Rams eager to see how new ‘foreign-looking’ kickoff goes

THOUSAND OAKS — Sean McVay is as familiar with the NFL’s new kickoff rule as anyone. He was part of the competition committee that proposed it to owners in March, after all, before it was approved by a 29-3 vote.

But even still, the Rams head coach was left shaking his head after watching the new play in live action for the first time in last Sunday’s joint practice against the Chargers.

“It just feels weird. It doesn’t look like anything that has been anything I’ve been familiar with football,” McVay said. “I know the intent is right. We’ll try to figure it out. I know everybody that’s been involved in that has their intentions in the right place, but it’s a very foreign-looking play.”

This weekend’s preseason slate, including Sunday afternoon’s game between the Rams and Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium, will be the first chance for many fans to see the new kickoff in action after March’s paradigm-shifting rule change.

Like with the former rules, the ball is kicked from the far 35-yard line. But that’s where the similarities end.

Outside of the kicker, the other 10 players on the kicking team line up with one foot on the receiving team’s 40-yard line. At least nine players on the receiving team must stand within their own 35- and 30-yard lines, with at least seven players required to stand with a foot on the 35.

These players in these “setup zones” are not allowed to move until the ball touches the ground or one of the two players in the “landing zone”, between the team’s 20-yard line and the goal line.

Any kick that lands in the landing zone must be returned, unless it bounces into the end zone. Then it can be returned or downed for a touchback to the 20-yard line. Any kick that lands in the end zone and is downed, or goes out of the back of the end zone, results in a touchback to the 30, instead of the 25 under the previous rule. Any kick that lands short of the landing zone results in a penalty and the ball being spotted at the 40.

At the draft combine in February, coaches met to get a better understanding of the proposal. But once it was approved by the owners a month later, the Rams began holding meetings to break down the new rules, and do their research to understand how it would look in practice.

The Rams pulled clips from the XFL, where the idea for this rule change originated, and matched those up with the adjusted rules for the NFL iteration.

“That’s when the creativity started to flow,” Rams assistant special teams coach Chili Davis said, “as far as how we wanted to go about it based off what we saw and based off what we project based off the rules and that nature.”

These meetings were not limited to special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn and Davis. McVay and coaches from both sides of the ball met to provide ideas and insight on the play, whether it be schematic or personnel.

The Rams tried to keep it a safe environment, with no judgment for how far anyone was willing to push the envelope, except when players like rookie outside linebacker Jared Verse pitched themselves as returners.

“I’d say with the new rule there’s no such things as a wild idea or concept,” Davis said. “Because I think you just need to look at it as, ‘What if we tried this? What if we tried that?’ It was a wide range of how we could go about it, the thoughts and ideas that just kind of derived from our initial research and then even going forward just based on some things that we saw.”

The Rams have tried several iterations of the new kickoff return throughout training camp and joint practices with the Chargers and Cowboys.

With essentially a long line of scrimmage separating the two sides between the 40- and 35-yard lines, offensive line concepts have come into play. Sometimes it emulates run-blocking schemes, from gap to zone. Other times, the play looks like nine players dropping into pass blocking.

“A lot of it was just trying to figure out what works well, what matches up against certain looks from the opposition and then what people to put in those specific pictures,” Davis said. “The biggest thing is our overall goal is to put those guys in a position to be successful. So we can compare it to something on offense or compare it to something on defense, we want to do that to kind of create familiarity with the guys. But definitely no stone unturned without creativity.”

The Rams have also experimented with different players back to receive the kickoff. Speedy wide receiver Tutu Atwell has worked alongside Puka Nacua and running back Kyren Williams.

The RB-WR combo was common Thursday against the Cowboys. Blake Corum and Xavier Smith worked together, as did Boston Scott and Tyler Johnson. Receiver Demarcus Robinson and cornerback Tre Tomlinson also were paired up.

Speed is an essential for a returner, to cover ground and prevent the ball from hitting a ground and setting the kicking team free early. But other factors come into play, too.

“Also there’s an element of having a power,” Blackburn explained, “where you’re going to … it’s almost like some offensive inside zones, some power schemes or some trap schemes where you have to be downhill [and] break arm tackles to be able to accelerate to the second level and split the defenders. So there’s a lot of combination of speed and power that is necessary.”

“Just kind of seeing what type of picture that returner’s going to see as far as space in between him and the first level of blockers,” Davis added, “and really just see which guys did it naturally and we’re always looking for the guys that are going to possess it, carry the ball with great fundamentals and technique. We incorporated everyone with our research as far as who gives us the best option going forward.”

While this weekend will be the first time teams put their versions of the new kickoff on film, McVay is skeptical too much will be revealed. He indicated that the Rams will be reluctant to reveal any creative ideas, as will opposing teams, before the football starts to matter in September.

But that doesn’t mean Blackburn and Davis won’t be poring over the weekend’s kickoffs when they get into the facility Monday.

“Just seeing what they’re doing schematically, personnel-wise, their overall approach to it,” Davis said. “And then gathering information so we can apply the things that we have taken and see if they are applicable for what we’re doing, or we can just learn from someone else’s mishap or mistake. It’s all information gathering, it’s all about figuring out what works best for us.”

Preseason: Cowboys at Rams

When: Sunday, 1:30 p.m.

Where: SoFi Stadium

TV: ABC (Ch. 7)