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Multiple NFL coaches are turning to the Madden video game in order to figure out the league’s strange new kickoff rules prior to the 2024 season.
The rules, intended to limit injury, are a vast difference from anything that we’ve seen the past.
The process is as follows:
- The kicker will still kick the ball from his own 35-yard line.
- His teammates will line up on the other team’s 40-yard line.
- The receiving team’s nine or 10 blockers will line up on their own 35-yard line.
- One or two returns will be back to field the ball
- Kicks must land between the receiving team’s 20-yard line and the goal line.
- Once fielded, or if the ball hits the ground, players from both teams may begin play
- A kick that either goes out of bounds or lands short of the 20 will be awarded to the receiving team at the 40-yard line.
- A kick that goes into the end zone for a touchback will go out to the receiving team’s 30-yard line.
If that seems like a lot to you, you’re not alone.
Chris Vannini of The Athletic reports that NFL coaches have turned to video games in hopes of getting a better grasp on things.
“Oldenburg said he and the EA Sports staff have held weekly calls with an active NFL coach (Oldenburg wouldn’t reveal the name of the coach) to talk strategy,” Vannini said of EA Sports employee and former NFL offensive lineman Clint Oldenburg.
“We’re having calls with him to understand how the NFL is going to handle this,” Oldenburg told Vannini. “It gives us a unique opportunity to lead. We are going to be playing football and kicking off before the NFL. I hope you’re going to see us do things with the kickoff you may have never thought of before, and the NFL is going to follow us. That gets me excited.”
“He’s never seen it before on an NFL field with NFL players,” he continued said. “He was like, ‘I bet Madden’s working on this.’ We’re wondering what they’re going to do with this. We just developed a codependent relationship, and every week we’re building.”
The relationship is mutually beneficial. The coach gets a better grasp on the rules. While the game developers get a better sense of what it will look like on the field.
It just goes to show that, sometimes, life really does imitate art.