5 replies to this topic

[Chris B]

It's a few days old, but here's the article: http://profootballta... ... -kickoffs/

“We had a lot of discussions about whether we should eliminate it and if we did what we could do in its place,” Mara told Giants.com. “There’s no consensus on it right now, but I could see the day in the future where that play could be taken out of the game. You see it evolving toward that.”

Mara says the Competition Committee’s top priority is player safety, and that the increase in touchbacks last year coincided with a decrease in concussions. In the eyes of the league office and NFL owners, that proves that moving the kickoff was the right idea.

A Grantland article offered a few options for the NFL if it eliminated kickoffs: http://www.grantland... ... ff-problem

What are your thoughts?

[BSLChrisStoner]

I'll take the old XFL rule with the scrum for the ball.

I guess you would have to 'Grandfather' that change, with many teams spending resources ($, and draft picks) towards players capable of handling kickoffs.

I think the game could look a lot different a decade from now. I might be in-favor of a larger field (CFL style) and keeping the same basic rules, vs. dramatically changing the way the game is played.

[Nuclear Dish]

A Grantland article offered a few options for the NFL if it eliminated kickoffs: http://www.grantland... ... ff-problem

What are your thoughts?

OMG, all of those suggestions are horrendous. I think you can eliminate kickoffs other than the onsides kick. Let a team that wants to try one do so. It'll probably only happen under dire circumstances at the end of a game, so there will be no more surprise onsides kicks. But there's still the same unlikely chance of winning one when you need one.

Otherwise, have teams start on the 20-yard line after a TD and on the 30-yard line (or even 35) after a FG. It's true that the scenario they discussed of a team down 2 with 90-seconds left will hate having to kick the FG for the lead, but that's the chance you take.

[Nuclear Dish]

In Bill Simmons's mailbag from the weekend, he addressed this and offered the following:

http://www.grantland... ... ck-mailbag

Q: Hey Sports Czar — what's your fix for NFL kickoffs? You can't run for Sports Czar if you are sitting this one out.
— Jeremy, Omaha

SG: We can't get rid of kickoffs entirely, right? For such a violent sport, we can't suddenly start picking which violent parts make more sense than others. At the same time, this seems like a good chance to tweak the sport so there's more incentive to go for touchdowns instead of field goals. Why? Because fans perk up when they hear the words "fourth down and they're going for it!" and lose interest when they hear the words "and here comes [fill in any kicker] to try a field goal." So, what if we tweaked the rules …

• No more kickoffs to start the first and third quarters. Instead, each team gets the ball on the 25-yard line and we go from there.

• After any successful field goal, you kick off from your own 25-yard line.

• After any touchdown, you kick off from your own 40-yard line.

The end result (hopefully): fewer field goals, more touchbacks, more "fourth down and they're going for it!" situations, and (most important) more decisions that will get screwed up by mentally overwhelmed coaches and eventually turn into comedic fodder!

Let's apply the revamped rules to a game situation. It's Sunday night and San Diego is playing Philly. The Eagles are trailing by four points with seven minutes to play. They're on San Diego's 22-yard line. It's fourth-and-four. If they make the field goal, they're still trailing by one, and they have to kick off from their own 25 (conceivably, giving San Diego excellent field position to finish off the game). But if they get the first down? Better chance of scoring the go-ahead touchdown coupled with an overwhelming chance of a touchback kickoff (and San Diego starting their next drive from their own 20).

So what would Andy Reid do? (Thinking.) Well, he'd waste a timeout to think about it — and if he could waste a timeout by challenging the previous play, then spend a second timeout to think about fourth down, even better. Then he'd probably decide on kicking a field goal because that would be the dumbest move. Then we could poke fun at him the next day for the entire sequence. See what I mean? We need more decisions in football; there's just no downside. We win anytime Andy Reid, Norv Turner, Mike Smith or whoever has to make a decision with multiple variables in the spur of the moment.

[Oriole85]

I know player safety, thus reducing injuries, is a big part of Goodell's agenda. But at some point this just gets ridiculous. It's a physical game, there's no way around it. Eliminating kickoffs is a horrible idea. I feel as if were headed towards two-hand touch.

[Greg Pappas]

Leave the game alone... I just don't want to see them take away the true essence of football, and that's hard-hitting competition.