Touchbacks on kickoffs

[fredtoast]

I was looking at "Touchbacks percentage" on kickoffs. At first I was surprised that MacPherson was only 13th in the league. I assumed he had the leg to kick it deep into or even out of the endzone everytime. Then I saw that Justin Tucker was 20th.

I realized that teams are actually trying to avoid touchbacks on kick offs. Instead they want high hanging kicks inside the 10.

There is a stat for teams "starting field position" but it includes every drive instead of just kickoffs. Seems like there should be a stat like that to rank both kicking and return teams.

[*michaelsean*]

(04-14-2022, 04:27 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I was looking at "Touchbacks percentage" on kickoffs. At first I was surprised that MacPherson was only 13th in the league. I assumed he had the leg to kick it deep into or even out of the endzone everytime. Then I saw that Justin Tucker was 20th.

I realized that teams are actually trying to avoid touchbacks on kick offs. Instead they want high hanging kicks inside the 10.

There is a stat for teams "starting field position" but it includes every drive instead of just kickoffs. Seems like there should be a stat like that to rank both kicking and return teams.

I think it was obvious that he was trying to keep it out of the endzone and was also kicking it to one side of the field or other.  

[*pally*]

(04-14-2022, 04:27 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I was looking at "Touchbacks percentage" on kickoffs. At first I was surprised that MacPherson was only 13th in the league. I assumed he had the leg to kick it deep into or even out of the endzone everytime. Then I saw that Justin Tucker was 20th.

I realized that teams are actually trying to avoid touchbacks on kick offs. Instead they want high hanging kicks inside the 10.

There is a stat for teams "starting field position" but it includes every drive instead of just kickoffs. Seems like there should be a stat like that to rank both kicking and return teams.

More finesse on kickoffs is one of Darrin Simmons's areas of focus for McPherson heading into year 2.  Darrin believes this is an area that needs improvement.  And it was for both situations...a kick that should be a touchback that wasn't and a short kick that went too long

[ezekiel23]

(04-14-2022, 05:54 PM)pally Wrote: More finesse on kickoffs is one of Darrin Simmons's areas of focus for McPherson heading into year 2.  Darrin believes this is an area that needs improvement.  And it was for both situations...a kick that should be a touchback that wasn't and a short kick that went too long

This statistical detail of the finesse on kickoffs,pointing out the (kick that should be a touchback that wasn’t,and a short kick that went too long),is something that I think that sometimes isn’t emphasized enough.Could very well be the deciding factor as to whether you win or lose.

[Sled21]

A lot of people used to complain that Fat Randy didn't have the leg to bury kickoffs, but I always thought he was just being told to let them bring it out and then try to stop them at the 15-20 instead of just giving them the 25.

[fredtoast]

(04-15-2022, 08:24 AM)Sled21 Wrote: A lot of people used to complain that Fat Randy didn't have the leg to bury kickoffs, but I always thought he was just being told to let them bring it out and then try to stop them at the 15-20 instead of just giving them the 25.

By the same token sometimes it looks like an obvious mistake when a return man takes one back from deep in the end zone, but they are taught to count from the kickoff (hang time).  If the ball gets to them quick enough then they can return it even if they are deep in the end zone.

I think Brandon Tate used to get excited and count too fast.  
  

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(04-14-2022, 04:27 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I was looking at "Touchbacks percentage" on kickoffs. At first I was surprised that MacPherson was only 13th in the league. I assumed he had the leg to kick it deep into or even out of the endzone everytime. Then I saw that Justin Tucker was 20th.

I realized that teams are actually trying to avoid touchbacks on kick offs. Instead they want high hanging kicks inside the 10.

There is a stat for teams "starting field position" but it includes every drive instead of just kickoffs. Seems like there should be a stat like that to rank both kicking and return teams.

A lot of bad things can happen to the Return team if you make the Returner return it if he has had issues in the past.

Some times it is a good idea to gamble on this fact with certain Returners instead of just going for the touchback all the time.

[BFritz21]

(04-15-2022, 02:38 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: A lot of bad things can happen to the Return team if you make the Returner return it if he has had issues in the past.

Some times it is a good idea to gamble on this fact with certain Returners instead of just going for the touchback all the time.

Exactly.

Like players running downfield at full-speed, even if they've been blocked, can cause fumbles by putting their helmets on the ball and knocking it loose pretty easily considering that the returner is also running full speed.

Returners sometimes catch the ball a few feet or less into the endzone and, either not knowing where they are or thinking that they have enough room to make things happened decide to bring it out. They might regret their decision, try to stop, but they're already a foot out, and then just get tackled inside the 10. 

A returner can go to catch a high ball inside the 10, start looking upfield before he secures the catch because he knows he doesn't have much time, and muffs the catch.

[Science Friction]

I bet there's more than a few Buffalo Bills' fans wish their kicker had used a little more "finesse" on one particular kickoff.

[Tomkat]

(04-17-2022, 01:56 PM)Science Friction Wrote: I bet there's more than a few Buffalo Bills' fans wish their kicker had used a little more "finesse" on one particular kickoff.

Why does everyone forget that you can "fair-catch" a kickoff or immediately go down/take a knee after fielding a squib-kick... meaning not only does NO TIME run off the clock, but now you have BETTER FIELD POSITION, TOO. (Unless the kicking team manages to force you to do it inside the 25-yd-line) The Buffalo Bills did nothing wrong, other than play bad defense the last 13 seconds.