The kickoffs from Chad Ryland looked nearly the same, between the one he booted right after Marvin Harrison Jr.'s touchdown and the one he booted after Emari Demercado's game-tying TD just a few minutes of game clock later.
The first was to Ryland's left. The other was to Ryland's right. They had drastically different outcomes, the latter of which after the loss to the Seahawks becoming a major talking point.
The first landed about the Seattle 7 and the return came out to the Seahawks 22. The second, as everyone knows by now, landed at the Seattle 21 -- a no-no with the new "landing zone" rules that dictate a kickoff must come down between the 20 and the goal line. Too far, and it's a touchback and the ball comes out to the 35. Too short -- like Ryland's last -- comes out to the 40.
The Cardinals, with 28 seconds left on the clock, wanted Ryland to keep the ball in play, coach Jonathan Gannon said after the game. Instead, the Seahawks didn't have far to go at all for a field goal, and never lost any time in which to do it.
"That's kind of one of the things we talk about late in the game there with the amount of timeouts and time and what they needed, we were trying to burn off some time there," Gannon said. "Chad played his ass off. The game doesn't come down to one play. We didn't do enough collectively for 60 minutes to win the game."
There is a fine line for kickoffs these days. Many regular kickoffs are being returned out past the 30 right now. There is the touchback and the penalty Ryland got. Teams are trying the "dirty" kickoff -- not really a squib, because it has to travel far enough in the air -- and Ryland made it work the first time.
Asked about threading that needle, Gannon said Monday he will be interested to see what the NFL stats are after teams play until midseason and more data about all these returns/kickoffs/touchbacks are collected.
(The fact kickers don't need to go far for a legit field-goal attempt anymore also plays into it. Ryland made a 57-yard field goal himself against the Seahawks; that came at the Seattle 39-yard line as scrimmage. It doesn't take much past midfield to be in range, which is why the 40 as a starting point was such a problem.)
"I thought we played well on kickoff all day," Gannon said. "He just kind of mishit that one. It's the difference of a yard and (then) it could be really good for you. There are decisions I made, when you look at it, some of them worked and some of them didn't work from a game management standpoint. I try to look at those critically. Sometimes when those work you're not off the hook, and some things when they don't work you still think you made the right decision. That's the chair I'm in, and that's OK."
