The Eagles may have stumbled into a special teams wrinkle that could force the NFL to move fast.
In Week 2 against the Titans, Philadelphia used a kickoff setup that gave Jake Elliott a different launch point, and it worked well enough to get the league’s attention almost immediately. Special teams coordinator Michael Clay said he picked up the idea after spending about three hours every Monday studying special teams film from around the league. That’s when he noticed the Atlanta Falcons had used a holder on kickoffs in Week 1, and he brought the concept to Philadelphia.
Punter Braden Mann was the key piece. He lined up as a 12th man on four of Elliott’s five kickoffs and held the ball at an angle rather than placing it on a tee. Clay said the adjustment changed the look of the kick.
“It just gave us a different opportunity, a different launch angle and they executed pretty well,” Clay explained, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The results backed him up. Against Tennessee, the Eagles’ average starting field position was the 36.3-yard line, while the Titans started at their own 31.2-yard line. Philadelphia also forced far more returns than touchbacks, with the wobbly, knuckleball-style kicks staying in the landing zone instead of sailing into the end zone.
The tactic is legal under the current kickoff rules, which already borrow from the XFL and allow a holder to remain on the field as long as he gets off it after the kick. But that loophole didn’t last long once other teams noticed. Bears reporter Adam Hoge pointed it out on September 24, and with Chicago hosting Philadelphia just days later on Monday night, the timing immediately turned heads.
Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower made the league’s likely response pretty clear.
“The intent of the rule - and we are all going to get together on this and get this fixed - because the intent of the rule is a ball is supposed to be in a tee,” Hightower said.
Now special teams coordinators around the NFL are expected to meet and address the issue, and a rule adjustment could arrive before the Eagles and Bears even kick off. A tee requirement would keep the holder in the process but remove the exact edge Philadelphia found against Tennessee.
The league has already shown it can act quickly on rules this season. Earlier this year, it added a challenge flag rule change directly into the book without a full competition committee vote. A fast fix here would fit that pattern.
For now, holders would still be allowed to angle the ball, but they’d need a tee underneath it. Whether that wipes out the advantage Philadelphia created is something nobody will know for sure until Monday night arrives. Clay and the Eagles haven’t publicly addressed the possible change since Hightower’s comments, but after finding this loophole once, it wouldn’t be a shock if they’re already hunting for the next one.
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