I'm totally against this change. Once again, it wasn't broken and its been 'fixed'. KOs in the past have always been a good part of our game, and an exciting one, all this is going to do is make more touchbacks , yawn. http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=6248292
This is a pretty big change no one is talking about, this will ensure if the ball isn't kicke dout of the EZ that we will still see plenty of returns.
Yes, it should give a split second advantage to the return team, which probably equates to a good 2-3 yards.
Everyone has been talking about it. One thing it does, is devalues kick off return specialists and big legs...Surprised the Jets voted for it though. You're going to see more guys that have Punt return ability back there...not as many breaks I don't think
Everyone is talking about the KO being moved from the 30 to the 35 but I haven't seen anyone talking about the KO team only getting a 5 yd head starter rather than 15. That will almost negate the difference from moving it to the 35- unless the K kicks it out of the EZ.
How does that improve player safety then? If the closing distance between kicking team and the player returning the ball is the same or possibly even more, you'll still have the same closing speed as you have currently. All this does is promote kickers with big legs over returners with clever feet. It isn't like teams are returning for two touchdowns a game, so why make it even harder? I agree with Westy that a good kick off return is an incredibly exciting play.
The closing distance is not the same the kickoffs get pushed up 5 yards and the players have to move up 5 yards so instead of running from the 20 on a kickoff from the 30 the players will have to run from the 30 on a kickoff from the 35.
in addition to this, less kickoff returns will happen, and as a result less return plays will happen which reduces the potential for players to get hurt if there are less plays involved.
Listening to the guys on NFL radio, my perspective has changed on this matter. I think they said out of 2600 kicks (in 2010) in the NFL 19.99% resulted in a touch back. The average NFL kick on a kickoff was to the 6 yard line. Therefore the average NFL kick will be to the 1 yard line with the new rule...so there will be a lot of returns still. Also, with respect to the shorter head start, this was put in place to prevent injury. Guys were reaching the point of kick at top speed now they will reach top speed after the point of kick.
F*ng crazy Jets...America voted for 'change' two years ago...how's that workin' out...? status quo bitches.
The speed is diminished. Coverage players are less likely to be coming with a full head of steam. They're not moving as fast when blockers engage them, and this as well diminishes closing speed. The push forward does less for player safety than the lack of run up to the kick does.
This is a good point. This will allow the front line of the KR team more time to get downfield to set up their blocks. I remember my H.S. team having a really hard time setting up a wedge against this one team that used a 15 yard head start (every other team in our conference used 5-10 yards). The job of the front line of the KR team was to run back 12-15 yards and set up a 4 man wedge for the latter part of a swinging gate return. By the time the front line got in position and turned around, the wedge busters were already in their face or past them.
Kickers will add a half second of hang time by kicking it higher. Maybe this reduces 10% of momentum in the grand scheme of things but the way I see it is that this will only improve safety in principle. It will look good for Goodell and co. to institute the change. Injuries will be just as common though.
Not sure why the owners would vote for something that will obviously diminish the excitement of kickoffs. Niether the owners nor the fans really care about player safety, so I guess it may be something to appease the new union. Who knows.
On NFL Radio they talked about the past when the NFL kicked off from the 35. The return stats are vastly different, something about triple the amount of 40 yard plus returns and double the amount of return TDs. Now with the wedge rule changed this is a huge difference, so the stats may even be more skewed than they were in 93. (The last time we kicked from the 35) This also opens up the option for more pooch kicks and dangerous collisions.
Special teams now play a little less of a role and for a team built on quality of players (strong starters) rather than good depth I could see how this is a positive for the Jets.
