Kickoffs are the most dangerous play in the NFL. They also happen to be boring and stupid and bad.
Between the extra point and the kickoff that follows, two of the most boring plays happen back to back. I think most fans would be completely fine with just starting the ball on the receiving team's 20 or 25 and be done with it. Except for one thing. The onside kick. In the 4th quarter, being down anywhere from 9 to 16 points doesn't mean the game is completely out of reach. You still have hope your team can score, get the ball back via onside kick and score again. It's unlikely, but you have hope. Hope is good for fans and it's good for the NFL. So we can't just eliminate kickoffs entirely, we need to account for hope.
(Another thing that I enjoy is the surprise onside kick. It was used to great effect to help the Saints win their only Super Bowl. While this is incredible, it's really a perk, not a must-have.)
Option #1: The Schiano Proposal
As detailed here, the kicking team would have a 4th and 15 at their own 30. Most of the time, they would opt to punt. A punt is safer than a kickoff so this an improvement. And it gives teams an opportunity to go for it late in the game. I would argue a 4th and 15 (or even 4th and 10) is more exciting than an onside kick. It even preserves the opportunity for a surprise onside kick throughout the game by performing a fake punt.
Overall, this is a safer option over the current kickoff rules. However, mostly we're just swapping kickoffs for punts. In terms of excitement, it's not a huge difference.
Option #2: Automatic Touchback With Option To Go For It
This would be a simpler version. Instead of a kickoff, the receiving team simply gets the ball at their own 25. No fanfare, no time wasted, just back to the action. However, at any point, the "kicking" team would have the option of taking the ball, let's say on their own 27 facing a 4th and 13. Just like the proposal above, you could in theory never take the ball out of your quarterback's hand, from a touchdown, two-point conversion, 4th down conversion and subsequent final minute drive.
In short, this keeps the spirit of the first idea, sacrificing the ability to have surprise fake punts with the trade off of eliminating 8-10 punts from the game.
Option #3: Automatic Touchback with Field Goal Conversion
Again, this keeps the automatic touchback unless the kicking team wants to attempt an onside kick. This replaces onside kicks with a 60-yard field goal that is worth zero points but a make wins possession. Make the kick get the ball on your own 40. Miss the kick give the other team the ball on your own 30.
This keeps the importance of a kicker and I'm guessing all the kickers would be in favor. Would be interesting if a kicker was feeling great in warm-ups and told the coach let's start the game by going for it....and then it gets blocked or shanked—would be hilarious.
Option #4: A Hail Mary Kickoff
This is something entirely new, so bear with me. Instead of a kickoff, the kicking team gets an untimed down. I'm thinking starting on their own 10, but that's debatable. When an incomplete pass is thrown it becomes equivalent to a punt, where it must be downed by the receiving team for them to take over possession. However, if the kicking team advances the ball past the 50 they get to keep possession.
Most plays, the QB would just chuck it as far as they could and you'd get to see sort of a skills competition with strategy throughout every game of the season. Who can throw it the farthest? What about in the 4th quarter, are their arms tired? A sack would be huge! The surprise onside kick version is intact and could theoretically be done on every kickoff. Each chance of completing a 4th and 40 is lower than completing a 4th and 13 (or 10 or 15) but even an incomplete 60 yard throw is a decent kickoff. Would also be hilarious for a team (likely coached by Andy Reid) to get cute and try to convert 40 yards with a screen pass.
That's what I've got. If you have any ideas or opinions, leave them in the comments.
Of all of these, I like option 2 the best. We don't need more punts just for the sake of kicking the ball. However, option 2 minimizes the value of a good kick returner, so I can see some benefit of option 1.
ReplyDeleteWith whatever option that might possibly be implemented, I'd like the stat nerds to figure out the success rate of onside kicks and then figure out a play that has a similar success rate. My gut tells me that 4th and 10 is converted more often than an onside kick. So should it be 4th and 13? 4th and 15? It should be so hard to successfully convert that coaches elect to "kick" the ball as often as they do now.
Hail Mary kickoff reminds me of playing football in recess in 6th grade when we couldn't punt and always just hail mary kickoffs to the other team.