Film breakdown: Cody Parkey's hang time will produce better kick coverage results

In Cody Parkey's professional regular season debut, he drilled a crucial 51-yard field goal, matching Alex Henery's career long. Just as importantly, five of his seven kickoffs went for touchbacks, and the two that were returned only made it out to the 13 and 14 yard lines.

The two kickoffs that were returned were of particular interest to me. On those two kickoffs, Parkey had hang times of 4.1 and 4.4 seconds, both of which are very good. Here were Parkey's kickoffs on the day, by distance and hang time:

If those hang time numbers are meaningless to you (as they should be), here's how Parkey's kickoffs yesterday compare with Henery's in a weather-comparable game last year against the Chargers. To note, this may have been Henery's best day of the season in regard to kickoffs:

If you take out Parkey's first kickoff of the day, which was a low line drive he likely mis-hit (not that we're forgiving that), Parkey averaged 4.15 seconds of hang time per kickoff. Henery averaged 3.89 seconds against the Chargers.

That's a difference of 0.26 seconds. Is that really a big deal? Well... Yes.

Here's Henery's "Kickoff 1" that traveled 66 yards and had a hang time of 3.9 seconds. Note where the Eagles' kick coverage team is as the returner is crossing the five yard line:

And now note Parkey's "Kickoff 2" yesterday as the returner is crossing the five yard line. This kick traveled 69 yards and had 4.1 seconds of hang time. I'll get a better look at this when the NFL makes the All-22 version available, but Bryan Braman is streaking in at the 13 yard line, while Chris Maragos and Nolan Carroll have made their way inside the 20:

Last season, Alex Henery's inability to produce touchbacks helped contribute to two of the Eagles' losses down the stretch against the Vikings and Saints. The Eagles had to fix that, and if Week 1 is any indication of how the rest of the season will go, it appears that they have.

Even if Cody Parkey's kickoffs do not result in touchbacks, the Eagles' new additions of Braman, Maragos, and Carroll will be able to get further down the field before the opposing returner has a chance to get going on his return because of Parkey's improved hang time. That's what you saw yesterday when the Jaguars were only able to return kicks to the 13 and 14.

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