CutlerToCutler
Footballguy
They might as well give every team the ball on their own 20 after the other team scores. Maybe the worst rule change ever. Completely eliminated one of the most exciting parts of the game. This is horrible. 
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No kick returns? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter CutlerToCutler
- Start date
FavreCo
Footballguy
Could have done the same last year from the 30. All the kicks are going almost 10 yards deep into the endzone. No idea why last year, guys were barely getting the ball to the goal line.They might as well give every team the ball on their own 20 after the other team scores. Maybe the worst rule change ever. Completely eliminated one of the most exciting parts of the game. This is horrible.
CutlerToCutler
Footballguy
Sad how it's changed everything. Kickoffs are almost a formality at this point. Pathetic.
![[scooter]](/data/avatars/m/22/22287.jpg?1659477690){kind=avatar}
[scooter]
Footballguy
I think it could also lead to more injuries, once the kicking teams realize the advantages of squib kicks.Will lead to fewer TD's and more FG's.
LittlePhatty
Footballguy
Cobb TD.
Knee jerk much?
Knee jerk much?
footballnerd
Footballguy
cough cough....
LittlePhatty
Footballguy
Just one. The other was a punt.
spider321
Footballguy
No, but thanks for playing.Kick returns will be the exception, not the rule.
Sidewinder16
Footballguy
Nice one, Goodell??? Really?
The NFL competition committee submitted a proposal for this rule to the NFL owners who then voted whether to accept it or not. This is completely the doing of the competition committee (comprised of NFL coaches and GMs) and the owners.
The NFL competition committee submitted a proposal for this rule to the NFL owners who then voted whether to accept it or not. This is completely the doing of the competition committee (comprised of NFL coaches and GMs) and the owners.
Carter_Can_Fly
Footballguy
Is there any way of knowing if it will be reversed for next year?I can't stand the rule right now.I guess it is to early to speculate to know a definitive answer for next year, but fans should boo every single kneel down this year as a sign to show their lack of appreciation to this new rule. Just an awful rule.I mean the Cobb play was an exception to the rule and it was so exciting. In fact Cobb's orders were to kneel down anything kicked into the end zone and went against coaches orders. He said after the game it would not happen again this year. In fact the very next kick off he received he kneeled in the end zone.'Sidewinder16 said:
Maybe they can just do the kickoffs during the commercials so we don't have to sit through 3 minutes of commercials to see a touchback before sitting through another 3 minutes of commercials.
Reepicheep
Footballguy
The NFL totally got away with one here. Eight touchbacks in one game but thanks to 1) a rookie taking a kick out that he was supposed to take a knee on and 2) said rookie's ability to temporarily bend the laws of physics, everyone is talking about the TD return. And Sproles' punt return, while technically unrelated, still served as a distraction from the touchbacks.
Personally if they had to make the change I wish they would have gone with the additional measure to put touchbacks at the 25, giving the kicking team a slight disincentive to boot it out the back every time and balancing the risk-reward equation for both sides. I think that got voted down by the coaches though.
ETA: Just think of how much more exciting this game might have been if Sproles and Cobb had been given the chance to return every kickoff!
Personally if they had to make the change I wish they would have gone with the additional measure to put touchbacks at the 25, giving the kicking team a slight disincentive to boot it out the back every time and balancing the risk-reward equation for both sides. I think that got voted down by the coaches though.
ETA: Just think of how much more exciting this game might have been if Sproles and Cobb had been given the chance to return every kickoff!
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SlaX
Footballguy
Reepicheep
Footballguy
Just show it on replay if something actually happens during the kickoff.
King of the Wolfies
Footballguy
more teams need to have the guts to run it out. most of the few returns i've seen this season where good returns way past the 20. the kickoff team cant get downfield near as fast as in the past, and teams havent adapted yet.
PlasmaDogPlasma
Footballguy
Say what now? Didn't the cover guys move up 5 yards also? They just showed on SportsCenter that the Saints defenders were inside the 10 by the time Cobb left the endzone.
Because they were the rule before the change?
There will be a lot more kneel downs in the end zone, but when the KR takes a chance and attempts to run one back, even from deep in his end zone, there is more than likely going to be some excitement.I think that the cover teams will eventually decrease their efforts expecting the kneel downs and there will be some long TD returns as a result.
sho nuff
Footballguy
Coverage teams only get 5 yards to start running now...I think they used to get a 10 yard run up.So they theoretically get there a bit slower.
massraider
Footballguy
They can only start their run-up from the 30 now, 5 yards back. Before they had a 10 yard head start. Not sure if it matters.Everyone is gonna be yelling about how guys should bring it out, but in a tight game, you don't want the other team fired up because a backup safety just dropped your guy at the 8 yard line.
There's gonna be some young guy that just HAS to take it out, and it's gonna cost his team. It'll happen this weekend, I bet. There's a lot to be said for showing some discipline, and taking the ball at the 20, and getting into your offense.
