The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bosher avoids touchbacks to help coverage evaluation
FLOWERY BRANCH — Matt Bosher’s been good about banging kickoffs into the end zone for the Falcons, but coach Dan Quinn wants him to lay up — at least for now.
The Falcons have banked touchbacks on 55 percent of Bosher’s kickoffs in the punter’s seven NFL seasons, yet none of his kickoffs in the first two preseason games have gone for touchbacks, and that has been by design. Atlanta and Houston are the only two teams that have not yet registered a touchback on a kickoff through two preseason games. Quinn’s cool with that.
“We’re trying to drive the ball down and not hit it for a touchback because I think ... we want to get an evaluation of who can cover kicks,” Quinn said this week.
Quinn and special teams coach Keith Armstrong want data, and there is almost none to be gained upon touchbacks.
Bosher has been kicking short through two preseason games, and every returner has taken off no matter what, and while this has something to do with new kickoff rules, Quinn’s methodology goes deeper than that.
New this season: Eight of 11 members of the returning team must be stationed within 10-25 yards of the ball before kickoff, nobody is allowed to block anybody in the first 15 yards after the ball is kicked, and the last vestiges of wedge blocking are now prohibited. Also, members of the kickoff team must be stationed five to each side of the kicker so a squad cannot overload a side, and coverage team members are only allowed a 1-yard running start rather than five.
It’s all about player velocity reduction, with the goal of making the game safer. The NFL claims reams of data suggesting that a disproportionate percentage of serious injuries have happened on kickoffs.
This is not the first attempt to address the issue. The kickoff point was moved up a few years ago to the 35-yard line with the hope of creating more touchbacks, which, of course, reduce collisions. The NFL a few years ago also changed rules so that multiple players can no longer line up shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the returner, in a wedge. Back in the day, kicking teams typically would sent a player or two flying hell’s bells into the wedge to bust it up.
Now, another new rule prohibits even the two players camped in the vicinity of the return man from double-team blocking a charging kick coverage man.
So Quinn and Armstrong want to see who can cover kicks, and who can return them effectively within the new rules. To date, rookies Calvin Ridley and Ito Smith, a wide receiver and a running back, and wide receiver Marvin Hall have been afforded opportunities. Ridley had a 36-yarder last Friday against the Chiefs.