Fair catch inside the 25 = Touchback?

[Mr. Scot]

This is the worst rule change proposal I've heard in a long time.

From the article:

The proposal, approved by the competition committee, then tabled by the owners in March, would allow for fair catches inside the 25-yard line to be ruled as touchbacks, with the ball then being spotted at the 25. The proposal was in response to an uptick in concussions on kickoffs over the last three seasons—with 10 such concussions happening in 2020, 14 in ’21 and 19 last season.

The rule was a topic of discussion on a regularly scheduled conference call among the NFL’s 32 special teams coaches Monday. Two respected veteran special teams captains helped to take the lead from there, with one suggesting that they gather a special teams vet from every team to participate in opposing the rule. That led to a Wednesday night call that included 34 special teams players from across the NFL, with at least one from each of the 32 teams, and NFLPA officials dialed in as well.

Coaches on the Monday call unanimously felt that the rules change would do little to reduce concussions and actually could lead to unintended consequences that would lead to more injuries on kickoffs, and the special teams players largely agreed with that assessment. And the group gathered data that’s been shared with the league to back it up.

Ugh

No word on who specifically proposed this that I've seen. Regardless, I genuinely don't get how people who are as well acquainted with the game as the Competition Committee members would be can sign on to such an utterly sh-tty idea.

[WUnderhill]

They’ve been inching towards eliminating kickoffs for a while now, probably just a matter of time unfortunately. 

[WhoKnows]

I don’t think it’s a bad change, but it’s in response to them trying to improve offense by moving the ball to the 25. Because of that, teams are now incentivized to kick the ball to the 5. Before it was too easy to get past the 20 if you kick it to the 5, so kickers tried for touchbacks.

Unfortunately, the idiots in charge don’t realize that they caused the increase in concussions because teams kicking off take the risk of stopping the returner before the 25 instead of a touchback.

The only problem I see is that it’s harder to see a fair catch on a kickoff versus a punt so the refs need to be on their whistles quick.

[jfra78]

Just eliminate kickers all together.  No more kickoffs, no more field goals, no more punting, make teams use all 4 downs. 

[Cullenator]

If it was fair catches inside the 5 it would make sense, but letting them fair catch at the 18 and giving them 7 yards is stupid.

 

Inside the 5 is like conceding its going to bounce into the endzone and is "protecting the possession"

Edited May 20, 2023 by Cullenator

[Jaxel]

If this is for kickoffs, they already do it in college. As long as it doesn't affect the punt game, it's fine.

[Sgt Schultz]

A sportswriter said something about 15 years ago that remains true:  the number on threat to the NFL is the competition committee.

[w280sax]

Kickoffs are already the most boring play in the game since 90% seem to be touchbacks (idk the real number but it's high).

Idc what changes they make to it including getting rid of kickoffs altogether. 

[Ghostface Chilla]

The kickoff rule in the XFL seemed to work well. The kick off and receiving team are just ten yards apart from each other, with the kicker alone from the usual spot. The receiver is waiting in the zone between the 20 and the end zone and besides the kicker and receiver, everyone else is stationary until the receiver touches/catches the ball. 
 

It’s made kickoffs and returns more interesting and a bit more strategic. 

[Sgt Schultz]

3 minutes ago, Ghostface Chilla said:

The kickoff rule in the XFL seemed to work well. The kick off and receiving team are just ten yards apart from each other, with the kicker alone from the usual spot. The receiver is waiting in the zone between the 20 and the end zone and besides the kicker and receiver, everyone else is stationary until the receiver touches/catches the ball. 
 

It’s made kickoffs and returns more interesting and a bit more strategic. 

The problem is the NFL is trying to eliminate kickoff returns without simply eliminating kickoff returns.  They are trying to engineer an outcome without just taking the outcome.

In their defense, they have been concerned about injuries on kickoffs for about a decade now.  In their indictment, why not just eliminate kickoffs and give the opposing team the ball on their own 20 (more on why the 20 vs. the 25 later) after the PAT/2-point try?

