The NFL is now in its second season employing the new dynamic kickoff rules, but it’s apparently too early to assume that every player in the league has adjusted to the changes.
That was present on Sunday, as the Seattle Seahawks scored on a kickoff after kicking it due to a critical blunder by Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Kaleb Johnson.
After the Seahawks took a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter, kicker Jason Myers dropped the ball into the landing zone and the ball bounced over Johnson’s head and into the end zone. It stopped before the back line, keeping it as a live ball. Someone on the kicking team has to down it to end the play. Under the old rules, it would have been a touchback.
Instead, multiple Seahawks rushed the ball, with third-string running back George Holani recovering it for a touchdown. The majority of the Steelers’ receiving team almost seemed to have no clue what was happening.
George Holani scores a MASSIVE TD for the Seahawks on a heads up special teams play! pic.twitter.com/abjNJTJZm9
— SleeperSeahawks (@SleeperSeahawks) September 14, 2025″I wish I could say it’s like we went over it on Friday night. But you have to talk rules, you have to know the rules of the game and play by them better than everybody else,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said after the 31-17 win. “I can’t tell you when exactly we’ve talked about it, but that was a heck of a play by George [Holani] — understanding the situation and then staying in bounds and recovering it.”
It’s something that special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh has drilled into his special teams unit, Holani said, per The Tacoma News Tribune reporter Gregg Bell. They make it an emphasis to get on top of every ball.
“Every ball is live, we’ve got to down every ball … I was trying to stay in bounds, so I was trying to just get on it and cradle and stay in bounds right there,” Holani told Bell in the locker room after the game. “It was close, though, because I didn’t want my momentum just taking me out of bounds, and then it’s not fully recovered.”
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) September 14, 2025That’s good coaching, but it’s also incredible awareness by the entire kicking unit. Holani was far from the only Seattle player in a full sprint toward the football, knowing that there was an opportunity for points.
It was a tough break for the Steelers, as they scored just three points the rest of the game following the demoralizing miscue. Johnson was in just his second game under the dynamic kickoff after coming from college football, which still employs rules similar to the NFL’s old kickoff.
For Seattle, it was the catalyst for the win. That pushed the Seahawks’ lead to 24-14, and one more offensive touchdown sealed the game. Seattle’s defense forced two Aaron Rodgers interceptions to help mitigate the Pittsburgh offense as well.
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