Daniel Carlson kicks off for the Las Vegas Raiders during an NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 8, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.(AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson said, “It was fun while it lasted.” But the joyride is over for the former Auburn standout after the NFL reversed course on a rule interpretation.
For the past two games, Carlson has used safety Roderic Teamer as a holder on kickoffs, perching the football on the lip of the kicking tee instead of in the tee’s ball-holding cavity. The strategy put the ball a little higher and allowed for greater lean.
But when the Raiders play the New England Patriots at 3:05 p.m. CST Sunday, Carlson will be kicking off unaided.
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Carlson used the holder for the first time in Las Vegas’ 27-20 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 4.
“They clarified a rule a couple of weeks ago that you’re permitted to hold the ball on the top of the tee now,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said the next day. “And so, you’ve got a good kicker, you can add hang-time to the kick. And I think you saw Daniel use that to our advantage yesterday. And as long as you don’t kick it into the end zone, extra hang-time, put it at the goal line, we’re further down there and it gives the cover team a better opportunity to make some tackles inside the 25-yard line, which I think we did a decent job of that yesterday. But that’s the rules. So they clarified it a couple of weeks ago, and if it helps us gain some kind of advantage, then we’ll try to do that.”
On six kickoffs against the Chargers, Carlson had one touchback and Los Angeles never reached its 25-yard line on five returns. The Chargers started those five possessions at its 22, 21, 19, 20 and 22.
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The strategy did not work quite as effectively in Las Vegas’ 17-16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 8. Carlson had one touchback, and the Rams returned kickoffs to their 27, 34, 22 and 18.
Footballzebras.com reported Las Vegas had inquired about the legality of its kickoff strategy before using it, and got the OK from Walt Anderson, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating. But after consulting with the league’s Competition Committee and former NFL executive Joel Bussert, Anderson reconsider his initial decision.
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By placing the football on the lip of the tee instead of in it, the Raiders were violating the standardized 1-inch elevation limit mandated for kickoffs since 1994.
“Maybe they should make it the Daniel Carlson Rule or the Raider Rule,” Carlson told the Las Vegas Review Journal on Thursday. “We should get some credit for it. …
“It was great. The guys liked it, and it was creative of us.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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