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New kickoff rule- improvement or not?


GreenMachine
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Have watched a bunch of pre-season games. The new kickoff rule seems from at least the preseason is resulting in not many great returns and a lot of crushing hits. They pretty much eliminated the touchbacks if that was the purpose but it needs some tweaking imo. 

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I don’t hate it or like it yet. I imagine it’ll grow on me. Definitely going to take some getting used to. 

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After watching numerous kickoffs, I'd imagine kicking teams are just going to start kicking the ball into the end zone and letting the teams have it at the 30 yard line.  It seems like the receiving team almost always returns it to around the 30 or 35 yard line anyway, so why risk it?

 

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, JamesK said:

After watching numerous kickoffs, I'd imagine kicking teams are just going to start kicking the ball into the end zone and letting the teams have it at the 30 yard line.  It seems like the receiving team almost always returns it to around the 30 or 35 yard line anyway, so why risk it?

 

 

 

 

Generally the same as I see, most times it's just to the 30 and it seems like the potential for the return guy to get lit up is a bit higher. I get that the kicking team doesn't have the full head of steam but with no blockers for the returner it doesn't seem to have the intended result. Granted I havn't seen every game in the pre-season but there is something to be said about a guy taking it out of the end zone versus this change were your lucky to get to the 30 which you could anyway. The returner just by the rule where players can't go downfield till it gets caught should pretty much always make it to the 25/30 versus pinning the other team back at the 10 to 15 yard line on an ill advised return.

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I don't like it...seems like little league town football rules...

 

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I don’t like it. But then again, I’m old; ergo, I don’t like much of anything anymore. Except using the word "ergo”.  

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No, it actually hasn't worked like they thought it would. Players are getting hurt in bad collisions, it's NOT encouraging exciting run backs, and the whole thing just stinks. Go back to what it was. It was fine before they broke it. 🤣

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Not a fan.  Silly change they implemented.  If they wanted to minimize touchbacks, just move the spot from where the ball is kicked back 10 yards.  

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5 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Not a fan.  Silly change they implemented.  If they wanted to minimize touchbacks, just move the spot from where the ball is kicked back 10 yards.  

Makes far too much sense

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Good excuse to take a 🦶bathroom break or a run to the kitchen.

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Do not see any projected improvements. Number of collisions is still high. Would go back to the old kick off. Too much confusion over nothing, but it did affect the futures of special team players.

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Haven´t watched any preseason, can someone explain what the change is please?

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The issue that the league identified, the increased rate of incidence of concussion on kick offs was assigned the wrong cause, that the defenders were getting up too big a head of steam with a run up, rather than the true cause which is that the league is now full of highly tuned athletes that are trained like Ivan Drago to be as fast as a 200lb+ bundle of human flesh and pads can possibly be, and it doesn't matter whether you make them run from a standing start 10 metres away or a running start 50 metres away, when 2 human beings run into each other at full pelt occasionally one or both is getting their bell rung.

The league is kidding itself it can resolve potential liability issues around player concussion with pointless gesture changes like this rather than the fundamental changes to the rules on game restarts that would be required to remove the risk.

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I personally don't see the advantage to the kicking team.  I'd just put it into the endzone every time.  As it is, the returner really only has to break 1 or 2 tackles for a big gain.  It's not worth it from the kicking team's perspective.

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4 hours ago, kiwinavega said:

Haven´t watched any preseason, can someone explain what the change is please?

Kicker kicks from his own 35. The rest of his teammates line up at the other team's 35. The other team has nine players line up at their own 30. They have to have two players deep. No one (except the returners obviously) can move until the ball lands. Balls kicked into the endzone come out to the thirty. There are a few other elements but that's essentially it.

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Thanks for taking the time to explain, I appreciate it. Have to say, it sounds pretty pointless to me, and just opens the door for lots of false start spot penalties for when the fix is in 

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Vanilla returns in the preseason, look for some interesting return plays once the season starts

 

electric-football.gif

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On 8/28/2024 at 12:13 PM, Talonblood said:

It was fine before they broke it.

 

 

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Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to see teams kick it through the end zone and not risk anything. Many teams were already doing that in the pre-season. The kicks I did see that were returned generally led to really good returns. Teams are going to limit that. I also saw some big hitting collisions, so that hasn't really changed much.

Overall, I don't see anything changing. Teams are happy to let the opposing team have it on the 30 as long as it limits the potential great return.

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On 8/28/2024 at 5:39 PM, NJWolverEagle11 said:

Makes far too much sense

And we can’t have that. 

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I saw this watching XFL games in 2020 before COVID hit and thought then it was a good idea.  This incarnation is good as well.  

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Not sure it makes the game more exciting but it kinda looks weird. 

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Anything is better than constant touchbacks.   The NFL took one of the most exciting plays in the game with roaring crowds, tone setting hits and possible big returns and turned it into a boring chance to get to another commercial. So anything is better than that.

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