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Ping Pong
Footballguy
On kickoffs, pretty much everyone on the kicking team starts off the play running free, and they accelerate to full speed pretty much before any hits happen, which means that any collisions are very high impact. On punt returns, everyone except the returner is lined up near the line of scrimmage, and they have to deal with blocks pretty much the entire way down the field. Even the gunners on the sideline usually are dealing with one or two guys trying to force them out of bounds or just slow them down. So, I think that during punt returns, you never really have two guys who run into each other at full speed, unless it's the returner getting decked. But, I think most of the injuries on kickoffs were usually during blocks.
MrJimiT
Footballguy
Wondering out loud here...what would be the ramifications if there were no touchbacks allowed (no kneel-downs) and ALL returns had to be run out of the endzone? Wouldn't that make things somewhat more exciting?? Maybe don't allow the kicking team to have any runup to the 35 yard line. All players start from a stand still.
I don't know...just wondering...
I don't know...just wondering...
Sidewinder16
Footballguy
Not any time soon. As they do every year, the competition committee will review things in the off season (which includes gathering input from players, coaches and owners) and make a decision on whether anything needs to change.Here's an interview Rich McKay (Falcons GM and current chairman of the NFL Competition Committee) did last year where he talks about how the committee goes about it's business (along w/ discussion about the specific changes that came about in '10; the whole thing is an interesting read, IMO).
PlasmaDogPlasma
Footballguy
The second part of that (no running start) seems like it would do more than anything else as far as safety. I guess they went halfway there by shortening the run-up.
Reepicheep
Footballguy
I am in favor of this proposal.
DoubleG
Footballguy
This. Change it back ASAP. TIA. Doofusi...or is it "doofi"?
CutlerToCutler
Footballguy
Ruined a great part of the game. They will change something by next season. The effect that wanted has been too drastic and took away something from the game.
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[scooter]
Footballguy
Through one week of the 2011 NFL season, the league is averaging 5 kick returns per game (down from 7.9 per game in 2010).
However, the average kick return length is 26.8 yards (up from 22.3 yards per return in 2010).
Four teams (Denver, Detroit, Tennessee, Oakland) have yet to make a kickoff return. And Oakland is the only team in the league without a kickoff OR a punt return.
However, the average kick return length is 26.8 yards (up from 22.3 yards per return in 2010).
Four teams (Denver, Detroit, Tennessee, Oakland) have yet to make a kickoff return. And Oakland is the only team in the league without a kickoff OR a punt return.
SaintsInDome2006
Footballguy
The CFL has something like this for punts and kicks.It's called a single or a rouge: "awarded when the ball is kicked into the end zone by any legal means, other than a successful field goal, and the receiving team does not return, or kick, the ball out of its end zone. It is also a single if the kick travels through the end zone or goes out of bounds in the end zone without being touched, except on a kickoff. After conceding a single, the receiving team is awarded possession of the ball at the 35-yard line of its own end of the field."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_%28football%29Just brainstorming here but......since the extra point is a formality why not make the kickoff an opportunity for a single. If the player returns it great, they take that chance. If they kneel it for a touchback (or let the ball go through the end zone), fine, but they surrender a point, and they get the ball on the 35 yard line. The basic idea here is it gives an incentive to the scoring team to try to kick the ball into and through the end zone for a point or to nail the opponent deep in their own territory.... but which also allows the other team the chance to return it. (This is a slight tweak of the CFL rule).Or instead of going for the 1-XP a team after scoring a TD could go for 2 and automatically give the ball to the other team at the 20.This would add a lot of strategizing to the extra point decision and make the kickoff more interesting at the same time.Just a theory.
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Reepicheep
Footballguy
They had some stats on NFL Live today:
2010 2011 Week 1Touchback Pct 17.0 50.6Pct kicks reaching end zone 39.2 87.2Avg starting position 26.8 22.6
Plus they mentioned the record-setting 8 TD returns. It will be very interesting to see if the TDs were an abberation or if we really do end up with more TDs somehow.
2010 2011 Week 1Touchback Pct 17.0 50.6Pct kicks reaching end zone 39.2 87.2Avg starting position 26.8 22.6
Plus they mentioned the record-setting 8 TD returns. It will be very interesting to see if the TDs were an abberation or if we really do end up with more TDs somehow.
CutlerToCutler
Footballguy
Horrible
Reepicheep
Footballguy
Were there any TD returns this week?
CutlerToCutler
Footballguy
I know there were 99% touchbacks. This is terrible.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
If you have small kids, you may need to explain to them in a few years what a kickoff return was. What was once one of the most exciting plays in the game is now 
... might as well go grab another beer during kickoffs.
In week 1, there were touchbacks on 70.6% of kickoffs. This doesn't figure to get much better anytime soon with all of those young kickers with huge legs coming into the game. Here is a kickoff return chart.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-week-one-shows-that-nfl-is-closer-to-eliminating-kickoffs-completely-2013-9
... might as well go grab another beer during kickoffs.In week 1, there were touchbacks on 70.6% of kickoffs. This doesn't figure to get much better anytime soon with all of those young kickers with huge legs coming into the game. Here is a kickoff return chart.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-week-one-shows-that-nfl-is-closer-to-eliminating-kickoffs-completely-2013-9
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
I disagree with the title of that article, BTW. I don't think kickoffs can ever be "eliminated completely". You need to keep the possibility of onside kicks in play.
