Mike Tomlin may turn to video game to prepare for new kickoff rules

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin roams the sidelines during player introductions prior to the start of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA on October 29, 2023.

Like his 31 fellow head coaches, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is mostly flying blind on what the new NFL kickoff rules will actually look like in 2024. That’s why he is prepared to resort to some desperate measures to try to conceptualize it.

Tomlin said he expects plenty of coaches to pay close attention to Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game as they try to determine what the overhaul in kickoff rules might actually look like in play. The Steelers coach is prepared to go a step further in his own preparation.

“I’d imagine there’s a lot of guys in my position are going to be watching the Hall of Fame Game to see what some of it looks like,” Tomlin said. “I’ll be looking at the EA Sports game when it comes out to see what it looks like. It’s just uncharted territory. You pay respect to the unknown with preparedness and anxiety, at times.”

Obviously, the folks behind “Madden NFL 25” have yet to see the kickoff in action, but they know the rules and have the ability to program something that should be a good approximation of what things might actually look like in a game. Unfortunately for Tomlin, the game is not scheduled for release until Aug. 16, so he will have to wait a bit.

Under the new set of rules, kick coverage units start at the receiving team’s 40-yard line, with the kicker back at his own 35. Coverage teams cannot begin moving until the kick has either hit the ground or been fielded. As a result, some teams will be taking wildly different approaches to kickoffs in 2024. Tomlin, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out the specifics, as are most of his peers.

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