We are one week into the season, and fans are already questioning some of the referee’s calls. In the Steelers game, it was a mix of missed calls (Najee’s helmet ripped off his head or a Chiefs coach calling an unauthorized timeout), phantom calls (T.J. Watt not offsides on his first strip sack and no defender touched George Pickens to make him down by contact), frustrating calls (Broderick Jones penalized for defending a teammate who was punched causing an offsetting penalty instead of a first and goal), and new rules (7 of 9 kickoffs in the Pittsburgh-Atlanta game were touchbacks instead of being returned)
Here is my perspective as an average Steelers fan on a few:
New Kickoff
This year, the NFL adopted new kickoff rules to encourage more returns while maintaining player safety.