What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

The Onside Kick (1 Viewer)

ChiefD

Footballguy
Why do NFL teams always do the onside kick to the sideline? You are essentially kicking yourself into a corner and decreasing your possible recovery area.

Why not just kick that thing hard right at the feet of the guy in the middle of the field? You have the entire field for that thing to bounce around. And from 10 yards away, I bet these guys could basically hit the dude in the shins 8 out of 10 times either directly or on a short bounce. 

Heck, I could probably do it 6 out of 10 times, and I'm just an old washed up soccer player.  What say you?

 
Why do NFL teams always do the onside kick to the sideline? You are essentially kicking yourself into a corner and decreasing your possible recovery area.

Why not just kick that thing hard right at the feet of the guy in the middle of the field? You have the entire field for that thing to bounce around. And from 10 yards away, I bet these guys could basically hit the dude in the shins 8 out of 10 times either directly or on a short bounce. 

Heck, I could probably do it 6 out of 10 times, and I'm just an old washed up soccer player.  What say you?
one of the most predictable plays in football. everyone does the same thing. 

kick that sum##### 10 yards forward and as high up in the air as possible. let the chips fall where they may. anything other than trying to get a tricky bounce as the ball careens out of bounds.

 
one of the most predictable plays in football. everyone does the same thing. 

kick that sum##### 10 yards forward and as high up in the air as possible. let the chips fall where they may. anything other than trying to get a tricky bounce as the ball careens out of bounds.
You're speaking my language. Time to re-invent this thing.

 
Why not just kick that thing hard right at the feet of the guy in the middle of the field? You have the entire field for that thing to bounce around. And from 10 yards away, I bet these guys could basically hit the dude in the shins 8 out of 10 times either directly or on a short bounce. 
I say they should drop-kick it right at the defender's stomach. Make them wince. Make the ball bounce off the defender and roll around. That way you limit the number of opponents who could pick up the ball.

 
It seems like the most effective kicks are the ones where the kicker kicks it softly on the ground straight in front of him and everyone tries to run down and block for him while he tries to recover the ball.  The sideline big bounce strategy seems like it gives you less of a chance since you aren't allowed to get a running start anymore.

Huh.  When I was looking for a video, I found this article supporting this approach. 

 
The nearest player is at least 10 yards away. If you kick a line drive at him, the opposing team will have a few seconds to freely recover the ball before your players can converge.

 
I bet these guys could basically hit the dude in the shins 8 out of 10 times either directly or on a short bounce. 

Heck, I could probably do it 6 out of 10 times, and I'm just an old washed up soccer player.  What say you?
I think you are overestimating.  Even if the shins were stationary, which they are not after the ball is kicked, there is still a lot more open space than space occupied by shins.  You would have to try to kick it where you think the shins would be.  The > 97% of kicks that don't hit shins are going to go pretty far down the field based on how hard you have to kick it for an attempted shin ricochet.     :shrug:  

I strongly encourage you to try this out on your own.  Record your results and post them here.  :)  

The soft kick directly in front of the kicker, at an unexpected time, seems to have the most success.

 
one of the most predictable plays in football. everyone does the same thing. 

kick that sum##### 10 yards forward and as high up in the air as possible. let the chips fall where they may. anything other than trying to get a tricky bounce as the ball careens out of bounds.
Problem with kicking it up is the the opposing team can call a fair catch if someone is near it.  Personally, I'm a fan of breaking the huddle in a Sprint and bull rushing the middle of the field on a kick straight ahead.  That's my favorite.

ETA: I see now that this was covered.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Didn't they change the rule a couple years ago that said they couldn't kick it to another spot or something like that?  I think it was for safety reasons.  I could be remembering completely wrong, but I thought it was something like that.  

 
Didn't they change the rule a couple years ago that said they couldn't kick it to another spot or something like that?  I think it was for safety reasons.  I could be remembering completely wrong, but I thought it was something like that.  
Nope.  Never mind.  It was that they didn't allow everyone to line up on the same side anymore.  Or get running starts.  My bad.

 
The NFL in general has the least forward-thinking people in any industry.  If they didn’t have a monopoly on talent, the entire thing would be in trouble. 

 
mr. furley said:
one of the most predictable plays in football. everyone does the same thing. 

kick that sum##### 10 yards forward and as high up in the air as possible. let the chips fall where they may. anything other than trying to get a tricky bounce as the ball careens out of bounds.
This is a way better strategy now that they've made it so you have to have 5 on each side of the kicker.  The old way was to try to get a numbers advantage on one side but that's not possible now.  Now squeeze 10 of those guys right in the center and kick it straight.

