Josh McDaniels’s first season in charge of the Raiders hasn’t gone great (Las Vegas is 5–8) but the team did come up with at least one smart idea during his tenure—and now it’s being told to knock it off.
According to Football Zebras, the Raiders have been told they are no longer allowed to use a holder on kickoffs when also using a tee. The team had deployed a holder to balance the ball on the top edge of the tee, allowing kicker Daniel Carlson to get his foot under the ball and leading to kickoffs with more hang time. The league had initially told the Raiders that the move was within the rules but after further discussion has determined it to be illegal.
“They clarified a rule a couple weeks ago, that you’re permitted to hold the ball on the top of the tee now, so we’ve got a good kicker, you can add hang time to the kick, and I think you saw Daniel use that to our advantage,” McDaniels said earlier, according to ProFootballTalk. “That’s the rules. They clarified it a couple weeks ago. If it helps us gain some type of advantage, we’ll try to do that.”
