Belichick Criticizes New Kickoff Rule, Patriots Special Teams
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick spoke about the impact the new kickoff rule had on last Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Every season, Week 1 promises the entire league a fresh start. New players and coaches can introduce themselves with statement performances. New rules can have an impact, too.
The New England Patriots fell to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, 25-20. Losing at home always stings, but a strong defensive showing against the Super Bowl runner-up is reason enough for optimism.
Coach Bill Belichick spoke on Monday about the loss, claiming that everybody across the board could have been a little bit better; that the differences along the margins would make the difference.
One such area is special teams, which consistently gets overlooked. Not by Belichick, of course. He recently spent 10 minutes detailing the history of special teams in the middle of a press conference.
Monday morning, he commented on the league’s newest kickoff rule change: any fair catch inside a team’s own 25-yard line will result in a touchback, placing the ball at the 25. It’s meant to limit kickoff returns, widely acknowledged as the most dangerous play in football.
On Sunday, New England botched a kickoff when Philadelphia elected to neglect a deep return man. It’s an area Belichick will look to improve.
Barry Chin/Boston Globe Staff
“It has a little bit of an effect on it,” Belichick said, regarding the rule change. “The idea of lobbing one up there down inside the 10-yard line isn’t a good option anymore when they can fair catch it, so putting the ball on the ground is always a good option in that situation when they don’t have many blockers back there.”
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The Eagles intended to fair catch anything inside the 25 that didn’t come with a favorable look. Putting the ball on the ground likely would have forced them to make a decision they tried to avoid, potentially inciting chaos and, ideally, a turnover.
“We just got to do a better job of coaching and executing the play,” Belichick said. “That isn’t what we wanted to do. We just didn’t do a good job.”
The Patriots will have the opportunity to clean up their special teams in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football.