard to field KO.

Pretty sure if it lands in the landing zone, it has to be returned, no?

Harrison Butker is going to break the new KO
 

If it stops there yes. If it lands there but rolls to end zone it goes to the 20 unless the player decides to bring it out of the end zone. If it lands in the end zone or out of the end zone it goes to the 35.

Yeah, Big Rape is Roethlisberger’s nickname.

Our punter is Rape God.

Huh. I thought if it landed in the landing zone it didn't matter if it rolled into the EZ afterwards; it had to be returned.




Ah, it must be returned or downed, but the ball goes to the 20, not the 25-yd-line if downed. Got it. Thx.

The Rape God!

Yeah I edited to add it goes to the 20 if the player kneels it. But by the time he gets it then it’s probably better to kneel it. The returner can bring it out if he wants though. Thats what happened in the Jags game on our kickoff at the 1:10 mark of the video you posted.

I'm surprised we haven't seen much flatter kicks, now hang time is pointless.. you want a flat hard kick that hits the landing zone and ideally bounces before a returner can get to it, to make them try and handle the bounce.

Plus lower/flatter kicks make it harder for the two returners to communicate about who is doing what, AND gives the non-returner less time to set up a block.

Harrison Butker is going to break the new KO
 

That’s basically what Butker is doing with creating weird angles and bounces. Really low flat kicks are risky though because they are harder to control and they would be much more likely to land before the 20 yard line, which if that happens then the ball comes all the way out to the 40 yard line.

Not sure if this deserves its own thread, so putting it here. Apparently, Noah Gray had no previous experience snapping the ball before the game. Toub coached Noah on how to snap the ball on the sidelines, and to his credit, Noah figured it out well enough to adequately sub-in for Winchester after he injured his shoulder.


We have some great coaches on this staff. Just saying.

i would just boot it out of the end zone and give them the ball at the 30…why even risk a chance at a huge return with the new dumb kickoff rule?

It goes to the 35 in that scenario.

Exactly. And what Butker/Toub are trying to do is force the returner to delay his decision on whether to return it or not to the last possible moment, as well as making fielding the ball as difficult as possible. That can lead to mistakes, and gives the tacklers more time to close the distance, which should lead to shorter returns, or even opportunities for a turnover.

That's pretty amazing. Also makes me wonder if we REALLY need to roster a LS long-term.

Dunno. My guess is that there's more to it than can be taught in a few minutes. But I think the great thing is, if Winchester goes down in an actual game, we have a guy that's done it before waiting in the wings, if necessary. Kind of like Justin Reid being able to kick a FG if necessary. Though I'd guess that if it really came down to that, they'd just have Creed do it in a real game.

Bring back Jared Allen?

Kelce is the backup LS.

Is that official? It was 30 for the start of the pre season, I know there was some talk about if it should be the 30 or the 35

I'd call a zone 20 yards deep wider than the broad side of a barn

Uh huh. Kicked a lot of kickoffs, have you?

If the receiving team touches a kick in the air to knock it down before the 20/landing zone then the receiving team gets the ball at the 40 yard line. I think it’s just going to be too risky for teams to try flat and low hard kicks. It’s one of those things that if we don’t see it, it’s because teams have tried it in practice and found it unreliable. Maybe we will see it when a kicking team is looking for a higher potential reward late in a game, hoping for fumbles or misplays or something. Butker’s method of weird spin and placement would appear much more repeatable and reliable.

Spin the front page wheel and drop this here:

Reid characterized Winchester’s injury as a sprain of the AC joint of his shoulder. Tight end Noah Gray stepped in for Winchester after he was injured, but Reid said the team had signed a player to take Winchester’s place until he is ready to return.

When practice began, that long snapper was revealed to be Kansas State product Randen Plattner, a native of Parkville, Missouri who first joined the league in June as an undrafted free agent for the Baltimore Ravens. He checks in at 6 feet 3 and 241 pounds.

To open a roster spot for Plattner, the team waived McKade Mettauer with an injury designation. The UDFA offensive lineman tore an MCL in the preseason Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Can't happen...


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

They can reach out and knock the ball down without moving.

https://www.footballzebras.com/2024/...-kickoff-rule/

What's this "we' stuff? I've never dogged on him.

All these KO rules read like a playground or backyard football game.

Of course you would be the one to think of Big Rape as a term of endearment.

So the NFL just doesn't know the definition of words and sucks at writing rules.

Raising your arms is moving.

Should have been worded more like "Feet must remain stationary on the ground...."

What would happen if the kicker kicked as hard as possible straight into one of the front line guys for the receiving team who, hopefully, bobbles the ball while the kicking team players are only 10 yards away? If the kicking team recovers it, even if it never got to the 'landing zone' do they retain possession?

I'm interested to see how all the permutations of this exchange work out. They've certainly inserted more risk into the play.

Any kick that hits short of the landing zone – treated like kickoff out of bounds and ball spotted at 40 yard line; play would be blown dead as soon as kick lands short of the landing zone

Yeah I mean aside from that whole "repeatedly field incompetent player, and instruct him to aggressively field kicks/punts inside our own 10 with repeated catastrophic failures that led to losses of multiple football games" chestnut, he's okay.

He seems nice even.

I still don't understand the rules but it's worth it instead of how boring kickoffs have become. And having Toub gives us an edge.

That would be incredible if butker can do it. But I'm still intrigued by rees zammit. As a rugby kicker I'd have to think he can get real creative with kicking too? Since rugby style punters often put funky spin. But man just having a guy who can cover when needed given this new format feels like a cheat code. I still am not crazy about using butker in kick coverage if needed