Proposed New Rule: Fair Catch on Kickoffs - Ball at the 25

This would be like taking the home run out of baseball.  The kick off return is potentially the most exciting play in all of football.   Unfortunately too many never make it out of the end zone.

Our punt return game disappeared under MR playing it too safe.  The great teams and players take risks (appropriate) and don't just play it safe.

 
Throwing out an idea for kickoff returns to make them less dangerous but hopefully less lame than this rule.

Require a holder.

Have a line of scrimmage (same line for both teams) and require/let the return team put X number of players on it (but not between the hash marks where ball is kicked from). The rest can still be required to be 10 yards off the line.

This would reduce the # of players running full speed when they reach the KR. If the ball doesn't travel as far with a holder, move it up 5+ yards. I'll leave it to the experts to decide what YL to kick it from.

If the goal is safety, you want the players to not be reaching full speed when they hit each other. Or at least reduce their #.

 
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Moiraine said:
Throwing out an idea for kickoff returns to make them less dangerous but hopefully less lame than this rule.

Require a holder.

Have a line of scrimmage (same line for both teams) and require/let the return team put X number of players on it (but not between the hash marks where ball is kicked from). The rest can still be required to be 10 yards off the line.

This would reduce the # of players running full speed when they reach the KR. If the ball doesn't travel as far with a holder, move it up 5+ yards. I'll leave it to the experts to decide what YL to kick it from.

If the goal is safety, you want the players to not be reaching full speed when they hit each other. Or at least reduce their #.
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Or we could try putting ankle weights on all the players to slow them down....

 
TGHusker said:
What a terrible call by the refs by saying he was down before fumbling - I guess his forward progress was stopped - very quickly.
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I remember watching that game at my wife's aunt and uncles house in Gladstone Mo.  They were shocked that their niece's husband was so loud for "just a football game".  

 
I don't know why they dont just go get a copy of the 1997 rule book, have it inscribed in stone, as being an untouchable American icon, then gold plated.  Then anyone who even mentions of changing the rules is shunned, branded a communist, and promptly expatriated.

 
Moiraine said:
IIRC Alabama did this multiple times against Georgia.
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In time kickoffs will be gone entirely.  The sport now is really about limiting liability to ensure a revenue stream.  If they knew you would watch flag football, the NCAA would ban tackling immediately.  

 
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dvdcrr said:
In time kickoffs will be gone entirely.  The sport now is really about limiting liability to ensure a revenue stream.  If they knew you would watch flag football, the NCAA would ban tackling immediately.  
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I'm of two minds on all of this. I do like watching kickoff returns, but we know more about what football does to the brain now than we did 20 years ago, and doing nothing isn't the answer. Also, kickoffs make good sense to target, since the players are more likely to be at full speed when they make contact. Hopefully they can do something miraculous to make the helmets better.

 
Moiraine said:
I'm of two minds on all of this. I do like watching kickoff returns, but we know more about what football does to the brain now than we did 20 years ago, and doing nothing isn't the answer. Also, kickoffs make good sense to target, since the players are more likely to be at full speed when they make contact. Hopefully they can do something miraculous to make the helmets better.
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I hope they can improve the helmets as well, but unfortunately it has every bit as much to do with the brain in the skull. When it stops or changes directions quickly, that often leads to the concussion. No helmet design will eliminate this as long as there are plays where the head makes impact with another player or the ground. I don't want to see the game change, but I understand why it needs to.

 
27 minutes ago, JimmyBuckets said:

Pretty entertaining video on kickoffs

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It's well put together, and the concussion argument is good, but I don't agree with him at all that kickoffs are boring. His point that most returns look similar is fine, but that doesn't make them unexciting. The fact they are so rare makes them exciting. Same goes for the onside kick going to the kicking team. I'd even argue extra points should stay in the game forever, because they can be huge if they're missed.

 
HS_Coach_C said:
I hope they can improve the helmets as well, but unfortunately it has every bit as much to do with the brain in the skull. When it stops or changes directions quickly, that often leads to the concussion. No helmet design will eliminate this as long as there are plays where the head makes impact with another player or the ground. I don't want to see the game change, but I understand why it needs to.
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It only needs to change if participation is compulsory.

 
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