“He doesn’t even know what he’s looking at,” Toub said at a news conference Thursday, drawing laughter from the assembled journalists. “He has no idea what’s going on with the kickoff rule, so I’m going to take that for what it’s worth. I hope he listens to it.”
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Throughout this year, President Trump has criticized the league’s new kickoff rules that prevent the kicking team from advancing until the ball falls or is caught by a returner on the opposing side.
During an interview earlier this month at The Pat McAfee ShowTrump said the new “drag start” rules, first introduced last year, have made the game “unromantic” and are “degrading to football.”
“I have to say, I’m probably going to get in some trouble for this. I hate the new kickoff in football,” Trump said. “I think it’s so terrible, I think it’s so degrading, and I think it hurts the game. It hurts the show.”
Earlier this season, Trump wrote on social media that the rules made the game “look ridiculous” and led to “sissy” football.
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The rules, which NFL owners voted to make permanent this year, were introduced to encourage more kick returns and fewer injuries to players.
Through the first seven weeks of this season, the rate of kickoff returns has more than doubled to 79.3 percent, although injuries have also increased, according to The Athletic.
However, head injuries fell nearly 43 percent overall during the first year under Dynamic Kickoff rules, according to Reuters.
Trump is an avid football fan and attended a Washington Commanders game earlier this month, becoming the first sitting president to attend a regular-season NFL game since Jimmy Carter in 1978 (IMAGES IMAGES via Reuters Connect).
The president has been interested in football for a long time.
Earlier this month, he became the first sitting president since Jimmy Carter in 1978 to visit a regular-season NFL game when he attended a matchup between the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions.
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The crowd reportedly booed the president upon his arrival.
Trump previously openly criticized NFL players who took a knee to protest racism amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the mid-1980s, Trump briefly owned the New Jersey Generals USFL team.
The Chiefs are in third place in the AFC West, with five wins and five losses.