'Scientific stuff': Did the Dallas Cowboys accidentally invent the perfect kickoff?

FRISCO — What do chocolate chip cookies, penicillin and Velcro all have in common? They were all discovered by accident.

Could the perfect kickoff join that list? The Dallas Cowboys are at least examining that possibility.

There were not a lot of highlights for the Cowboys in Sunday’s 44-19 loss to the New Orleans Saints, but the first play, seemingly, was one of them.

Aubrey found the perfect combination between height, speed and distance on the opening kickoff. He hit a low, hooking kickoff that landed at about the 17-yard line — right in the “landing zone” determined by the new dynamic kickoff rules. The spin Aubrey put on it made it tough to handle. So much so, that it went past Saints returner Taysom Hill and into the endzone for a touchback. All in a matter of just about 3.6 seconds.

For those unfamiliar to the new rules, here’s why the kick was perfect: because it landed in the landing zone — the area between the 20-yard line and the goal line — and because it went into the endzone, it was a touchback that started the Saints on the 20-yard line, not the 30-yard line. The new rules were designed to increase returns and increase starting position for offenses.

Aubrey’s kickoff negated both.

What appeared to be Aubrey — a quick-study and a reigning first-team All-Pro — excelling in another facet of the NFL was actually not the intention. Or at least the manner in which it happened.

“We had one the week before in Cleveland, too,” Fassel said, before spilling the truth, “but ironically those were both miss-hit kicks.”

In other words, an accident — but some of the best inventions are. Now the Cowboys are seeing if they can replicate that accidental success, despite the difficulty of it.

The kick in Cleveland and the kick against the Saints are data points in what’s been a long and ongoing experimental process. Fassel, known for his special teams creativity, helped push for the new kickoff rules after Sam Schwartzstein and the XFL adopted them back in 2021. That’s allowed Fassel’s mind to workshop all parts of the new kickoff rules and search for any potential advantages that could be discovered.

Finding an un-returnable kickoff that still placed teams at their own 20-yard line would be one of those pursuits. But it was fraught with danger. A kick too low that lands before the 20-yard line would be treated as if it went out of bounds, placing the returning team at the 40-yard line. A kick that had too much spin and took a hard bounce horizontally could also land out of bounds, rendering the same effect.

So Fassel and Aubrey have worked on it, mostly, when there weren’t negative repercussions. Every Wednesday, while the offense and defense are in team meetings, Fassel and the special teams group will head into the indoor Ford Center at The Star and practice situational moments. It’s a testing ground for their experiment.

Like in golf, a different path to the football is desired for a different result. So they’ll experiment with all factors. They’ll test how to put the ball on the tee. They’ll test where to kick on the ball to get the desired height but speed. They’ll test how much Aubrey wraps his ankle around the ball in the hopes that it could create the desired spin necessary to make a returner hesitant just enough so they can’t handle the return. Aubrey, actually, may be perfectly made for this pursuit. The former college soccer player and MLS SuperDraft first round pick was often used on set pieces. If any NFL kicker can understand shot shaping, it’s him.

“There’s a lot of scientific stuff that they really are still experimenting with that,” Fassel said, “that we’re still trying to work out.”

And like any good experiment, data collection is essential. Which is why the Cowboys are taking both of the accidents as samples in the hope of finding a repeatable way to kick the perfect kickoff.

Currently, it’s far from patent.

“That’s something we’ve seen and that’s something if we could replicate that every time, we’d absolutely do that,” Aubrey said. “But that’s just not something that’s repeatable. That ball could land anywhere and could kick in any direction. So it’s not something we want to do often.”

At least not until the experiment is finished.