FRISCO, Texas — Cowboys special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen said Thursday that the Philadelphia Eagles can use a holder on kickoffs until the NFL rule book says otherwise, though he initially shared the view of Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower that the tactic stretched the rule’s intent.
The Eagles began having punter Braden Mann hold the ball on the ground for kicker Jake Elliott on kickoffs in Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans. The rule allowing a 12th player to hold on kickoffs was designed for windy conditions with the ball in a tee, Hightower said, according to Pro Football Talk. NFL special teams coordinators held a call on the issue.
Sorensen said the coordinators would probably talk about it more. The Dallas Cowboys do not use a holder on kickoffs.
“Yeah, I mean, we’ll probably talk about it more. I don’t know. I mean, originally I thought the same thing that Hightower had said, it’s for, but if it’s explicitly not said in the rule book, then you can do it until it changes,” Sorensen said. “So we don’t use the holder, so it doesn’t affect us.”
Dallas has used the low, spinning “dirty ball” kickoff instead. Sorensen said the Eagles’ holder is one of several techniques teams use to land the ball in the 20-yard landing zone, and none of them is perfect.
“There are some different techniques, like you’ve seen with the Eagles, using a holder, using the tee, not using the tee, and, again, making it land in that 20 yards can be tough. Plus, the ball has some spin to it,” Sorensen said. “Again, everyone’s got a little bit different spin to it, but the ball’s a weird shape and you’ve got weird spin.”
Nick Sorensen Explains The Cowboys Kickoff Block Rules
Dallas does not line up all 11 players on the line to rush a kick. Sorensen said rule changes limit how many players can rush from one side and took away pushing and leaping from behind the line.
“Well, there are some rules. One, you want to rush the main side there, and you can only have six. You can only have six to one side that can be on the line of scrimmage. They changed that rule,” Sorensen said. “Just like they changed you can’t push. You used to be able to push in the backs. You used to be able to leap when you weren’t on the line of scrimmage; they changed that rule. We did that like probably four or five times when I was in Seattle, where you’d run it, time it up, and leap.”
“Now you have to be on the line of scrimmage to be a jumper. So rules-wise, you can only do so much one side, and that’s really where the rush is. That’s the flight path,” Sorensen continued.
Under the kickoff rules, a ball that lands in the landing zone and goes into the end zone comes out to the 20, while a touchback off a ball kicked into the end zone in the air comes out to the 35. A short kick or one out of bounds gives the opponent the ball at the 40. Sorensen said returners misjudge the landing spot too.
“It’s a big difference, obviously, from 40 to 35 to 20. So I think when people understand the rules of that and then there’s risk-rewards of all of it, it makes it fun for, I think, the fans and also us too,” Sorensen said.
Nick Sorensen Says Dirty Balls Are Tough On Any Returner
Opponents have tried their own dirty balls to keep the ball away from Cowboys returner KaVontae Turpin. Sorensen said Dallas has not seen many this year, and Turpin practices against the few that kicker Brandon Aubrey hits in practice.
“I think the dirty balls are tough no matter who’s back there at returner. We haven’t really had it yet this year. We’ve had them in the past. Turp gets some of the work, too, when he sees them from Brandon, the few that we do in practice,” Sorensen said. “But, again, they’re just so unpredictable because even the ones that, even if you miss-hit it and it’s in the air and they catch it in the air, there’s some spin to it. So even ones that you might think weren’t dirty were potentially trying to be dirty. So they can be tough either way just because of that spin. They’re not 100%, but they are tough. Once they hit the ground, you never know where it’s going.”
The dirty ball also creates takeaway chances, Sorensen said, because loose kicks bounce around. Dallas finished minus-1 in turnovers against Baltimore, he said, and the value of a dirty ball drops once it starts going out of bounds or landing short.
Aubrey sent two dirty balls out of bounds against Baltimore, and Dallas kicked the final kickoff into the end zone for a touchback that left the Ravens seven seconds. Sorensen said Thursday the Cowboys should have kept that kick in play.
The Cowboys play the Houston Texans on Sunday at noon CT on Fox.
