Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - As the Buffalo Bills continue their preparations for the regular season, they're not alone when it comes to adjusting to the major changes with the NFL's kickoff rules this past offseason.
The new kickoff format has changed the way teams are approaching special teams this season, as 10 players on the kicking team will now line up on the receiving team's 40-yard line. At least nine receiving team players will line up across from them between the 30- and 35-yard line. Two players on the receiving team will also be lined up in the landing zone, which is an area between the goal line and the 20-yard line.
Until the ball is kicked, all of the players on the field, except the receivers, must stay in place and can only move after the ball is caught or touches the ground.
With these big changes, the players on the field must now adapt to new ways of picking up different types of plays during the kickoff.
Smiley says the biggest difference between the new format and the old is players were diagnosing the play as they ran down the field.
"Depending on what the teaching was, there'd be different keys that you were using as you were running down the field to start to figure out what type of return you were going against. Well, that has disappeared, because there is no running as you're going," said Smiley while appearing on WGR during the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on Wednesday. "Some of those indicators, some of those keys now just don't exist. So, especially for vets who have been covering kicks on Sunday afternoon for a long time, to them, it feels so much different just because when that ball is caught by the returner or hits the ground, that play is starting right now, and I've already covered the 30 yards that I would have a year ago."
While every NFL team adapts to these changes, coaches need to rely on each other while learning different aspects of the new kickoff. The new rules have drastically changed the way kickoffs occur, so many coaches are trying new tactics in the preseason to prepare for the games that matter come the regular season.
"I think it was exciting right out the gate, as far as being new and different, and a challenge," Smiley said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "There is a lot of unknowns that come with just the problem-solving aspect of it, but it's been so interesting. Corey Harkey is my assistant, and after every week, we sit down and watch all the games from around the league. Just watching what people are trying, what problems are being solved, I think that's been super interesting."
The Bills will wrap the 2024 preseason on Saturday against the Carolina Panthers at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. Then the team will have a little more than two weeks to prepare for the regular season opener on Sunday, Sept. 8 against the Arizona Cardinals.
