New kick off rule voted thru by owners

[nucci]

24 minutes ago, warrior9 said:

I really dislike that they passed this without trying it for a year in the pre-season first, like have done with MANY other rules. If players, coaches, fans, etc hate it... why keep it? 

 

We may all love it but at the end, all of the rule changes coming are harming the game. 

I think it's a one year thing and looked at after next season

[Scott7975]

I prefer the original kickoff as I am sure most do. I think this looks better than what we have currently though.

[Virgil]

I'm fine with this.  I'm actually curious to see how this affects special team lineups and who is going to be the first coach to find a way to take advantage of this.

[LabattBlue]

So can you still kick it into the EZ? If so, same boring play…doesn’t matter where everyone else lines up. 

[nucci]

1 minute ago, LabattBlue said:

So can you still kick it into the EZ? If so, same boring play…doesn’t matter where everyone else lines up. 

true but ball now placed at the 30 on touchbacks

[Brand J]

1 minute ago, LabattBlue said:

So can you still kick it into the EZ? If so, same boring play…doesn’t matter where everyone else lines up. 

Original kickoff had the ball at the 30. I agree, they should back it up the 5 yards which would make touchbacks as low percentage as they used to be. 

[BigDingus]

1 hour ago, The Wiz said:

It will be the same as it is now but needs to be declared that they are trying an onside kick prior to lining up.

 

So surprise onside kicks are out? 

[Chicken Boo]

3 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

 

So surprise onside kicks are out? 

 

 

Damn.  I didn't think about that.  

[SoonerBillsFan]

Does this mean we fill the team with actual depth at their positions,instead of special teamers?  

[BigDingus]

People saying they hate change or it's lame need to remember that kickoffs essentially became dead plays last year. 

 

Nearly every kickoff resulted in a touchback, especially with the new fair catch rule. 

 

2010 - 416 touchbacks

2023 - 1,970 touchbacks

 

The Bills only had 349 return yards last year... so 20 yards a game. Paired with the change to touchbacks starting at the 25 yard line, it's been more pointless than ever to return kicks. 

 

This change will allow returners more opportunities while still limiting the potential for major injuries. I'm all for it. 

[Logic]

I'd rather have this modified kickoff than have the kickoff taken out of the game entirely.

When I watched this on TV in the Spring leagues, its novelty wore off pretty quickly. There weren't as many big plays or as much craziness as you'd think. That said, the potential for big plays seemed greater to me than what it is now in the NFL's neutered kickoff.

I predict that everyone will be used to at after just one game of watching it, and that the rule will be here to stay (with minor tweaks until they perfect it).

 

All of that said, I'm interested to see how the league goes about adjusting their roster-building for this. I wonder if the Bills use Samuel as kick returner (which Beane mentioned in his recent press interview).

[Bob Jones]

Pretty bad when the NFL is stealing ideas from the XFL...

[MJS]

I think the thing that makes this really interesting is there are no fair catches. If the ball rolls into the end zone, they have to chase it and down it or take it out. If they down it they get it at the 20. If the ball rolls out of the back of the end zone, they get it at the 35. So, kickers are incentivized to keep it in the field of play, and returners are incentivized to return it.

 

I actually like this change. It takes a play that is useless 90% of the time and makes it more interesting. Kickers and returners just got a lot more important. No longer can kickers just boot it out of the end zone. They have to be accurate. The only thing I don't like is that there is no longer an option for a surprise onside kick. That's pretty lame.

[leonbus23]

Back at the old rockpile thay had tuff players who put there boddies on the line every signal kickoff. 

[MJS]

4 minutes ago, Bob Jones said:

Pretty bad when the NFL is stealing ideas from the XFL...

The NFL asked the XFL to try it so they could see how it would work and what the consequences would be.

[Brand J]

7 minutes ago, Bob Jones said:

Pretty bad when the NFL is stealing ideas from the XFL...

They’ve been stealing ideas all along. Much of today’s on field, close up, and overhead camera work is due to the XFL.

4 minutes ago, MJS said:

I think the thing that makes this really interesting is there are no fair catches. If the ball rolls into the end zone, they have to chase it and down it or take it out. If they down it they get it at the 20. If the ball rolls out of the back of the end zone, they get it at the 35. So, kickers are incentivized to keep it in the field of play, and returners are incentivized to return it.

 

I actually like this change. It takes a play that is useless 90% of the time and makes it more interesting. Kickers and returners just got a lot more important. No longer can kickers just boot it out of the end zone. They have to be accurate. The only thing I don't like is that there is no longer an option for a surprise onside kick. That's pretty lame.

I thought putting it at the 35 was great, but owners amended the rule to put it at the 30, only five more yards given.

[T master]

1 hour ago, The Wiz said:

 

 

 

 

 

I think this will be good for safety reasons but didn't in the way the NFL did it last season they kick off from the 25 yard line ? And most all of the kicks went out of the back of the end zone so if they are now kicking from the 35 the kickers will need to take a lot off their kick in order for it to stay in play right ? 

[Sweats]

Here's how my brain envisions an onside kick......

 

Reminds me of lil Ralphy in the Simpsons....

"I heard your dad went into a restaurant and then he ate everything in the restaurant and then they had to close the restaurant".......we're going to do an onside kick, the refs and the other team knows there's an onside kick, so everybody prepares for an onside kick.

 

It's got excitement written all over it.......the suspense is killing me.

 

UGH

[PetermansRedemption]

IMO they should have also implemented an accompanying change to the onside kick format. Should have made it a 4th and 20 play from the kickoff yard line. If you are eliminating surprise onside kicks anyways, should have changed up how they work. 

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

Yeah I haven't watched the UFL to see what this is all about, preseason will definitely be good to see how this rule works. 

 

Oddly enough, the UFL abandoned the XFL-style kickoff rule and went back to the usual format.

1 hour ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

I know some will hate it because "change bad" but I'm interested to see how this plays out. I like the idea of keeping returns relevant. Of course this would hit at a time where Buffalo doesn't have a clear "return specialist" rostered ..but let's see what the draft brings.

 

This changes the kickoff strategy 100%. Now it's about making holes to run through. There's no second level so once you break through it's a foot race.

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

How would an onside kick attempt work?

 

The old way. The XFL made you convert a 4th and 15 at your own 25 to retain possession. The NFL did not adopt that rule.

1 hour ago, warrior9 said:

I really dislike that they passed this without trying it for a year in the pre-season first, like have done with MANY other rules. If players, coaches, fans, etc hate it... why keep it? 

 

We may all love it but at the end, all of the rule changes coming are harming the game. 

 

Just doing this in preseason is impractical. Preseason is when you work on plays for the upcoming season. Why put in all that work for a rule that goes away?

Edited March 26 by PromoTheRobot