 
I don't know about the shins.  Kicking at the crotch may give a bigger diameter for margin of error.  Increased chance they catch it, but chance for a ricochet off the cup and they may just drop the ball in pain anyway.

 
Are you sure you're not talking about the Raiders Holy Roller play?
Naw, Nebraska used to run the fumblerooski once in a while.  Their most famous was probably when they scored on it in the 1984 Orange Bowl.  I even saw both teams run it in a OU vs NU game.

From wiki:

The NCAA banned the original version of the play following the 1992 season.[1] In the NFL, the play has been considered an "intentional forward fumble" for many years, which would make the play an incomplete pass, but a version in which the quarterback places the ball behind him is still legal.[2]

 
  • Smile
Reactions: Zow
The only reason teams kick it diagonally is because it takes longer for the ball to travel 10 yards upfield that way so they have more time to get over there.

Seems like someone in the middle of the field you are trying to hit could dodge it relatively easily.

 
Naw, Nebraska used to run the fumblerooski once in a while.  Their most famous was probably when they scored on it in the 1984 Orange Bowl.  I even saw both teams run it in a OU vs NU game.

From wiki:

The NCAA banned the original version of the play following the 1992 season.[1] In the NFL, the play has been considered an "intentional forward fumble" for many years, which would make the play an incomplete pass, but a version in which the quarterback places the ball behind him is still legal.[2]
I loved the Nebraska fumblerooskie. Thanks for the clarification. 

 
Michigan executed a successful diagonal on-side kick against Wisconsin yesterday.  And wouldn't you know it?  That ball might have bounced off a shin.  The OP is onto something here.

 
so the Chiefs called a fair catch? 
Yes.

Basically what the Ravens were trying to do was kick off and not run any time off the clock. It was 1 second before the two minute warning, so by them fair catching the ball no time ran off the clock.

So basically the Ravens got a free time-out, if that makes sense. They had one remaining before the two minute warning. Chiefs had to run another play before the two minute warning, since the clock was still at 2:01 after the fair catch.

 
I kicked in high school - I loved practicing onside kicks.  I can kick with either foot, so we'd run it at odd times sometimes in games.  We had 3 versions.  I'd line up over the ball and run directly at it (parallel to the sideline).  I could either go with the traditional, bounce-off-the-ground kick to the left or right, or try and drill it at the guy right in front of me if they put him there.  We ran this 4 times when I was playing.  2 traditional bouncers, 2 drilling it at the guy in front of me.  0-2 on the traditional way - not even close.  One sailed out of bounds without kicking up into the air, the other was too deep and easily fielded.  1-2 on drilling it at the guy, but to be fair, should've been 2-2.  The one we missed nailed the guy in the leg as he was turning to run down field, bounced to our guy, who promptly butter-fingered it and lost it.  The one we got cleanly was beautiful.  Nailed the guy right in the facemask, bounced back to one of our WR's literally in-stride who caught it out of the air.  

I'm not sure if drilling it at the guy is the best way, but I can say the old way sucks.  Too many variables. 

 
Why do NFL teams always do the onside kick to the sideline? You are essentially kicking yourself into a corner and decreasing your possible recovery area.

Why not just kick that thing hard right at the feet of the guy in the middle of the field? You have the entire field for that thing to bounce around. And from 10 yards away, I bet these guys could basically hit the dude in the shins 8 out of 10 times either directly or on a short bounce. 

Heck, I could probably do it 6 out of 10 times, and I'm just an old washed up soccer player.  What say you?
Second quarter of a HS game tonight the kicker hit a rocket off of one of the up-men.  Unfortunately it ricocheted at a 90 degree angle and the receiving team recovered but there was a short scrum for the ball.  I was quick to shoot down your theory, but I'm starting to come around after seeing it a couple times.  :shrug:  

They tried it again later, but this time the up-man just stepped out of the way and the ball squibbed 40 yards down field.   

 
This is a way better strategy now that they've made it so you have to have 5 on each side of the kicker.  The old way was to try to get a numbers advantage on one side but that's not possible now.  Now squeeze 10 of those guys right in the center and kick it straight.
I think this gets you two advantages....the first being that you have 11 guys all near the ball instead of just 5.  The second is that the return team would then also place most of their players in the bunch formation to try and match up.  It would become like a wall in soccer.  This then gives you more area to aim at as the kicker to drill one of the up men to get the ricochet.  I don't think your odds would be any worse than going to the sideline as it is now. 

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top