Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The Seattle Seahawks were able to kick a game-winning field goal to beat the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night, improving their record on the season to 3-1. Some NFL fans, however, are frustrated with the rules that allowed for the Seahawks to attempt the field goal in the first place.
After tying the score at 20-20 with just 28 seconds remaining in the game, the Arizona Cardinals kicked the ball off to the Seattle Seahawks, as the sport of football has always done.
The NFL’s new Dynamic Kickoff rules — introduced in 2024 — however, introduced the concept of a having to land the kick in a specific zone between the 20-yard-line and the end-zone, and if the don’t, the opposing team gets the ball on the 40-yard-line.
This is exactly what happened in the Thursday Night Football game between the Seahawks and Cardinals, allowing the Seahawks to drive just 26 yards in four plays for the game-winning kick.
NFL fans rail against “dynamic kickoff” rules that allowed the Seattle Seahawks to conduct of game-winning drive of just 26 yards
Very cool to have a “game-winning drive” be 25 yards because a guy couldn’t put a kickoff into a specific zone. Thank you NFL!
— WBR (@W_B_Rick) September 26, 2025
“The new NfL kickoff rule is legitimately ruining games if we’re being honest,” one fan complained on social media.
“NFL is lucky everyone is focused on the Tush Push and not the unwatchable abomination that is the new kickoff rule,” another added.
Game winning drive of a NFL game in the big 2025 pic.twitter.com/OjfcSdoEMX
— Liam Blutman (@Blutman27) September 26, 2025
“New kickoff rule is absolutely horrendous. Get rid of that, taunting and spot foul PI and we’re COOKING WITH GAS,” one NFL fan proclaimed.
“Bring back the old kickoffs and play football,” was the conclusion of another.
Kickers getting penalized for failing to reach the landing zone on kickoffs is not football and has nothing to do with football. pic.twitter.com/FpjvgxT3Qu
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) September 26, 2025
Here is the NFL’s official description of the Dynamic Kickoff rule and the purpose its meant to serve:
“The dynamic kickoff, first introduced in the 2024 season, is designed to promote more returns and resemble a play from scrimmage with players lining up closer together, restricting movement to reduce space and speed between the kicking and return teams.”
While this is the second season of the Dynamic Kickoff rule, prior to the 2025 campaign, the NFL added two updates:
“The dead ball spot of a touchback if the ball lands in the end zone and is downed in the end zone by the receiving team is now the 35-yard line (in 2024 it was the 30-yard line) — and — Teams trailing in the game can now declare and attempt an onside kick at any point in the game (in 2024, it was only allowed for trailing team in 4th quarter).”
As we have seen with the NFL in recent years, if enough fans and players begin to complain against a particular play or rule, they’ll look into changing it.
If the NFL were wise, they’d make kickers less important to the game, not more so, and doing away with, or at least tweaking, the dynamic kickoff rule would be a step in that direction.