DAVIE, Fla. -- The scoreboard read 20.9 miles per hour, but Jakeem Grant was mad because he knows he’s faster than that. He swears he was running three-quarter speed.
It was Grant’s first career kickoff return for a touchdown. Titans returner Darius Jennings countered with a kickoff touchdown of his own a little later in the fourth quarter.
The Titans-Dolphins game in Week 1 was the first in a decade with a kickoff-return touchdown for both teams. Last season, there wasn’t a kickoff-return touchdown until Week 6.
Well, what changed? The NFL introduced a new set of kickoff rules to make the play safer and slower and create a better chance for a big play.