When most people see a kickoff they judge it by one thing: How close did it get to the end zone. They look at one aspect of the kick when there are actually three parts to a kick.

First is the distance. This is the one most easily seen because we can see that the ball only goes to the 5 yard line so that must mean that this kicker has a weak leg, right? WRONG. This all depends on the other two factors of a kickoff.

Second is the angle of the kick. Kicking it to the sideline means that the kick will need to travel further than if it had been kicked straight. So the angle of the kick will mean that the kickoff might seem like a shorter kick when it actually travel a further distance.

Third is the height of a kick. This will increase the hang time of the ball and allow the cover team to get further down the field. This is one thing that is hard to judge when watching the game, but if you pay close attention to our kicks vs opposing kickoffs that go into the end zone you will notice that we normally get better height and hang time on our kickoffs.

Bronco wants all three of these, but he would take angle and height over kicking it out of the end zone every time. SO the next time you complain about how short a kickoff is, even though we stopped them at the 18 yard line, just remember that you are judging it by the least important factor.