The first full Sunday of the 2024 NFL season offered football fans a full look at the league’s new “dynamic kickoff” rules.
And we finally have our first truly dynamic play under these rules, with the first kickoff return touchdown of the 2024 NFL season.
After a Josh Allen scramble for a touchdown gave the Buffalo Bills a 31-20 lead over the Arizona Cardinals, the teams lined up for the next installment of the NFL’s new kickoff format. Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass lofted a kick down to the Arizona 4-yard line, inside the “landing zone” that is a feature of the league’s new kickoff rule.
Arizona returner DeeJay Dallas settled under the kick from Bass, and 96 yards later, Dallas was in the NFL record books, as the first returner to take a kick back for a touchdown under the new rules:
The big moment in the return came around Arizona’s 40-yard line when Dallas was able to slice through a trio of Buffalo players, remaining upright as he raced into Buffalo territory. From there it was a footrace, a footrace that Dallas won.
All the way into the NFL record book.