Stat of the Jay: Why Starting At the 35-Yard Line Instead of the 30 Could Actually Hurt The Bengals Offense

CINCINNATI – The NFL approved a rule Tuesday to move the drive start to the 35-yard line after a touchback.

Last year under the first season of the new dynamic kickoff rules, the drive starting point after a touchback was the 30-yard line.

Let’s look at how much better a team’s chances of scoring are from a starting point of the 35 vs. the 30.

Last year there were 1,793 drives that began at the 30-yard line and didn’t end in kneel downs.

Here is the breakdown of how those drives ended:

Punts: 671 (37.4 percent)

Touchdowns: 418 (23.3 percent)

Field goals: 282 (15.7 percent)

Interceptions: 127 (7.1 percent)

Downs: 110 (6.1 percent)

Fumbles: 77 (4.3 percent)

Missed field goals: 55 (3.1 percent)

End of game: 24 (1.3 percent)

End of half: 19 (1.1 percent)

Blocked field goals: 7 (0.4 percent)

Blocked punts: 3 (.2 percent)

Obviously the number of drives starting at the 30, due to the bulk of touchbacks, and those starting at the 35 are far part.

There were 21 times more drive beginning at the 30 than the 35.

But of the 85 non-kneel down drives that started at the 35, here is the breakdown:

Touchdowns: 26 (30.6 percent)

Punts: 22 (25.9 percent)

Field goals: 18 (21.2 percent)

Downs: 6 (7.1 percent)

Fumbles: 6 (7.1 percent)

Interception: 3 (3.5 percent)

End of half: 2 (2.4 percent)

Blocked field goals: 1 (1.2 percent)

Missed field goals: 1 (1.2 percent)

The chances of scoring a touchdown rose from 23 percent at the 30-yard line to 30 percent at the 35.

And the frequency of field goals went from 15.7 percent when starting at the 30 to 21.2 percent at the 35.

What’s interesting where the Bengals are concerned is that in the Zac Taylor era, they’ve actually been far more productive when starting from the 30 as opposed to the 35.

Again, the limited sample size of drives starting at the 35 can skew things somewhat.

But the lack of touchdowns from the 35 is a stark difference from how the team has performed starting at the 30.

Under Taylor, the Bengals have had 69 drives begin at the 30.

Touchdowns: 22 (31.9 percent)

Punts: 20 (29 percent)

Field goals: 10 (14.5 percent)

Downs: 6 (8.8 percent)

Fumbles: 4 (5.8 percent)

Interceptions: 3 (4.4 percent)

Missed field goals: 2 (2.9 percent)

End of game: 1 (1.5 percent)

End of half: 1 (1.5 percent)

The Bengals have had 19 drives starting at the 35.

Punts: 6 (31.6 percent)

Fumbles: 3 (15.8 percent)

Touchdowns: 2 (10.5 percent)

Field goals: 2 (10.5 percent)

Downs: 2 (10.5 percent)

Missed field goals: 1 (5.3 percent)

Interceptions: 1 (5.3 percent)

End of half: 1 (5.3 percent)

End of game: 1 (5.3 percent)

It will be interesting to compare how the Bengals do on their drives starting at the 35 in 2025 with the ones that started at the 30 in 2024.

Of course, the purpose of the moving the touchback to the 35 is to encourage teams not to blast kickoffs into and through the end zone, thereby creating more returns.

And if that happens, it could benefit the Bengals.

Darrin Simmons' kickoff return unit averaged 29.1 yards per return last year, eighth best in the league.

And the kick coverage unit held opponents to 24.5 yards per return, third best in the league.

The Bengals were one of only four teams to rank in the Top 8 in each category.

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!