The Hall of Fame game last Thursday gave us all our first opportunity to see the new kickoff in practice.
If you thought it looked a little odd, you’re not alone.
After Sunday’s joint practice with the Chargers, Rams head coach Sean McVay began his press conference by describing the new kickoff as “interesting, to say the least.”
“It just feels weird,” McVay said. “It doesn’t look like anything that has been anything I’ve been familiar with football. I know the intent is right. We’ll try to figure it out. I know everybody that’s been involved in that has their intentions in the right place but it’s a very foreign-looking play. However we feel about it, we have to be able to adjust and make sure that we adapt and it can be something that’s an advantage to us.”
McVay added that he and the coaching staff will continue to look at ways to make sure the execution of the play can benefit the team.
“I think we also need to probably have some fluidity with it if there are adjustments as we go,” McVay said. “When you see it against some other teams… it’s one thing to work it against each other but when you see it against some other teams, there will be a lot that we can really dive into with the film. That’s what I mean by interesting.”
The Rams will get their first chance to see the new kickoff in game action during Sunday’s preseason matchup with the Cowboys. But as other coaches have said, McVay isn’t anticipating that teams will show much from the new kickoffs until the games count. That’s part of why the joint practices are valuable.
“This was a good opportunity to really get familiar with it in terms of just seeing it against another opponent in a little bit more of a controlled setting,” McVay said. “There’s a lot of work to be done. I think that’ll continue on as we get closer and closer to the opener. I don’t believe that the preseason is going to give us an indication of what this play looks like because I think a lot of teams that have some schematic things, they’re not going to show it just like we wouldn’t as well.”
