Desmond Howard made a helluva an impact with the kickoffs at the 35 yard line. :)
"Wade" wrote:
Good point.
I must say though that the rule changes are stupid. Why change something that's not a problem?
"Zero2Cool" wrote:
It was done to create more excitement as returns were/are viewed as exciting plays. They figured moving the kickoff's back 5 yards would give the returner 5 more yards of opportunity to produce a big play.
I think Joshua Cribbs, Devin Hester and Dante Hall all benefited from it, even though I think Hester is superior to any returner I've seen in the last 20 years.
"zombieslayer" wrote:
This is an interesting question. How good would Travis Williams have been if he had people kicking from the 30 or the 35 instead of the 40?
1967 average (NFL record): 41.06 yards per return.
Career (actually only 5th): 27.46 (Sayers was 30.56!)
Hester: career 25.1 (best year, 2010, 35.6)
Cribbs: career 25.8 (best year, 2007, 30.7)
Hall: career 23.8 (best year, 2003, 25.9)
"Zero2Cool" wrote: