Rams Adjust to Latest Rule Changes : Football: Special teams coach fine-tunes his game plan to take advantage of them.

Notice to NFL fans: No more dawdling come game time; no more bathroom breaks until after the not-so-automatic attempt for the extra point; no more fantasy football leagues decided by long-range field goals.

“The rule changes we have this year are the most dramatic since I came into the game,” said Wayne Sevier, 53, who coaches the Ram special teams. “We’re talking four major changes with the most drastic being the two-point conversion.”

Rule change No. 1: The opening kickoff now becomes mandatory viewing. Instead of kicking off from the 35-yard line, the ball will be booted from the 30. Instead of the ball being downed in the end zone and brought out to the 20, now it will most likely be returned.

“If a kicker put 20% of his kicks in the end zone last year and they weren’t returned, that was considered a great job,” Sevier said. “You won’t see anybody come close to that this year.”

Rule change No. 2: New equipment will further handicap the kickers and ensure more returns. Instead of using three-inch tees, which allow for more hang time, all kickers must use a one-inch tee.

“With a three-inch tee you were looking at a good hang time of 4.3 seconds,” said Tony Zendejas, Ram kicker. “Now if you get anywhere around four seconds it will be a good kick.”

Rule change No. 3: Teams will, in effect, be penalized seven to eight yards for attempting and missing a field goal. A year ago there were 120 attempts from 50 yards or beyond, but now with the ball being spotted at the point of the attempt rather than the line of scrimmage, coaches might not be so quick to call on the kicker.

“I think you’re going to see fewer long field goals,” Sevier said. “The better pooch punters become more valuable to their teams.”

Rule change No. 4: Teams will have the option to kick for one point following a touchdown or go for two via run or pass.

“I don’t think you’re going to see many people go for it,” Sevier said, “but the minute somebody gets you with the two-point conversion you’re going to look like an idiot.”

With that in mind, the Rams hired perhaps the smartest special teams coach in the NFL. The signing of Chris Miller drew the headlines and the addition of Jimmie Jones, Wayne Gandy and Joe Kelly might excite the fans, but Sevier brings the Rams immediate respect.

“We call him the czar of special teams,” said Joe Bugel, former Cardinal head coach and an assistant previously with Sevier in Washington. “Without a doubt he’s one of the better ones, if not the best. What a tremendous motivator. He can take a good football player and make him a really great special teams player.”

In between successful tours of duty in Washington, Sevier resurrected the Chargers’ miserable special teams and made them tops in the league.

“I saw it from Day 1,” Zendejas said. “He demanded everyone’s attention and didn’t care if you were a star player or not. It’s unbelievable how attentive he is to every detail. Every individual knows exactly what he must do.”

In Seattle, the football teams coached by Chuck Knox set a standard for top-of-the-line special teams play. This past off-season Knox pursued Sevier, who had plans to join former Washington Coach Joe Gibbs, if as expected, he is offered the opportunity to coach in Charlotte.

“We bumped heads when he was in San Diego,” Knox said. “He was the guy I wanted.”

How important are special teams to Knox? Most people here believe the firing of running back Russell White on the opening day of training camp was Knox’s message to the troops: You don’t play special teams, then we don’t need you.

“That was something Chuck mentioned at that time,” Sevier said. “I’ll put it this way: It was a definite message to me that Chuck Knox is totally committed to special teams. The talks he has had with our team reinforce that: He wants great special teams.”

That is Sevier’s charge, and now he must be prepared to handle the game as it changes.

Teams will need more speed on their kickoff coverage teams to keep opponents from gaining a decisive field-position advantage. Speedy kick returners could become household names.

“I think the teams that will come out of this the best in the return game will be the teams with the least amount of penalties,” Sevier said. “You will get some good field position on the kickoff return, but what will kill it will be the penalties.”

Teams will be looking for kickers, however, with big legs to kick the ball in the end zone and avoid the long return. Zendejas kicked off 58 times last season, put the ball in the end zone 16 times and put it in the end zone deep enough to keep opponents from returning it nine times.

“This kid’s a real professional,” Sevier said. “He’s worked as hard toward this season as any kicker I’ve been around and I’ve been around some great ones (Mark Moseley, Rolf Benirschke, Jim Bakken, Chip Lohmiller).

“What I’m going to ask him to do is not place it, but get the best possible kick for us and then we’ll cover that kick. We’re just looking for the best combination of depth and hang time.”

The rule changes also will force coaches to make tougher game-deciding decisions. Do they risk going for the 50-yard line and turning the ball over to their opponent at the 40 if the kicker misses?

“I’ve told Tony if you want to kick the 50-yarder,” Sevier said, “just make them.”

Head coaches will have a two-point conversion in their playbook, but do they use it? In college, if a team misses the extra point early on, it usually goes for two following its next score. Will the pros? If a team trails by one point on the road with 12 seconds remaining, does the coach go for the tie or the victory?

“There are a number of decisions to be made and you need someone there to give you the best chance to make the right decision,” Knox said. “Wayne Sevier brings something to the table other than the fact he’s just a good coach. He’s been in the game a long time, and he knows the things we have to work on to get better.”