http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8720551/roger-goodell-floats-idea-end-kickoffs-report-says
Goodell and McKay discussed an idea brought up by Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano in which a team, instead of kicking off, would get the ball at its own 30-yard line in a fourth-and-15 situation. The team then would punt the ball away or, to replace an onside kick, could go for it and, if they failed to get a first down, the opposing squad would start with great field position.
heck you Goodell
With the major injuries happening today, and the knowledge we’re learning about head trauma, the game is going to change in the next decade. Just like it did in the early 20th century when people were getting killed on a regular basis.
Kickoffs are inherently dangerous in that you have players running full speed at each other; the collisions can be especially nasty. They have changed already (moving the kicking point upfield, and eliminating the 3 man wedge) and will continue to change. This may not be the way it is done eventually, but change is coming so get used to it.
This isn’t ruining football, it’s saving it.
I’m with Telemark. This may not be the football your used to, but something like it will happen eventually. Otherwise parents will continue to stop letting their kids play the sport (I know I won’t under the current rules).
I could see punting rules change as well, and even more emphasis placed on no blows to the head.
Yes, he’s ruined football by mentioning an idea about changing kickoffs. Terrible. Seriously: I don’t think this will get implemented, and it’s true kickoffs are by far the most dangerous type of play. But there’s no reason they can’t look at some changes beyond the ones they implemented last season.
Safety is for squares
You can pry my chronically pained, jello-brained, drooling, delusional ex-NFL players from my cold dead hand!!!
The cool kids punctuate, though.
punctuate this
This particular rule would be terrible though, because 4th and 15 would often come down to a dubious pass interference call allowing a team to score and then keep possession.
That’s a big risk to take at your own 30 yard line. This does sound like it’d be equivalent to a kickoff in that teams would usually punt, but once in a while they would go for it on 4th-and-15 in a move that’s pretty similar to an onside kick.
Explain why this is bad and player safety isn’t important.
Can you explain to me why a (usual) punt is likely less dangerous than a kickoff? Won’t the kicking team still go running at full speed to stop the receiving player most likely to catch the ball?
Yes, they will, but there won’t be half a dozen blockers downfield running headfirst at them, trying to have a full-speed collision. Instead, there will be a single guy down there trying to run past them, which is much safer.
Also on punts, the kicking team gets partially blocked/slowed at the line while the receiving team tries (with various levels of effort) to block the punt. On a kickoff, the kicking team gets at least a good 20-30 yard head of steam with nothing to slow them down.
I recall the naysayers said the same thing about 35 yard line kickoffs destroying the game. They’re still around (actually, back to where they were pre-1994). They don’t appear to have destroyed the game or wrecked most fans appreciation of football. Sure, this is a more drastic change, but it’s not like kickoffs are a vital part of the game. Now, if they outlawed the forward pass, I could see heads roll.
I don’t know. Kickoffs are an exciting play. Reducing a kickoff to a punt seems really stupid. Will it really reduce injuries? I doubt it. No matter what the NFL does, they will not be able to legislate concussions from football. It’s a violent game and players know the risks, as do parents of children that get them involved in the game at a younger age.
I think the new kickoff rules are just fine. Lots of touchbacks.
And I believe only a limited number of players can head downfield until the ball is actually punted, the rest have to stay on the line. Plus the receiving team has the option to call fair catch on a punt and avoid the contact, that’s not available on a kickoff.
The cry of “Might as well put dresses on them” usually comes from folks who have never played the game, don’t really understand just how violent the hits really are, and has no appreciation for all the changes that have been made over time in the name of player safety.
One factor is the fair catch.
That’s true.
Why?
That’s not the goal. The goal is reducing the risk to players (which includes concussions but also hits in general). Nobody thinks that if they tweak the rules just so, nobody will ever get a concussion again.
I’ll believe Goodell is serious about player safety when the idea of an 18 game schedule is dead. He’s about player safety as long as there are no short term monetary impacts.
I love the proposal. I think a game deciding 4th and 15 would be significantly more exciting than an onside kick (and I don’t see how a kickoff return is any more exciting than a punt return - sounds like a net positive to me). I think the worst thing you could do is dismiss potential changes simply because of tradition and a fear of change (Hi MLB!).
What interests me is comparing how often teams succeed at 4th and 15 vs. onside kicks. I also wonder if maybe it would be better to have the play spotted at the 40 so as to not give the other team the ball back in standard field goal range on an incomplete pass attempt. But doing so would make the scoring team (the “kicking” team) more aggressive in how often the attempt to make the 1st. Interesting stuff!
I’d like to see some kind of compilation of stats that shows without a doubt that concussions (or any other serious injuries) are more prevalent during kickoffs than any other type of play in the NFL. In fact, I read somewhere not too long ago that there’s a belief that it isn’t even necessarily a concussion ( the BIG hits) that’s the concern, rather, that it’s the repetition of lesser hits over and over again (which means even lineman standing two feet from one another aren’t safe from these injuries) that may be a root cause of CTE and other related brain injuries. And if that’s true, eliminating kickoffs will help how again?
ETA: As an example, I offer up Chris Henry, who died at the age of 26 due to a combination of accident and being an idiot, whom had an advanced case of CTE upon examination of his brain post-mortem, and he never played special teams. He was ONLY 26.