Goodell at it again - No more kickoffs???

Schiano's idea (a terrible one at that). Let's also institute a rule where O-Linemen can't line-up within 3 feet of each other when the QB is going to kneel the ball (would also be Schiano's idea)

 

how many times have i told you that this fucking dickbag goodell will ruin this sport we all once loved.

just let em kick from the 50 and anything that goes into the ez is a touchback.

 

maybe we should just turn the whole game into a big college football overtime and start at the 25 yard line over and over again... see who can score the most points. after all according to the nfl the only stuff that really matters it the redzone plays.

fuck you goodell, i hope you and dan malloy are involved in the madame sex list thing.

 

Goodell needs to DIAF

 

let me know when you wish testicular cancer upon him... ill jump on board at that point. i got a good laugh out of your post!

 

Terrible idea especially replacing it with a 4th and 15. Make the equipment safer than fix any remaining safety problems

 

lolz is this real life?

How is a 4th and 15 comparable to an onside kick? That is a huuuuge disadvantage to teams with a poor D. I wouldn't ever be comfortable with a lead against the Saints or Pats

And why would they get it at the 30 instead of the 20?

Goodell is a retard

 

Why is he even entertaining this XFL, Bush league bullshit? He's a fucking clown. It's a good thing that player safety is more emphasized now but man, I wish I had a chance to watch football more before this guy came along. I still don't understand moving the kick-off spot up. I don't see hardly any death blows on kick-offs.

 

Simpler rule change:

Have the kicker kick from his own 30. The ball must go at least 30 yards for the kicking team to recover.

Have the kicking team and the receiving team both line up on their sides of the 50 with 8 players lined up on each side inside the hash marks. 2 gunners and 2 blockers line up outside the hashmarks. Everybody must be set at the snap, no motion allowed until the whistle blows when the ball is kicked.

Have one returner deep for the receiving team.

The kickoff becomes a game of directional kicking with a full return possible. The offensive recovery option is to kick it just over the 50, have it get over the 40 on the bounce and hope your team gets to it before the receiving team.

90% of the hard collisions are removed from the kickoff because the blocks happen before the players have gotten up any speed. That's why punt returns have a much lower injury factor. You don't have two full sides getting up a head of steam before they meet.

Note there are no blockers back with the returner. He's going to have to make what he can out of what is effectively a punt. Punts still get returned for TD's now and then.

 

Mind=Blown

You should be on the rules committee

 

Or you can...you know just MANDATE THAT THE PLAYERS WEAR FUCKING EQUIPMENT! Look at all the guy who wear no thigh pads, tiny shoulder pads, no neck protectors, nothing on their elbows etc

Look at this idiotic uni change we just went through, aimed to make everything tighter and smaller. Well not only does it look like crap it's less safe

this is what an nfl uniform needs to look like

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0918/nfl_u_campbell1x_400.jpg

not this

http://espn.go.com/photo/2012/1027/nfl_g_cruz11_400.jpg

 

You guys sound like baseball fans who don't want replay.

The problem isn't the body padding, it's the head injuries.

Without significant change, the NFL might be out of business in 20 years.

Bigger/Stronger/Faster players, greater awareness, and a ton of lawsuits from retirees has brought the concussion issue to the forefront, not Goodell.

The more the NFL does to combat the issue, the better chance they have against claims of neglect.

You guys are freaking out. Kickoffs, especially since the 5 yard move, are stupid. It's procedure for the sake of procedure, like extra points.

Bradway, the problem with your idea is that it makes onside kicks almost a 50/50 proposition. No team would ever actually kick off. The ball traveling 30 yards would end up at the 40... 10 yards in front of where the kicking team is lined up.

I don't mind the initial proposal, I'd move the punts up to the 40 and make punts out of bounds illegal as they are on kickoffs.

Either way, kickoffs are the most dangerous play in the game, no other plays do guys get the chance to build full heads of steam and collide with other guys doing the same.

 

Just imagine a scenario where a team is down by 7 (or less) after the two minute warning with no timeouts left. Everyone knows they are going to onside kick it because they have no other option, 9/10 the receiving team will recover it and take a knee to end the game. With this new situation, however, there are so many routes and options that the offensive team can use. Plus it puts a major turning point in the hands of the offense and not special teams. It is way more dramatic than an onside kick.

Maybe it's an incomplete pass or just less than the 15 yards and still it's a turnover. Or maybe it's a long bomb for a TD or some crazy trick play for the first down or maybe their is a flag on the play and it becomes a first down or maybe the defense comes up with a sack or pick or whatever and gets incredible field position. Either way it's 1000 times more exciting than an onside kick, increases the chances of really exciting late game comebacks and huge QB moments people could talk about for years..."remember when so and so was down by 6 with a minute left, converted on the 4th and 15 and marched up the field for the Super Bowl winning drive?"

Obviously 95% of these are just going to be punts, especially by the team in the lead or the just at the start of the game in general. Still, could make for some really ballsy decisions by coaches. Not to mention it's more likely a punt gets botched than a kickoff so it could even have huge implications for field position or even blocked punts returned for a TD which would be a huge momentum swing.

Overall I get why people are upset with the potential change but, personally, I don't think it's such a bad idea. For me kickoffs are among the least interesting part of the game, I don't have stats to back it up but seems to me most times people are within 5 yards of the 20 yard line even if it isn't a touchback. This rule creates more room for interesting scenarios for a team maintaining possession, field position (either from a return, botched punt or turnover on downs), etc. I don't have stats regarding how many players actually get injured in kickoffs, from my own viewing I don't think it really happens that much, but if it protects players then that's an added bonus. I don't want the NFL to become a glorified flag football league or every game be like the probowl, but I don't see this as a slippery slope situation.

 

The thing that would prevent the onside kick option from being 50/50 is that the lone receiver can be placed wherever the receiving team wants him. He could easily be placed on the 20 and make the onside kick option more like 80/20 in the receiving team's favor.

It would add a directional strategy to the kicking game that is largely missing now. I actually think given 10 offsetting players at the line of scrimmage that the odds on a successful onsides kick would be lower than 51/49 or whatever because the receiving team could have a couple of people designated to break backwards immediately at the kick to cover a short hopper. it would probably be more like a 70/30 recovery rate for the receiving team and a lot of strategy involved.

The current success rate for expected onsides kicks is about 20% but the recovery rate for unexpected ones is near 60%.

 

Like what this guy said on yahoo....If they don't have kickoffs, where are they going to squeeze the 87 commercials they show before and after the kickoff?

 

I call this the "Let Brady Score 100 Points in a Game Rule"

 

This is stupid and its removing a critical element from the game. So I guess on sides kicks and other strategies will just vanish? This game is following the direction of Sarcastiball. Fuck that.

 

While we're at it, we'll have a balloon instead of a ball and whoever catches the balloon tries to run while all the other players hug.

 

Campbell is mostly in a wheelchair these days, so big pads aren't necessarily the answer.