Usually, when a special teams coordinator is shaking his fist after a kickoff goes out of bounds, it’s out of anger. Danny Smith’s reaction Sunday afternoon, however, was one of pure joy.
After a personal foul on the Indianapolis Colts on a Pittsburgh Steelers extra point, the Steelers accepted the penalty on the kickoff. The ball was placed at midfield. In past years, that might elicit a high, hanging kick to allow the coverage team plenty of time to get downfield. But new NFL kickoff rules eliminated the advantage of hangtime considering the coverage team can’t move until the ball hits the ground or is fielded.