The Pittsburgh Steelers open the preseason against the Houston Texans tonight, and they will get their first in-game look at the new kickoff rule. Don’t expect the Steelers to do anything crazy, though. Head coach Mike Tomlin said he just wants the team to get familiar with the rule, and as a result, they’re going to “hit it right down the fairway.”
“More than anything, I’m not trying to get too much accomplished. We’re going to hit it right down the fairway if you will. This is our first exposure to it. I want to make sure first that the guys understand the play, the rules of the play, the things that are significant in terms of the design of the play. Those are the things that really have my attention. Less about strategy, what we intend to do as we move into the fall, or what the Joneses are up to, we just want to dip our toe in the water initially,” Tomlin told Bob Labriola of Steelers.com.
For one, the Steelers likely don’t want to give up any intel or a sneak peek of anything they might do if they do have something up their sleeve. Additionally, it’s a new rule and something new for every player, so during their first in-game action, it makes sense for the team to keep things basic. The last thing Pittsburgh wants to make a habit of is penalties on the kickoff or kick return. Giving the players time to know what to do and what the rules are involved will help minimize the risk of a potential penalty.
Throughout the league, most teams are just kicking the ball off like they normally would and not experimenting with anything different, and that will likely be the case for much of the preseason. The Texans will be playing their second preseason game, as they already played in the Hall of Fame game last week, so they’ll be much more familiar with the new kickoff rule, given their in-game experience with it.
There are a number of ways the Steelers can look to kick the ball off and try to get creative on that side, and they can also look to get creative on the blocking side. As Tomlin said, the preseason is less about what the Steelers might actually plan to do, and tonight, especially, it is more about familiarity with the rule. So just because it might be a bit of a boring play tonight from Pittsburgh’s side doesn’t mean it’ll be that way all season, although don’t expect the Steelers to be ok with a touchback this year.
