NFL's fourth-down revolution and new rules lead to record-low punts in 2025

There were three times in the first 59 years of the Super Bowl era that a team went back-to-back regular-season games without punting once.

That total has been matched during the 2025 season as part of a growing trend that has led to punts becoming more and more rare.

The new kickoff rule, the K-balls that have contributed to more long field goals and an increase in fourth-down aggressiveness by coaches have conspired to take the punt out of the game.

With one week remaining, the NFL is poised to set a record for fewest punts per game in any season in league history with the average of 3.54 punts per game for each team the lowest on record.

There are several reasons for the drop in punts, with the main causes being the rule changes on special teams and aggressiveness from coaches.

The average starting field position after kickoffs has increased more than 5 yards from two years ago before the rule changes first implemented in 2024 and tweaked this season led to more returns and moved the touchback spot.

That puts teams closer to scoring position on more possessions which, combined with more big-legged kickers and the K-ball, has flipped punts to field goals.

The 105 attempts from at least 55 yards are the most in NFL history and the 20 tries from at least 60 yards are more than there were for the entire 1990s as kickers have become more skilled and the rule changes allowing teams to prepare kicking balls in advance has added a few yards to each kicker’s range.

The fourth-down revolution that began heating up in 2017 when aggressiveness helped Philadelphia win a Super Bowl has taken off even more. The use of analytics has contributed to teams taking more chances on fourth down than in the past, when conservative coaches often opted for the safer option of a punt.

The 837 attempts on fourth down are already the most in any season in NFL history and the record 462 successful conversions are more than double the total of 223 from the 2017 season.

The 25 times when a team hasn't punted once in a game the past two seasons is one more than the total from the first 18 seasons after the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, including Indianapolis, San Francisco and Green Bay all doing it in back-to-back games.

While not needing to punt is usually a positive sign, the Packers have done it the past two weeks in losses, as well as in a Week 9 loss to Carolina. They are the first team ever to lose three games in a season without punting. Only two teams did it twice: Cincinnati last season and the Chargers in 2021.

No one has benefited more from the NFL’s decision to expand the playoffs than coach Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers will be the seventh seed in the NFC for the third straight season after losing 41-24 to Baltimore on Saturday night, earning a spot that wasn’t available until the NFL added an extra playoff team in each conference in 2020.

So instead of missing the playoffs for a fourth straight season, Green Bay will be playing in the postseason once again. The only other team that has earned the seventh seed more than once is Pittsburgh, which did it in 2021 and 2023.

The seventh seed is 1-9 in the wild-card round, with the Packers the only team to win when they beat Dallas in the 2023 playoffs.

The two top seeds from the 2024 postseason will be sitting at home during the playoffs this season.

The Detroit Lions joined the Kansas City Chiefs among eliminated teams with a loss to Minnesota on Christmas, marking the seventh time since seeding began in 1975 that both top seeds from one season missed the playoffs the following year.

That hasn’t been as rare in recent years, with six of the seven times occuring in the last 25 seasons after it happened only once in the first 27 years of seeding — when Chicago and Cincinnati both missed the 1989 playoffs.

The last time it happened before this season was 2022 when Tennessee and Green Bay missed out, with the other years coming in 2016 (Denver and Carolina), 2009 (New York Giants and Tennessee), 2008 (Dallas and New England) and 2001 (the Giants and Tennessee).

Three weeks into the season, Indianapolis was sitting pretty at the top of the AFC South standings with a 3-0 record, while Houston was still searching for its first win.

Now headed into the season finale with the two teams playing in Indianapolis, the Texans are preparing for the postseason and the Colts are getting ready to head home in a remarkable two-way turnaround.

This is the first time since the merger that a team that started 3-0 missed the playoffs, while another team in the same division started 0-3 and went to the postseason.

The Texans are the seventh team overall to make the playoffs after starting 0-3. The only other time it has happened in the last 27 seasons came when Houston also did it in 2018.

The Colts made it to 8-2 before collapsing with six straight losses, becoming the sixth team since the merger to miss the playoffs following such a start. The last to do it was the 1995 Raiders.

Inside the Numbers dives into NFL statistics, streaks and trends each week. For more Inside the Numbers, head here.

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Houston Texans wide receiver Jaylin Noel, right, celebrates his touchdown with wide receiver Nico Collins during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff walks off the field after the team's loss to the Minnesota Vikings in an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Hurts passes during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt Lafleur watches during the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Baltimore Ravens punter Jordan Stout (11) warms up before an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.

Four apartment buildings were damaged in the bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. Power company DTEK said two of its energy facilities suffered significant damage. The company said that 10 substations that distribute electricity in the Odesa region were damaged in December alone.

Russia has this year escalated its long-range attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. In recent months, as Russia’s invasion of its neighbor approaches its four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified its targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.

From January to November this year, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier this month. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023, it said.

Russia’s sustained drone and missile attacks have taken place against backdrop of renewed diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and announced that a settlement is “closer than ever before." The Ukrainian leader is due to hold talks next week with the heads of European governments supporting his efforts to secure acceptable terms.

The ongoing attacks, meantime, are inflaming tensions.

The overnight Odesa strikes “are further evidence of the enemy’s terror tactics, which deliberately target civilian infrastructure,” Kiper, the regional head, said.

Moscow has alleged that Ukraine attempted to attack Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia with 91 long-range drones late Sunday and early Monday. Ukrainian officials deny the claim and say it’s a ruse to derail progress in the peace negotiations.

Maj. Gen. Alexander Romanenkov of the Russian air force claimed Wednesday that the drones took off from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions.

At a briefing where no questions were allowed, he presented a map showing the drone flight routes before they were downed by Russian air defenses over the Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk and Novgorod regions.

It was not possible to independently verify the reports.

Ukraine’s air force said Wednesday that Russia fired 127 drones at the country during the night, with 101 of them intercepted by air defenses.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 86 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian regions, the Black Sea and the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula.

The Ukrainian attack started a fire at an oil refinery in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, but it was quickly put out, local authorities said.

This story has corrected the day of the alleged Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian president’s residence to late Sunday and early Monday, instead of late Saturday and early Sunday.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, a Russian Army soldier fires from D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)