Editor’s Note: Michael Duschen was actually at the KC game, and saw the new KO rules for the first time. Do you agree with the new kickoff rules? What about after you read this article? Disagree? We want to hear your opinion too!
Remember when you used to love the opening kickoffs on opening day of the NFL season? Well, that is about to change. Because of a new rule implemented by the owners to move kickoffs from the 30 yard line to the 35 yard line, kickoffs are about to become a bore to watch.
Moving the ball 5 yards closer gives every kicker in the NFL an advantage as touch backs are going to start becoming the norm. The league chose to issue in this rule for player safety concerns, and its understandable as its important to make the game safe as possible in order to extend careers of players.
But lets be honest here, is this rule change necessary? The answer is no, its not necessary. Football is a contact sport and with all the rule changes going on, players might as well play flag football, but lets focus more on the kickoff rule right now.
Throughout the preseason, we have seen more touch backs then ever before and when asking the opinion of many players and coaches around the league about the new kickoff rule change, majority are against it and believe that its taking away a major aspect of the game. They’re right. Some of the most exciting plays in football come on kickoff-kickoff return and taking away the extra five yards from the spot of the kickoff is a major change to the game itself and the rule will make special teams coaches change the way they attack the return game. Teams like the Bears and Browns will mostly be affected by this rule because Devin Hester and Josh Cribbs are two of the best returners in all of football repsectively. The Bears were strongly against the rule and actually kicked from the 30 yard line twice in the first preseason game. Of course the league didn’t find that too amusing and the Bears were told to never do it again.
When I went to the Bucs preseason game against the Chiefs, 90% of the kickoffs were touch backs, the other 10% could have been touch backs, but players who are trying to make the team brought them out of the end zone and on average got to the 15 yard line. Its pretty boring to watch in my opinion.
I’m more afraid than anything about players getting lazy when it is time for kickoff-kickoff return. Players are going to begin to expect their kickers to always record touch backs and they will no longer fly down the field like they should. I haven’t seen any of this yet, but it is definitely something to keep your eye on going into the season.
I’m a big fan of special teams. There is nothing better than flying down the football field and laying someone out on a huge block or making a big time tackle to give your team momentum. It really is a big part of football and very slowly its being taken away. First it was you cant form a four man wedge, then it changed to you can only form a 2-3 man wedge, then it went to the wedge being completely taken out to now, having the kickoff moved up from the 30 to the 35. The NFL might as well just put the ball on the 20 yard line because that’s how 80% of kickoff-kickoff returns are going to go.
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