Kick. It. Deep!

The Rams special teams will have less excuse than ever for giving up big plays on kickoffs, with the NFL passing a rule earlier this week that moves the spot for kickoffs back up to the 35-yard line. The time-honored strategy that almost no NFL team follows - Kick It Deep! - now becomes by far the best way to play defense on kickoffs. Very few NFL teams don't have a kicker with enough leg to put every kickoff into the back of the end zone from the 35. Rams kicker Josh Brown certainly can.

The rule was passed with an eye toward improving player safety, but probably does so at the expense of an epidemic of touchbacks. The kicking team all have to line up within 5 yards of the ball before it is kicked, which is supposed to be a concession to the disadvantage the returning team gets from the rule, but I don't see those guys taking that much longer to get up to full speed. Could be something to keep an eye on. And it will certainly matter little with guys like David Buehler and Sebastian Janikowski plowing every kickoff into the stands anyway.

Even a little rule change like this will likely affect the way many teams structure their rosters. Older kickers weak on kickoffs but accurate on FGs just gained 5 yards on all their kickoffs and gain value vs. kickers whose best trait is booming kickoffs out of the end zone. I just mentioned Buehler, but he's been such an adventure on FGs, with the new rule, Dallas might be better off with, I don't know, Morten Andersen or someone. And the few teams that keep kickoff specialists on their rosters certainly don't need to any more, and will replace those guys with real players.

And punt returners just got a lot more valuable than kickoff returners, the latter of whom may be expected to watch balls sail over their heads much of next season. The Rams have struggled ever since Tony Horne left to find a decent kickoff returner. Now, with the new rule and a league full of deep kickers, they don't really need one. A ton of possessions are going to start at the 20 from now on.

Josh Brown's job won't be affected by the new rule, but in St. Louis, one person whose job should be a lot easier is Tom McMahon, the Rams' special teams coach. There's more reason than ever to keep special teams strategy simple, very simple, indeed.

Kick it deep!