Mike Florio ,
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The kickoff change is working .
On Sunday, each of the eight 1:00 p.m. ET NFL games opened with a kickoff that was returned. Throw in the Thursday night and Friday night games, and Week 1 is 10-for-10 when it comes to games kicking off without a touchback.
The change traces to the offseason decision to move the touchback point from the 30 to the 35, after last year’s debut of the new “dynamic” kickoff. With returns generally getting back to the area of the 30, it usually made sense to bang the ball out of the end zone and surrender the 30-yard line.
This year, the 35 is too much to give up. And so the ball is being put in play.
We’ll do a full breakdown after Week 1 ends of the total returns, the total touchbacks, and the average starting field position for the kicks that were returned.
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