The opening kickoff of Monday night’s Texans-Steelers game resulted in a touchback to the 20-yard line under unusual circumstances, leading to confusion from some fans who wrongly thought it should have been a safety because the Steelers downed the ball in the end zone after touching it before it crossed the goal line.
The officials ruled it a touchback because Steelers returner Jaylen Warren’s left foot was in the air when he touched the ball. Warren’s right foot was on the ground at the 1-yard line, but his left foot then stepped down in the end zone, where he took a knee. By rule, that means the ball was touched in the landing zone before a touchback, which puts the ball on the 20-yard line.
The officials ruled that Warren did not complete possession — which requires two feet down — until he was in the end zone. If both his feet had been down at the 1-yard line when he completed possession and his momentum had carried him back into the end zone, then the ball would have been spotted at the 1-yard line. But it still would not have been a safety, because it was Warren’s momentum that carried him into the end zone as he was backpedaling to field the ball.
The only way for a kickoff returner to give the other team two points for a safety would be if he fielded the ball in the landing zone and then ran into the end zone on his own, then gave himself up, was tackled or went out of bounds in the end zone. That’s not what Warren did.
The new kickoff rules sometimes create confusion, as fans are still becoming accustomed to terms like “landing zone” and with some touchbacks being spotted at the 20-yard line and others at the 35. In this case, the touchback to the 20 was a rare situation where the ball touched a player, not the ground, before going into the end zone. The play served as a reminder that the ball touching a player in the landing zone is the same as the ball touching the ground in the landing zone.