Kicking plays in football: Are there more penalties called than in previous years?

The Game Room
1

Is it just me or are the refs in American football (both college and pro) getting more and more flag happy on kickoffs and punt returns? ISTM that more often than not, they’re calling either holding or illegal block in the back.

I don’t mean this year in particular but just a steady increasing trend over the past decade or so.

2

I haven’t looked closely at it, but ISTM that punt returns, in the NFL, have always been likely to have illegal block penalties on the returning team.