When they announced this, most people seemed to think that this new rule would lead to more kickoff returns. As it turns out, the rule is working as intended. 60% of kickoffs are now touchbacks as compared to 55% last season and 50% the year before. Mase has an article here breaking it down:
http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-an...ampaign=buffer
So what's happening?
"One of the things that comes into play is kind of like what I talked about last week -- it's that it's hard [for kickers] to control the ball flight a lot of times," Special Teams Coordinator Joe DeCamillis said. "It's harder for those guys to put the ball three or four [yards] ahead of the goal line, rather than inside the goal line."
And when the ball does get to the end zone, it's not often returned. Opponents have returned just 156 of 900 kickoffs (17.3 percent) that went at least one yard into the end zone after being kicked from the 35-yard line, according to pro-football-reference.com.
Last year, teams returned 43.8 percent of kickoffs that got into the end zone.
Clearly, the additional five yards has made all the difference league-wide.
"There's such a big incentive to leave the ball in the end zone," DeCamillis said. "If it ends up in there, you're talking an extra five yards every time. So I think that's part of it."