NFL may push touchbacks up to the 35 yard line

[GunnerBill]

3 hours ago, Low Positive said:

They are trying to create a real incentive for teams to kick short of the goal line to increase the number of returns. They can't find the line between entertainment and player safety. 

 

Yep. The answer is not this dynamic kick off gimmick. The NFL needs to pick a side between safety and entertainment on kick offs. This middling it does not work. 

Edited February 24 by GunnerBill

[wppete]

8 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

I’ll keep watching after a win, I want 4.  But when JA is gone, I may not care anymore.   Not putting up with the NFL BS if the team is bad. 

Your right. As long as Josh is playing ill be watching. When hes done im done watching the NFL and the nonsense. They ruined the game. NCAA ball only. 

[Doc Brown]

They should just move most touchbacks to the 20.  If it lands in the end zone and rolls out it's at the 20.  If a player catches it and kneels in the end zone it's at the 20.  Anything else (kicking it out of the end zone, having the ball roll into the end zone before kneeling it) it should be at the 35.

[Mike in Horseheads]

Remember when "player safety is our main concern", whats next a call to MLB to see how they can get a ghost runner in? Quit screwing with the rules dam it!

[90sBills]

4 hours ago, wppete said:

Completely agree. Either i stop when the  Bills win a superbowl or when Josh Allen isn’t playing  for the Bills anymore. 

Did you start rooting for the Bills when Allen came on board? Serious question, not being snarky. 

[beebe]

Anybody have the data that's informing these decisions? Why the 30? Why the 35? Why not, say, the 32 yard line? Because that would look weird? This all seems so completely random to me. To think you could score a go-ahead TD, kick off wrong (touchback = 35 yard line, non landing zone = 40 yard line) and have the opposing team such as the Chiefs (with Butker's leg) be 15-20 yards away from realistic field goal range is crazy to me. 

[GASabresIUFan]

Let's put in on the 50. That makes about as much sense.  Put it back on the 25.  That's good enough.  Give the defense a friggin chance.

[LABILLBACKER]

4 hours ago, billsfan714 said:

Maybe they can just outlaw playing defense soon.

McDermott has already tried that.

[Richard Noggin]

Don't understand all the complaints in this thread. Are kickoff rule changes really what's ruining the game? Sounding a little like "back in my day" obstinance. 

 

Can definitely get behind beotching about selective and generally over-officious interventions that seem to favor offenses, but also vary based on crews. Would love to turn most of it over to an eye-in-the-sky like tennis and Futbol have been moving towards. Stipulation is that you gotta show replays of all calls involving flags, measurements, possession/turnover rulings, and scores. More things should be challengeable, like uncalled delays-of-game, and uncalled illegal formations (Juwaan Taylor should have been flagged 2x or 3x his already impressive totals). Spotting the ball should be electronic and automatic. 

 

Just like baseball NEEDS to remove human umpires from calling balls and strikes, football needs to quickly build and implement automated and transparent checks and balances on calls that are not open to subjective interpretation. 

 

 

[US Egg]

27 minutes ago, Richard Noggin said:

Just like baseball NEEDS to remove human umpires from calling balls and strikes

Get that damn baseball talk out of here!

 

……and bring it over to the MLB thread. We could use the company and conversation.

[TBBills Fan]

4 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

Wouldn't the opposite be true... If Touchbacks only put you on the 15 , you would more likely return it 

 

Now at the 35 you'll probably see more willing to take the easy starting field position.. unless it's like a crazy short kick to like the 15-20

The problem with that argument is the kicking team is often blasting it out of the end zone.  

[Richard Noggin]

22 minutes ago, US Egg said:

Get that damn baseball talk out of here!

 

……and bring it over to the MLB thread. We could use the company and conversation.

 

Was unaware of such a thread. Apt analogy, for me. 

[LABILLBACKER]

3 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

It's generally the kicking team not the returning team that makes this decision, by kicking it way the hell out of the end zone. 

 

If a TB goes to the 35, we're likely to see kicks that are shorter and higher, landing in the field of  play and forcing returns.

Higher doesn't help because the receiving team can't move till the ball is touched. So just kick it to the 5 and tackle the dude before the 35.  Save yourself a few yards. And yes the shield is trying to encourage more returns and excitement with an occasional td.

[BigDingus]

7 hours ago, Matt_In_NH said:

They want returns.  That will

make that happen.  

 

7 hours ago, Low Positive said:

They are trying to create a real incentive for teams to kick short of the goal line to increase the number of returns. They can't find the line between entertainment and player safety. 

 

Exactly. This isn't about trying to give the offense more of an advantage or increase scoring, this is definitely to encourage teams actually kick the ball in play & increase returns.

[Thurman#1]

4 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

Yeah I just wasn't thinking for a second when I was interpreting the rule ..  but there comes times in a season when you can't always just boot it the hell out of the end zone.. when the wind starts swirling at the Ralph one side is impossible to kick out of while the other side has balls going through the upright

 

But as I said if I'm still on the five yard line.. you can still let it go over your head and get the ball to 20.. you return it might get tackled at the 11

 

Now if it's a high pooch to the 20 for sure

 

 

IMO the returners will have pretty much the same choices as they did last year.

 

But they will see very different kinds of kicks coming towards them if they pass this new rule, or at least that's the assumption from the NFL, and from me for that matter. They'll be seeing a lot more shorter higher kicks that have to get returned. 

 

 

[Thurman#1]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Higher doesn't help because the receiving team can't move till the ball is touched. So just kick it to the 5 and tackle the dude before the 35.  Save yourself a few yards. And yes the shield is trying to encourage more returns and excitement with an occasional td.

 

 

Higher helps. Not as much as it does on a punt, of course. But if the ball is higher it's more affected by the wind and harder to predict for the returner exactly where it'll land. He's got to keep his head up higher and if it's near the goal line he's now got to think about 

 

The more the football's momentum is down rather than forward as it approaches the ground, and the less likely he is to be able to get a running start.

 

Will that mean that the second returner might have to be over close yelling to catch it or let it go on plays where it's close-ish to the end zone? Yeah, probably, if it's close, but giving that guy something else to do rather than block is also a slight advantage for the kicking team.

 

You're right, this isn't a huge deal, but IMO it's part of what we'll see, I think. I could be wrong. Time will tell.

Edited February 24 by Thurman#1

[Stretch]

Let’s compromise and go with the 32.5 yard line!

[billsfan89]

I don’t hate it, make teams return the ball. But I think the simpler solution is to just push the kickoff spot back 

[stevewin]

I would be fine with just getting rid of kickoffs altogether and just spot the ball at the 20 every time

[ProcessTruster]

this was the original agreement; the rules committee cratered at the last minute last year and moved it back to the 30 to see what would happen

 

So the 35 was what was agreed, the 30 was just a trial.  and it failed as only 30% of kickoffs were returned last season

Edited February 24 by ProcessTruster