Formerly Allan in MD Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Is it possible for the league, at this late date, to fix the kick-off problem? Can a special league meeting perhaps be called? I guess the bigger question is can the league admit it made a mistake, which clearly is the case. If nothing changes, it almost makes sense, but won't happen, to abolish kick-offs and just start from the 20.
Arkady Renko Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Either abolish kickoffs or just have teams punt instead.
Meark Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 I have the perfect fix.. Change it back to the way it was.
billsfan89 Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Move the touch-back up to the 30 give kickers a bit more incentive to put it in play
elcrusho Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Move the touch-back up to the 30 give kickers a bit more incentive to put it in play I like that idea of having an incentive
Dr. Fong Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Move the touch-back up to the 30 give kickers a bit more incentive to put it in play That would be a fine incentive if that were the NFL's goal. I believe their goal in changing the kickoff distance is to eliminate most kickoff returns without having to field the negative response from fans.
NaPolian8693 Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 (edited) The fix is to have touchbacks give you the ball on the 30. Then kickers will have a reason to try to finesse a high floater to the goal line instead of just booting it out the back of the end zone. Of perhaps punt off instead of kick off, since punts are still deemed safe. To answer your question, yes, of course it is too late to change. This rule is here for this year and won't be addressed until after the season. It might not even change after this year, either. I mean, they KNEW FULL WELL that every kickoff would be a touchback when they made this rule. It's not like they are unaware of how far an NFL kicker can kick the ball. Edited August 27, 2011 by NaPolian8693
KD in CA Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Is it possible for the league, at this late date, to fix the kick-off problem? Can a special league meeting perhaps be called? I guess the bigger question is can the league admit it made a mistake, which clearly is the case. If nothing changes, it almost makes sense, but won't happen, to abolish kick-offs and just start from the 20. The league doesn't think they made a mistake. The results are exactly what they were hoping to see.
Beerball Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 The fix is to have touchbacks give you the ball on the 30. Then kickers will have a reason to try to finesse a high floater to the goal line instead of just booting it out the back of the end zone. If that's your solution then you don't understand why the rule was put in place.
BillyBaroo Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 they didn't change the rule of a kick out of bounds being placed on the 40 did they?
Rubes Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 (edited) You could always just eliminate the touchback, except obviously for kicks that go through the back of the end zone. Make them run them all out. Edited August 27, 2011 by Rubes
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Just make them wear the Velcro flags and be done with it.
NaPolian8693 Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 If that's your solution then you don't understand why the rule was put in place. They kick off from closer and allow the players a shorter run up now. These changes reduce violent collisions. Moving up where the touchback is awarded doesn't change these "benefits", but just induces kickers to keep it in play more often.
Beerball Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 They kick off from closer and allow the players a shorter run up now. These changes reduce violent collisions. Moving up where the touchback is awarded doesn't change these "benefits", but just induces kickers to keep it in play more often. Which leads to violent collisions which the league doesn't want (that's the point behind the changes), nor do coaches want touchbacks moved to the 30. They rejected a plan to move them to the 25 just a few months ago.
vincec Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 The only problem with eliminating the kickoff altogether is that you would then also eliminate onside kicks. Maybe they could give the kicking team the option to kickoff or have the opposition just start at the 20 yard line.
NoSaint Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 I'll throw it out there again- I've heard several coordinators say they are leaning towards planting return men 6-7 yards deep, if you can get the ball moving forward, take it out. We will see. It's been all of 2 weeks of preseason to realistically gameplan it. Any time the rules change, the chess match does and it'll take some time to figure out the new strategies. Patience.
Buffalo Barbarian Posted August 28, 2011 Posted August 28, 2011 Is it possible for the league, at this late date, to fix the kick-off problem? Can a special league meeting perhaps be called? I guess the bigger question is can the league admit it made a mistake, which clearly is the case. If nothing changes, it almost makes sense, but won't happen, to abolish kick-offs and just start from the 20. The kick off at the 35 sucks, watching the game with almost no returns is boring. Scobee was killing the ball but what was weird was Lindell could barely kick the ball to the endzone going toward the tunnel but going the other away he was hitting the back of the endzone, couldn't figure that out. I have the perfect fix.. Change it back to the way it was. Exactly!
SouthernMan Posted August 28, 2011 Posted August 28, 2011 I like that idea of having an incentive Kinda right back to where we started if they were to do that. May as well just put it back to the way it was before this season.
SDS Posted August 28, 2011 Posted August 28, 2011 I've told several people that, IMO, if you look deep into the future - the NFL itself will be forced to fold because of the litigation due to player's health will eventually catch up to them. They see this danger now and they know their exposure is as large as Jasper's ass at a nudist camp. It may take 50 years, but the train left the station a long time ago...
Mr. WEO Posted August 28, 2011 Posted August 28, 2011 I've told several people that, IMO, if you look deep into the future - the NFL itself will be forced to fold because of the litigation due to player's health will eventually catch up to them. They see this danger now and they know their exposure is as large as Jasper's ass at a nudist camp. It may take 50 years, but the train left the station a long time ago... I'm assuming they fixed this a while ago with the language in every players contract regarding the inherent dangers of the game of professional football, etc. Also, there are plenty of comments on record of players resisiting any efforts to improve their safety. A jury would hardly find these guys sympathetic. Anyway, I think we are going to see a lot more return attempts in the regular season than we see in preseason. Without a big run up, there's a lot more room for a speedy returner to come straight out.
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