Just spitballing here, but what about onside kicks?  The current rules reduced the success rate of those from about 20% to about 6%, and I don't know how many fewer are attempted (surprise onside kicks) because of the low chances of success.  So they have virtually eliminated the onside kick, anyway, and especially those that are surprises.  Given that, just give the team that would kick the option of kicking off or giving the opposing team the ball on the 20.  If they opt to kick off and it is a touchback, give the opposing team the ball on the 25 as it is today, or maybe the 30 if you want to provide more of an incentive for them to not kick off.  And by touchback, I mean an in-the-endzone touchback.  If some team is good enough to kick off in a way that usually pins the opponent inside the 20, so be it.

Seems like that would give the "kicking team" to opt not to kick off and address their concerns about player safety.  Everybody would know when an onside kick was coming, but hell, everybody knows that since the rules changed, anyway.

Or leave it the way it is and find something that is (more) broken to fix.

[PanthersATL]

They need to have a better Fair Catch signal that is extremely clear to a casual observer player running down the field

More issues have been caused by half-hearted or late signals not being seen.

[LinvilleGorge]

They want to eliminate kickoff returns from the game but they don't want to give up that commercial break so we get dumb poo like this.

[kungfoodude]

5 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

This is the worst rule change proposal I've heard in a long time.

From the article:

The proposal, approved by the competition committee, then tabled by the owners in March, would allow for fair catches inside the 25-yard line to be ruled as touchbacks, with the ball then being spotted at the 25. The proposal was in response to an uptick in concussions on kickoffs over the last three seasons—with 10 such concussions happening in 2020, 14 in ’21 and 19 last season.

The rule was a topic of discussion on a regularly scheduled conference call among the NFL’s 32 special teams coaches Monday. Two respected veteran special teams captains helped to take the lead from there, with one suggesting that they gather a special teams vet from every team to participate in opposing the rule. That led to a Wednesday night call that included 34 special teams players from across the NFL, with at least one from each of the 32 teams, and NFLPA officials dialed in as well.

Coaches on the Monday call unanimously felt that the rules change would do little to reduce concussions and actually could lead to unintended consequences that would lead to more injuries on kickoffs, and the special teams players largely agreed with that assessment. And the group gathered data that’s been shared with the league to back it up.

Ugh

No word on who specifically proposed this that I've seen. Regardless, I genuinely don't get how people who are as well acquainted with the game as the Competition Committee members would be can sign on to such an utterly sh-tty idea.

TBH, I would rather they just nix the kickoff altogether if they are gonna go that route.

Which, given are historic struggles at KR and PR, maybe that isn't a bad thing for us.

[CPantherKing]

Open the game with some excitement.

Get rid of the coin toss. Visiting team gets to decide who takes the ball first. Home team gets home field advantage. If the fans can't make it home field advantage, then blame the fans and the team.

Game starts with the ball at the 50. Each team gets 1 down. The team that finishes on their side of the 50 stays on offense. The ball must go beyond the 49; the 2 yard zone between each 49 is considered neutral. If the ball remains inside the 50 yard line neutral zone after 3 snaps each, no running plays will be allowed. Touchdowns and turnovers are allowed, and will immediately begin the game. A turnover results in control of the ball. A touchdown is counted and the game continues as normal. Untimed until the starting offensive team is decided.

Crowd will be in the game and loud from the start as though it is the last play of the game.

After a score, let the XP decide starting field position. If the team chooses to kick the XP, the ball will be placed at the point of the kick for a missed XP, or at the 25 for a made XP. If the scoring team opts for the 2pt play, the ball will be spotted at the 2 if the team converts. If the team fails on the 2pt, the ball is placed at the 10. The other team will take over at the spot of the ball. If the defense intercepts, recovers a fumble during the XP, or blocks the XP kick, the ball will be placed at the 40 or at the spot if the defense advances the ball past the 40. The defense will have the ability to score a TD off of an XP turnover. 

Never going to happen, but this would be the answer to make the start of the game just as exciting as the end of the game.